^ J
198
ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
a considerable time elapsed before any one could brace up courage to face the enemy, or be prevailed on to go and inspect the cause of their alarm. At last the mistress, who chanced to be the most stout- hearted, ventured into the room when, instead of the personage, on account of whom such awful apprehensions were entertained, a great dog or calf- skin lay on the floor, sufficiently black and uncomely, but filled with gold.
After this Silky was never more heard or seen. Her destiny was accomplished, her spirit laid, and she now sleeps with her ancestors.
'
CoimiaciiO Hptiilmi HieGiiostx
Tliflar'-
u;
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh University Press,
fen oft. Saint Ccl:; 'ie Fiddle;
«r- *
i 1 MJi r'^ ^..^...'^
'S .g -S,
L it
Rstffllt-
[Qtcalf- neonely.
orieeiL Jul, and
CONTENTS
|
Canobie Dick and Thomas of Ercildoun, |
1 |
|
Coinnach Oer, ..... |
5 |
|
Elphin Irving, . . . . . |
9 |
|
The Ghosts of Craig-Aulnaic, . |
32 |
|
The Doomed Rider, . . . , |
39 |
|
Whippety Stourie, ' YT . . . |
43 |
|
The Weird of the Three Arrows, |
46 |
|
The Laird of Balmachie's Wife, |
52 |
|
Michael Scott, . . . . . |
55 |
|
The Minister and the Fairy, . |
63 |
|
The Fisherman and the Merman, |
66 |
|
The Laird o' Co', . . . . |
70 |
|
Ewen of the Little Head, |
72 |
|
Jock and his Mother, .... |
76 |
|
Saint Columba, . . . . . |
80 |
|
The Mermaid Wife, . . . . |
86 |
|
The Fiddler and the Bogle of Bogandoran, |
89 |
|
Thomas the Rhymer, . . . . |
93 |
'J
4 ^% .^<
t « ii
<^e IVb
J REFERENCE 57^ Fo(K/oV* o^ixd If^ev^d^ J'J^?¥6^HC-r
PUBLIC VSfmm'i
THE BRANCH VBR';-f''f
3 3333 01 196 2517
5L
FOLK-LORE
HI
AND
LEGENDS
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND
r}9
GIBBINGS AND COMPANY, LIMITED
i8 BURY ST„ LONDON, W.C.
1894
^ -^ \C \ QTY OF NEW YORf ^ tf
J929464
INTKODUCTORY NOTE.
The old English Folklore Tales are fast dying out. The simplicity of character necessary for the re- taining of old memories and beliefs is being lost, more rapidly in England, perhaps, than in any other part of the world. Our folk are giving up the old myths for new ones. Before remorseless " progress," and the struggle for existence, the poetry of life is being quickly blotted out. In editing this volume I have endeavoured to select some of the best speci- mens of our Folklore. With regard to the nursery tales, I have taken pains to give them as they are in the earliest editions I could find. I must say, however, that, while I have taken every care to alter only as much as was absolutely necessary in these tales, some excision and slight alteration has at times been required.
C. J. T.
c.
CONTENTS.
A Dissertation on Fairies,
Nelly the Knocker, . . .' , , .
The Three Fools, lU*TUf-^ ^> >il^^^
Some Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham,
The Tulip Fairies, .
The History of Jack and the Giants,
The Fairies' Cup, ....
The White Lady, ....
A Pleasant and Delightful History of Thomas
Hickathrift, . . ■ .
The Spectre Coach, .... The Baker's Daughter, The Fairy Children, ....
The History of Jack and the Beanstalk, . ,
Johnny Reed's Cat, .^"Lvt.^ 0 ' jti ^ OcjI© Lame Molly, ..... The Brown man of the Moors,
1
39 42 46
54 57 84 86
89 117 123 126 129 150 156 159
Vlll
CONTENTS.
PACE
How the Cobbler cheated the Devil, . . . 161 The Tavistock Witch, . . . .165 Tlie Worm of Lambton, . . . .168 The Old Woman and the Crooked Sixpence, . 174 The Yorkshire Boggart, . . . ,177 The Duergar, ..... 181 The Barn Elves, ..... 185 Legends of King Arthur, CVv VVu*^ \in'^)t' Y^^^ Silky, 192
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES.
BY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ.
The earliest mention of Fairies is made by Homer, if, that is, his English translator has, in this instance, done him justice : —
" Where round the bed, whence Achelous springs, The wat'ry Fairies dance in mazy rings."
{Iliad, B. xxiv. 617.)
These Nymphs he supposes to frequent or reside in woods, hills, the sea, fountains, grottoSi etc., whence they are peculiarly called Naiads, Dryads and Nereids :
" What sounds are those that gather from the shores, The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers, The fair-hair'd drj^ads of the shady wood. Or azure daughters of the silver flood ?"
(Odyss. B. vi. 122.)
The original word, indeed, is nymphs, which, it must be confessed, furnishes an accurate idea of the fays (f^es or fates) of the ancient French and Italian romances ; wherein they are represented as females of inexpressible beauty, elegance, and every kind of
English. A
2 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
personal accomplishment, united with magic or supernatural power; such, for instance, as the Calypso of Homer, or the Alcina of Ariosto. Agree- ably to this idea it is that Shakespeare makes Antony say in allusion to Cleopatra —
" To this great fairy I 'U commend thy acts,"
meaning this grand assemblage of power and beauty. Such, also, is' the character of the ancient nymphs, spoken of by the Eoman poets, as Virgil, for instance :
" Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes, Panaque, Sylvamimque senem, Nymphasque sorores."
(Geor. ii. 493.)
They, likewise, occur in other passages as well as in Horace —
" gelidum nemus
Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori."
{Carmina, I., 0. 1, v. 30.)
and, still more frequently, in Ovid.
Not far from Eome, as we are told by Chorier, was a place formerly called " Ad Nymphas," and, at this day, " Santa Ninfa," which without doubt, he adds, in the language of our anccstoi'S, would have been called " The Place of Fays " (Becherches des Anti- quitez, de Vienne, Lyon, 1659).
The word fa4e, or fie, among the French, is derived, according to Du Cange, from the barbarous Latin fadus or fada, in Italian fata. Gervase of Tilbury, in his Otia Imxurialia (D. 3, c. 88), speaks
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 3
of " some of this kind of larvce, which they named fadce, we have heard to be lovers," and in his relation of a nocturnal contest between two knights (c. 94) he exclaims, "What shall I say? I know not if it were a true hoi'se, or if it were a fairy (fadus), as men assert." From the Roman de Far- tenmj, or de Lesignan, MS. Du Cange cites —
" Le chasteau fuffait cl'une fee Si comme il est partout retrait."
Hence, he says, faerie for spectres :
" Plusieiirs parlant de Guenart, Du Lou, de I'Asne, et de Eenart, De faeries, et de songes, De fantosmes, et de mensonges."
The same Gervase explains the Latin fata {f6e, French) a divining woman, an enchantress, or a witch (D. 3, c. 88).
Master Wace, in his Histoire des Dues de Normendie (confounded by many with the Roman de Rou), describing the fountain of Berenton, in Bretagne, says —
"En la forest et environ, Mais jo ne sais par quel raison La scut I'en les fees veeir, Se li Breton nos dient veir, etc."
(In the forest and around, I wot not by what reason found, There may a man the fairies spy, If Britons do not tell a lie.)
4 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
but it may be difficult to conceive an accurate idea, from the mere name, of the popular French fays or fairies of the twelfth century.
In Vienne, in Dauphiny, is Le piiit des fies, or Fairy-Avell. These faijs, it must be confessed, have a strong resemblance to the nymphs of the ancients, who inhabited caves and fountains. Upon a little rock which overlooks the Ehone are three round holes which nature alone has formed, al- though it seem, at first sight, that art has laboured after her. They say that they were formerly frequented by Fays ; that they were full of water when it rained- and that they there frequently took the pleasure of the bath; than which they had not one more charming (Chorier, Recherches, etc.).
Pomponius Mela, an eminent geographer, and, in point of time, far anterior to Pliny, relates, that beyond a mountain in Ethiopia, called by the Greeks the " High Mountain," burning, he says, with perpetual fire, is a hill spread over a long tract by extended shores, whence they rather go to see wide jjlains than to behold [the habitations] of Pans and Satyrs. Hence, he adds, this opinion received faith, that, whereas, in these parts is nothing of culture, no seats of inhabitants, no footsteps — a waste soli- tude in the day, and a mere waste silence — frequent fires shine by night; and camps, as it were, are seen widely spread ; cymbals and tympans sound ; and sounding pipes are heard more than human
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 5
(B. 3, c. 9). These invisible essences, however, are both anonymous and nondescript.
The penates of the Eomans, according to honest Eeginald Scot, were "the domestical! gods, or rather divels, that were said to make men live quietlie within doores. But some think that Lares are such as trouble private houses. Larvce are said to be spirits that walk onelie by night. Vinculi teirei are such as was Eobin Good-fellowe, that would supplie the office of servants, speciallie of maides, as to make a fier in the morning, sweepe the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe water, etc. These also rumble in houses, drawe latchss, go up and down staiers," etc. {Discoverie of Witchcraft, London, 1584, p. 521). A more modern writer says " The Latins have called the fairies lares and larvce, frequenting, as they say, houses, delighting in neatness, pinching the slut, and rewarding the good housewife with money in her shoe" (Pleasaurd Treatise of JFitches, 1673, p. 53). This, however, is nothing but the character of an English fairy applied to the name of a Eoman lar or larva. It might have been wished, too, that Scot, a man unquestionably of great learn- ing, had referred, by name and work and book and chapter, to those ancient authors from whom he de- rived his information upon the Eoman penates, etc.
What idea our Saxon ancestors had of the fairy which they called celf, a word explained by Lye as equivalent to lamia, larva, incubus, ephialtes, we are utterly at a loss to conceive.
6 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The nymphs, the satyrs, and the fauns, are frequently noticed by the old traditional historians of the north ; particularly Saxo-grammaficus, who has a curious story of three nymphs of the forest, and Mother, King of Sweden and Denmark, being apparently the originals of the weird, or wizard, sisters of Macbeth (B. 3, p. 39). Others are pre- served by Olaus Magnus, who says they had so deeply impressed into the earth, that the place they have been used to, having been (apparently) eaten up in a circular form with flagrant heat, never brings forth fresh grass from the dry turf. This nocturnal sport of monsters, he adds, the natives call The Dance of the Elves (B. 3, c. 10).
" In John Milesius any man may reade Of divels in Sarmatia honored, Call'd Kottri, or Kihaldi ; such as wee Pugs and Hob-goblins call. Their dwellings bee In corners of old houses least frequented, Or beneath stacks of wood : and these convented, Make fearfull noise in buttries and in dairies ; Robin Goodfellowes some, some call them fairies. In solitarie roomes these uprores keepe, And beat at dores to wake men from their sleepe ; Seeming to force locks, be they ne're so strong, And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long. Pots, glasses, trenchers, dishes, pannes, and kettles, They will make dance about the shelves and settles, As if about the kitchen tost and cast. Yet in the morning nothing found misplac't."
{Heywood's Hierarchie of Angells, 1635, fo. p. 574.)
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 7
Milton, a prodigious reader of romance, has, like- wise, given an apt idea of the ancient fays —
" Fairer than famed of old, or fabled since Of fairy damsels met in forest wide, By knights of Logres, and of Liones, Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore."
These ladies, in fact, are by no means unfrequent in those fabulous, it must be confessed, but, at the same time, ingenious and entertaining histories ; as, for instance, Melusine, or Merlusine, the heroine of a very ancient romance in French verse, and who was occasionally turned into a serpent ; Morgan-la-fa4e, the reputed half-sister of King Arthur; and the Lady of the Lake, so frequently noticed in Sir Thomas Malory's old history of that monarch,
Le Grand is of opinion that what is called Fairy comes to us from the Orientals, and that it is their gSnies which have produced our fairies; a species of nymphs, of an order superior to those women magi- cians, to whom they nevertheless gave the same name. In Asia, he says, where the women imprisoned in the harems, prove still, beyond the general servitude, a particular slavery, the romancers have imagined the Peris, who, flying in the air, come to soften their captivity, and render them happy (Fabliaux, 12mo. i. 112). Whether this be so or not, it is certain that we call the aurorce horeales, or active clouds, in the night, ijerry-dancers.
After all, Sir William Ouseley finds it impossible
8 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
to give an accurate idea of what the Persian poets designed by a Perie, this aerial being not resembling our fairies. The strongest resemblance he can find is in the description of Milton in Comus. The sub- lime idea which Milton entertained of a fairy vision corresponds rather with that which the Persian poets have conceived of the Peries.
" Tlieir port was more tlian human as they stood ; I took it for a faery vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colours of the rainbow live And play i' th' plighted clouds."
(D'Israeli's Romances, p. 1 3. )
It is by no means credible, however, that Milton had any knowledge of the Oriental Peries, though his enthusiastic or poetical imagination might have easily peopled the air with spirits.
There are two sorts of fays, according to M. Le Grand. The one a species of nymphs or divinities ; the other more properly called sorceresses, or women instructed in magic. From time immemorial, in the abbey of Poissy, founded by St. Lewis, they said every year a mass to preserve the nuns from the power of the fays. When the process of the Damsel of Orleans was made, the doctors demanded, for the first question, " If she had any knowledge of those who went to the Sabbath with the fays 1 or if she had not assisted at the assemblies held at the fountain of the fays, near Dompreiu, around which
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 9
dance malignant spirits 1 " The Journal of Paris, under Charles VI. and Charles vii. pretends that she confessed that, at the age of twenty-seven years, she frequently went, in spite of her father and mother, to a fair fountain in the county of Lorraine, which she named the "Good Fountain to the Fays Our Lord " {lb. p. 75).
Gervase of Tilbury, in his chapter " of Fauns and Satyrs," says, — "there are likewise others, whom the vulgar call FoIIets, Avho inhabit the houses of the simple rustics, and can be driven away neither by holy water, nor exorcisms; and because they are not seen, they afflict those, who are entering, with stones, billets, and domestic furniture, whose words for certain are heard in the human manner, and their forms do not appear " (Oiia imperialia, D. i. c. 18). He is speaking of England.
This Follet seems to resemble Puck, or Eobin Good- fellow,whose pranks were recorded in an old song and who was sometimes useful, and sometimes mischievous. Whether or not he was the fairy-spirit of whom Milton
" Tells how the drudging goblin swet, To ern his cream-bowle duly set, When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn, That ten day-labourers could not end, Then lies him down, the lubbar fend ; And stretch'd out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength ; And crop-full out of dores he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings." {V Allegro).
10 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
is a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the giant son of the witch, that liad the devil's mark about her (of whom " there is a pretty tale "), that was called Loh-lye-hy-the-fire, Avas a very different per- sonage from Robin Good-fellow, whom, however, he in some respects appears to resemble. A near female relation of the compiler, who was born and brought up in a small village in the bishopric of Durham, related to him many years ago, several circumstnr.ces which confirmed the exactitude of Milton's description; she particularly told of his threshing the corn, churning the butter, drinking the milk, etc., and, when all was done, " lying before the fire like a great rough hurgin bear."
In another chapter Gervase says — " As among men, nature produces certain wonderful things, so spirits, in airy bodies, who assume by divine per- mission the mocks they make. For, behold! England has certain daemons (daemons, I call them, though I know not, but I should say secret forms of unknown generation), whom the French call Neptunes, the English Fortunes. With these it is natural that they take advantage of the simplicity of fortunate peasants; and when, by reason of their domestic labours, they perform their nocturnal vigils, of a sudden, the doors being shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and eat little frogs, cast out of their bosoms and put upon the burning coals ; with an antiquated coun- tenance; a wrinkled face; diminutive in stature,
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 1 1
not Laving [in length] half a thumb. They are clothed with rags patched together ; and if anything should be to be carried on in the house, or any kind of laborious ^york to be done, they join themselves to the work, and expedite it with more than human facility. It is natural to these, that they may be obsequious, and may not be hurtful. But one little mode, as it were, they have of hurting. For when, among the ambiguous shades of night, the English occasionally ride alone, the Fortune, sometimes, un- seen, couples himself to the rider; and, when he has accompanied him, going on, a very long time, at length, the bridle being seized, he leads him up to the hand in the mud, in which while, infixed, he wallows, the Fortune, departing, sets up a laugh ; and so, in this kind of way, derides human sim- plicity" (Otia imperialia, D. 3, c. 61).
This spirit seems to have some resemblance to the Ficktree-brag, a mischievous barguest that used to haunt that part of the country, in the shape of different animals, particularly of a little galloway; in which shape a farmer, still or lately living there- about, reported that it had come to him one night as he was going home ; that he got upon it, and rode very quietly till it came to a great pond, to which it ran and threw him in, and went laughing away.
He further says there is, in England, a certain species of demons, which in their language they call Grant, like a one-year old foal, with straight legs,
12 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and sparkling eyes. This kind of demon very often appears in the streets, in the very heat of the day, or about sunset ; and as often as it makes its appearance, portends that there is about to be a fire in that city or town. When, therefore, in the following day or night the danger is urgent, in the streets, running to and fro, it provokes the dogs to bark, and, while it pretends flight invites them, following, to pursue, in the vain hope of overtaking it. This kind of illusion provokes caution to the watchmen who have the custody of fire, and so the officious race of demons, while they terrify the be- holders, are wont to secure the ignorant by their arrival (Gervase, D. 3, c. 62).
Gower, in his tale of Narcissus, professedly from Ovid, says —
" As he cast liis loke
Into the well,
He sawe the like of his visage, And wende there were an ymage Of such a nymphe, as tho was faye."
[Confessio amantis, fo. 20, b.)
In his Legend of Consteince is this passage : — -
*' Thy wife which is of fairie Of suche a childe delivered is, fro kinde, whiche stante all amis."
{.Ibid. fo. 32, b.)
In another part of his book is a story " Howe
A DISSERTATION ONFAIPJES. 13
the Kynge of Armenis daughter mette on a tyme a companie of the fairy." These " ladies," ride aside "on fayre [white] ambulende horses," clad, very magnificently, but all alike, in white and blue, and wore " coroAvnes on their heades ; " but they are not called fays in the poem, nor does the word fay or fairie once occur therein.
The fairies or elves of the British isles are peculiar to this part of the world, and are not, so far as literary information or oral ti'adition enables us to judge, to be found in any other country. For this fact the authority of father Chaucer will be decisive, till we acquire evidence of equal antiquity in favour of other nations : —
"In olde dayes of the Kiug Artour, Of which the Bretons speken gret honour, All was this lond fulfilled of faerie ; The elf-quene, with hire joly compagDie, Danced ful oft in many a grene mede. This was the old opinion as I rede ; I speke of many hvxndred yeres ago ; But now can no man see non elves mo, For now the grate charitee and prayers Of limitoures and other holy freres, That serchen every land, and every streme, As thickke as motes in the sunnebeme, Blissing halles, chambres, kichenes, and boures, Citces and burghes, castles highe and toures, Thropes and bernes, shepenes and dairies, This maketh that ther ben no faeries."
{Wif of Bathes Tale.)
14 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The fairy may be defined as a species of being partly material, partly spiritual, with a power to change its appearance, and be, to mankind, visible or invisible, according to its pleasure. In the old song, printed by Peck, Eobin Good-fellow, a well- known fairy, professes that he had played his pranks from the time of ]\lerlin, Avho Avas the contemporary of Arthur.
Chaucer uses the word faeHe as well for the indmclual as for the country or system, or what we should now call fairy-land, or faryisin. He knew nothing, it would seem, of Oheron, Titania, or Mab, but speaks of —
"Pluto, that is the King of Faerie, And many a ladie in his compagnie, Folwing his wif, the queue Proserpina, etc."
{The Marchantes Tale, i. 10101.)
From this passage of Chaucer Mr. Tyrwhitt " cannot help thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina were the true progenitors of Oheron and Titania!'
In the progress of The JFif of Bathes Tale, it happed the knight,
" in his way to ride
In all his care, under a forest side. Whereas he saw upon a dance go Of ladies foure-and-twenty, and yet mo. Toward this ilke dance, he drow ful yerue, In hope that he sora wisdom shidde lerne, But, certainly, er he came fully there, Yvanished was this dance, he wiste not wher."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 15
These ladies appear to have been fairies, though nothing is insinuated of their size. Milton seems to have been upon the prowl here for his "forest- side."
In A MicUummer-NigM s Dream, a fairy addresses Bottom the weaver —
" Hail, mortal, hail ! "
which sufficiently shows she was not so herself
Puck, or Eobin Good-fellow, in the same play, calls Oberon,
" King of shadows,"
and in the old song just mentioned,
"The King of ghosts and shadoiv.o,"
and this mighty monarch asserts of himself, and his subjects,
" But we are spirits of another sort."
The fairies, as we already see, were male and female. Their government was monarchical, and Oberon, the King of Fairyland, must have been a sovereign of very extensive territory. The name of his queen was Titania. Both are mentioned by Shakespeare, being personages of no little importance in the above play, where they, in an ill-humour, thus encounter :
Obe. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence ; I have forsworn his bed and company."
16 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
That the name [Oberon] was not the invention of our great dramatist is sufficiently proved. The allegorical Spenser gives it to King Henry the Eighth. Eobert Greene was the author of a play entitled " The Scottishe history of Jaines the Four the .... intermixed with a pleasant comedie presented by Oberon, king of the fairies." He is, likewise, a character in the old French romances of Huon de Bourdeaux, and Qgier le Danois; and there even seems to be one upon his own exploits, Roman d' Aiiberon. What authority, however, Shakespeare had for the name Titania, it does not appear, nor is she so called by any other writer. He himself, at the same time, as well as many others, gives to the queen of fairies the name of Mab, though no one, except Drayton, mentions her as the wife of Oberon :
" 0 then, I see, queen Mab Lath been with you, She is the fairy's midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the fore-finger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep ; Her waggou-spokes made of long spinner's legs ; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers ; The traces, of the smallest spider's web ; The collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams : Her whip, of cricket's bone ; the lash, of film : Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat. Not half so big as a round little worm Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid : Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 17
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, Time out of mind the fairies' coachmakers. And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love ! . . , This is that very Mab, That plats the manes of horses in the night ;- And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes."
[Romeo and Juliet.)
Ben Jonson, in his " Entertainment of the Queen and Prince at Althrope," in 1603, describes to come " tripping up the lawn a bevy of fairies attending on Mab their queen, who, falling into an artificial ring that was there cut in the path, began to dance around."— (^Forfe, v. 201.)
In the same masque the queen is thus characterised by a satyr : —
" This is Mab, the mistress fairy, That doth nightly rob the dairy, And can hurt or help the churning, (As she please) without discerning. She that pinches country-wenches If they rub not clean their benches, And with sharper nails remembers When they rake not up their embers ; But, if so they chance to feast her, . In a shoe she drops a tester. This is she that empties cradles. Takes out children, puts in ladles ; Trains forth midwives in their slumber, With a sieve the holes to number ; English. B
18 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
And thus leads them from her boroughs, Home tliroiigh ponds and water-furrows. She can start our franklin's daughters, In their sleep, with shrieks and laughters, And on sweet St. Agues' night Feed them with a promised sight, Some of husbands, some of lovers, Which an empty dream discovers."
Fairies, they tell you, have frequently been heard and seen — nay, that there are some living who were stolen away by them, and confined seven years. According to the description they give who pretend to have seen them, they are in the shape of men, exceeding little. They are always clad in green, and frequent the woods and fields ; when they make cakes (which is a work they have been often heard at) they are very noisy ; and when they have done, they are full of mirth and pastime. But generally they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on the following morn — their dancing-places being very distinguishable. For as they dance hand in hand, and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there will be seen rings and circles on the grass. — (Bourne's Antiquifatcs T'ulgarcs, Newcastle, 1725, 8vo, p. 82.)
These circles are thus described by Browne, the author of Britannia's Pastorals : —
"... A pleasant meade, ^Yhere fairies often did their measures treade, Which in the meadow made such circles greene, As if with carlauds it had crowned beeue.
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 19
Withiu one of these rounds was to be scene A hillock rise, where oft the fairie queene At twy-light sate, and did command her elves To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves : And further, if by maidens' over-sight Within doores water were not brought at night, Or if they spred no table, set no bread, They should have nips from toe unto the head ; And for the maid that had perform'd each thing, She in the water-pail bad leave a ring."
The same poet, in his " Shepeards Pipe," having inserted Hoccleve's tale of Jonathas, and conceivinfr a strange unnatural affection for that stupid fellow, describes him as a great favourite of the fairies, alleging, that —
" Many times he hath been seene With the fairies on the greene. And to them his pipe did sound. While they danced in a round, Mickle solace would they make him. And at midnight often wake him. And convey him from his rooms To a field of yellow broome ; Or into the medowes, where Mints perfume the gentle aire. And where Flora spends her treasure. There they would begin their measure. If it chanc'd night's sable shrowds Muffled Cynthia up in clowds, Safely home they then would see him, And from brakes and quagmires free him."
20 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The fairies were exceedingly diminutive, but, it must be confessed, we shall not readily find their real dimensions. They were small enough, however, if we may believe one of queen Titania's maids of honour, to conceal themselves in acorn shells. Speaking of a difference between the king and queen, she says : —
" But they do square ; that all the elves for fear Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there."
They uniformly and constantly wore green vests, unless when they had some reason for chang- ing their dress. Of this circumstance we meet with many proofs. Thus in The Merry Wives of Windsor —
" Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies green."
In fact we meet with them of all colours ; as in the same play —
" Fairies black, grey, green, and white."
That white, on some occasions, was the dress of a female, we learn from Reginald Scot. He gives a charm " to go invisible by [means of J these three sisters of fairies," Milia, Acliilia, Sibylla : " I charge you that you doo appeare before me visible, in forme and shape of faire women, in white vestures, and to bring with you to me the ring of invisibilitie, by the which I may go invisible at mine owne will and I^leasure, and that in all hours and minutes."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 21
It was fatal, if we may believe Shakespeare, to speak to a fairy. Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of JVindsw, is made to say, " They are fairies. He that speaks to them shall die."
They were accustomed to enrich their favourites, as we learn from the clown in A Winter's Tale —
" It was told me I should be rich by the fairies."
They delighted in neatness, could not endure sluts, and even hated fibsters, tell-tales, and divulgers of secrets, whom they would slily and severely bepinch when they little expected it. They were as generous and benevolent, on the contrary, to young women of a different description, procuring them the sweetest sleep, the pleasantest dreams, and, on their departure in the morning, always slipping a tester in their shoe.
They are supposed by some to have been malignant, but this, it may be, was mere calumny, as being utterly inconsistent Avith their general character, which was singularly innocent and amiable.
Imogen, in Shakespeare's Cymleline, prays, on going to sleep —
" From fairies, and the tempters of the night. Guard me, beseech you."
It must have been the Inaihus she was so afraid of.
22 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Hamlet, too, notices this imputed malignity of
the fairies : —
"... Then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm."
Thus, also, in The Comedy of Enws : —
" A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough." They were amazingly expeditious in their journeys. Puck, or Eobin Good-fellow, answers Oberon, who was about to send him on a secret expedition — " I '11 put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes."
Again the same goblin addresses him thus : — " Fairy king, attend and mark, I do hear the morning lark.
Obe. Then, my queen, in sUence sad, Trip we after the night's shade — We the globe can compass soon. Swifter than the wand'ring moon."
In another place Puck says —
" My fairy lord this must be done in haste ; For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast. And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger, At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards," etc.
To which Oberon replies —
" But we are spirits of another sort : I with the morning's love have oft made sport ; And, like a forester, the groves may tread, Even till the eastern gate, aU fiery-red, OpeniDg on Neptune with fair blessed beams, Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 23
Compare, likewise, "what Eobin himself says on this subject in the old song of his exploits. They never ate —
" But that it eats our victuals, I should think, Here were a fairy,"
says Belarius at the first sight of Imogen, as Fidele.
They were humanely attentive to the youthful dead. Thus Guiderius at the funeral of the above lady —
" With female fairies will his tomb be haunted."
Or, as in the pathetic dirge of Collins on the same occasion : —
"No wither'd witch shall here be seen, No goblins lead their nightly crew ; The female fays shall haunt the green. And dress the grave with pearly dew."
This amiable quality is, likewise, thus beautifully alluded to by the same poet : —
" By fairy hands their knell is rung, By forms unseen their dirge is sung."
Their employment is thus charmingly represented by Shakespeare, in the address of Prospero : —
" Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves ; And ye, that on the sands, with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him When he comes back ; you demi-puppets, that
24 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
By moou-shine do the green-sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew."
In The Midsummer Night's Dream, the queen, Titania, being desirous to take a nap, says to her female attendants —
" Come, now a ronndel, and a fairy song ; Then, for the third part of a minute hence ; Some to kill cankers in the musk-rosebuds ; Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings. To make my small elves coats ; and some keep back The clamorous owl that nightly hoots, and wonders At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep ; Then to your offices, and let me rest."
Milton gives a most beautiful and accurate de- scription of the little green-coats of his native soil, than which nothing can be more happily or justly expressed. He had certainly seen them, in this situation, with " the poet's eye " : —
"... Fairie elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon, Sits arbitress, and neerer to the earth W^heels her pale course, they, on thir mirth and dance Intent, with jocond music charm his ear ; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds."
The impression they made upon his imagination
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 25
in early life appears from his " Vacation Exercise," at the age of nineteen : —
" Good luck befriend thee, son ; for, at thy birth The faiery ladies daunc't upon the hearth ; The drowsie nurse hath sworn she did them spie Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie, And, sweetly singing round about thy bed, Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head."
L'Abb6 Bourdelon, in his Ridiculous Extravagances of M. Oufl4, describes "The fairies of which," he says, " grandmothers and nurses tell so many tales to children. These fairies," adds he, "I mean, Avho are affirmed to be blind at home, and very clear- sighted abroad ; who dance in the moonshine when they have nothing else to do ; who steal shepherds and children, to carry them up to their caves," etc, — (English translation, p. 190.)
The fairies have already called themselves spirits, ghosts, or shadows, and consequently they never died, a position, at the same time, of which there is every kind of proof that a fact can require. The reviser of Johnson and Steevens's edition of Shalce- speare, in 1785, makes a ridiculous reference to the allegories of Spenser, and a palpably false one to Tickell's Kensington Gardens, Avhich he affirms " will show that the opinion of fairies dying prevailed in the last century," whereas, in fact, it is found, on the slightest glance into the poem, to maintain the direct reverse : —
26 ENGLISH FOLKLOKE.
*' Meanwhile sad Kenua, loath to quit the grove, Hung o'er the body of her breathless love, Try'd every art (vain arts !) to change his doom. And vow'd (vain vows !) to join him in the tomb. What would she do ? The Fates alike deny The dead to live, or fairy forms to die."
The fact is so positively proved, that no editor or commentator of Shakespeare, present or future, will ever have the folly or impudence to assert " that ill Shakespeare's time the notion of fairies dying was generally known."
Ariosto informs us (in Harington's translation, Bk. X. s. 47) that
"... (Either auncient folks believ'd a lie, Or this is true) a fayrie cannot die."
And again (Bk. xliii. s. 92),
" I am a fayrie, and, to make you know, To be a fayrie what it doth import :
We cannot dj^e, how old so ear we grow. Of paines and harmes of ev'rie other sort
We tast, onelie no death we nature ow,"
Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Faithful Shepherdess,
describe —
" A virtuous well, about whose flow'ry banks The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds. By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes Their stolen children, so to make 'em free From dying flesh, and dull mortality."
Puck, alias Eobin Good-fellow, is the most active and extraordinary felloAV of a fairy that we any-
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 27
where meet with, and it is believed we find him nowhere but in our own country, and, peradventure also, only in the South. Spenser, it would seem, is the first that alludes to his name of Puck : —
" Ne let the Pouke, nor other evill spright, Ne let Hob-goblins, names whose sense we see not, Fray us with things that be not."
"In our childhood," says Reginald Scot, "our mothers' maids have so terrified us with an oughe divell having homes on his head, fier in his mouth, and a taile, eies like a bason, fanges like a dog, clawes like a beare, a skin like a niger, and a voice roaring like a lion, whereby we start and are afraid when we heare one crie Bough ! and they have so fraied us with bull-beggers, spirits, witches, urchens, elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, sylens. Kit with the cansticke, tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps, calcars, conjurors, nymphes, changling, Incubus, Eobin Goodfellow, the spoorne, the mare, the man in the oke, the hell wain, the fier drake, the puckle, Tom Thombe, Hob gobblin, Tom Tumbler, boneles, and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our owne shadowes." — {Discoverie of Witchcraft, London, 1584, 4to, p. 153.) "And know you this by the waie," he says, " that heretofore Robin Goodfellow and Hob goblin were as terrible, and also as credible, to the people as hags and witches be now. . . . And in truth, they that mainteine walking spirits
28 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
have no reason to denie Robin Goodfellow, upon whom there hath gone as manie and as credible tales as upon witches, saving that it hath not pleased the translators of the Bible to call spirits by the name of Robin Goodfellow."— (P. 131.)
" Your grandams' maides," says he, " were woont to set a boll of milke before Incubus and his cousine Robin Goodfellow for grinding of malt or mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight ; and you have also heard that he would chafe exceedingly if the maid or good-wife of the house, having compassion of his naked state, laid anie clothes for him, besides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing fee. For in that case he saith, "What have we here 1
"Hemtou, hamton, Here will I never more tread nor stampen."
(Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. So.)
Robin is thus characterised in The Midsunwier Nighfs Bream by a female fairy : —
" Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else j'ou are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he That fright th» maidens of the villager}' ; Skim milk ; aud sometimes labour in the quern, Aud bootless make the breathless housewife churn ; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ; Mislead uight-wauderers, laughing at their harm ? Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck. You do their work, and they shall have good luck."
A DISSERTATION OX FAIRIES. 29
To these questions Robin thus replies : —
" Thou speak'st aright ; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal : And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab ; And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob, And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale. Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And ' tailor,' cries, and falls into a cough ; And then the whole quire hold their hips, and laugh ; And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear, A merrier hour was never wasted there."
His usual exclamation in this play is Ho, ho, ho ! "Ho, ho, ho ! Coward, why com'st thou not ? "
So in GiTin, the Collier of Croydon : —
" Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship ! Is Robin GoodfeUow a bugbear grown. That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "
In the song printed by Peck, he concludes every stanza with Ho, ho, ho ! , ,
" If that the bowle of curds and creame were not duly set out for Robin GoodfeUow, the frier, and Sisse the dairymaid, why, then, either the pottage was so burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses would not curdle, or the butter would not come, or
30 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the ale in the fat .never would have good head. But if a Peter-penny, or an housle-egge were behind, or a patch of tythe unpaid, then 'ware of bull- beggars, spirits," etc.
This frolicsome spirit thus describes himself in Jonson's masque of Love Restored : " Eobin Good- fellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all their other drudgery, while they are at hot-cockles ; one that has conversed with your court spirits ere now." Having recounted several ineffectual attempts he had made to gain admittance, he adds : " In this despair, when all invention and translation too failed me, I e'en went back and stuck to this shape you see me in of mine own, with my broom and my canles, and came on confidently." The mention of his broom reminds us of a passage in another play, Midsummer Night's Dream, where he tells the audience —
" I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door."
He is likewise one of the dramatis personce in the old play of Wily Beguiled, in Avhich he says —
" Tush ! fear not the dodge. I '11 rather put on my flashing red nose, and my flaming face, and come wrap'd in a calf-skin, and cry Bo, bo ! I '11 pay the scholar, I warrant thee." — (Harsnet's Declaration, London, 1604, 4to.) His character, however, in
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 31
this piece, is so diabolical, aud so different from anything one could expect in Eobin Good-fellow, that it is unworthy of further quotation.
He appears, likewise, in another, entitled Grim, the Collier of Croydon, in which he enters " in a suit of leather close to his body; his face and hands coloured russet colour, with a flail."
He is here, too, in most respects, the same strange and diabolical personage that he is represented in JFily Beguiled, only there is a single passage which reminds us of his old habits : —
" When as I list in this transform'd disguise I '11 fright the country people as I pass ; And sometimes turn me to some other form, And so delude them with fantastic shows, But woe betide the silly dairymaids, For I shall fleet their cream-bowls night by night."
In another scene he enters while some of the other characters are at a bowl of cream, upon which he says —
" I love a mess of cream as well as they ; I think it were best I stept in and made one : Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship ! Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "
There is, indeed, something characteristic in this passage, but all the rest is totally foreign.
Doctor Percy, Bishop of Dromore, has reprinted
in his Beliqites of Ancient English Poetry^ very curious
r.
r
32 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and excellent old ballad originally published by Peck, who attributes it, but with no similitude, to Ben Jouson, in which Eobin Good-fellow relates his exploits with singular humour. To one of these copies, he says, " were prefixed two wooden cuts, which seem to represent ' the dresses in which this whimsical character was formerly exhibited upon the stage." In this conjecture, however, the learned and ingenious editor was most egregiously mistaken, these cuts being manifestly printed from the identical blocks made use of by Bulwer in his " Artificial Changeling," printed in 1 6 1 5, the first being intended for one of the black and white gallants of Seale-bay adorned with the moon, stars, etc., the other a hairy savage.
Burton, speaking of fairies, says that " a bigger kind there is of them, called with Hobgoblins, and Robin Goodfellowes, that would in those superstitious times, grinde corne for a messe of milke, cut wood, or do any kind of drudgery worke." Afterward, of the dsemons that mislead men in the night, he says, "We commonly call them Pucks." — {Anatomy of Ilelancholie.)
Cartwright, in The Ordinary, introduces Moth, repeating this curious charm : —
" Saint Frances and Saint Benediglit Blesse this house from wicked wight, From the nightmare, and the goblin That is hight Goodfellow Robin ;
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 33
Keep it from all evil spirits, Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets ;
From curfew time
To the next prime."
(Act ITT. So. 1.)
This Puck, or Robin Good-fellow, seems, likewise, to be the illusory candle-holder, so fatal to travellers, and who is more usually called Jack-a-lantern, or Will-with-a-wisp ; and, as it would seem from a passage elsewhere cited from Scot, Kit with the canstick Thus a fairy, in a passage of Shakespeare already quoted, asks Robin —
"... Are you not he That frights the maidens of the villagery, Misleads night-wanderers laughing at their harm ? "
Milton alludes to this deceptive gleam in the following lines —
"... A wandering fire, Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night Condenses, and the cold environs round, Kindled through agitation to a flame. Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends, Hovering and blazing with delusive light, Misleads th' amazed night-wanderer from his way To bogs and mires, and oft through pond and pool."
(Paradise Lost, Bk. 9).
He elsewhere calls him " the frier's lantern." — (L'AUegro).
This facetious spirit only misleads the benighted traveller (generally an honest farmer, in his way
English. C
34 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
from the market, iu a state of intoxication) for the joke's sake, as one very seldom, if ever, hears any of his deluded follo^yers (who take it to be the torch of Hero in some hospitable mansion, affording " provision for man and horse ") perishing in these ponds or pools, through which they dance or plunge after him so merrily.
" There go as mania tales," says Eeginald Scot, " upon Hudgin, in some parts of Germanie, as there did in England of Eobin Good-fellow. . . . Frier Eush was for all the world such another fellow as this Hudgin, and brought up even in the same schoole — to wit, in a kitchen, inasmuch as the selfe-same tale- is written of the one as of the other, concerning the skullian, who is said to have beene slaine, etc., for the reading whereof I referre you to frier Eush his storie, or else to John Wierus, De Frcestigiis Dcemonum."
In the old play of Gammer Ckirton' s Needle, printed in 1575, Hodge, describing a "great black devil" which had been raised by Diccon, the bedlam, and being asked by Gammer —
" But, Hodge, had he no horns to push ?"
replies —
" As long as your two arms. Saw ye never Fryer Rushe, Painted on a cloth, with a side-long cowe's tayle, And crooked cloven feet, and many a hoked nayle ? For al the world (if I schuld judg) chould reckon him his
brother ; Loke even what face frier Rush had, the devil had such another."
A DISSEETATION ON FAIRIES. 35
The fairies frequented many parts of the bishopric of Durham. There is a hillock, or tumulus, near Bishopton, and a large hill near Billingham, both which used, in former time, to be " haunted by fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage between Darlington and Durham, is evidently a corruption of Fairy-hill. When seen, by accident or favour, they are described as of the smallest size, and uniformly habited in green. They could, how- ever, occasionally assume a different size and appear- ance; as a woman, who had been admitted into their society, challenged one of the guests, whom she espied in the market, selling fairy-butter. This freedom was deeply resented, and cost her the eye she first saw him with. Mr. Brand mentions his having met with a man, who said he had seen one who had seen the fairies. Truth, he adds, is to be come at in most cases. None, he believes, ever came nearer to it in this than he has done. How- ever that may be, the present editor cannot pretend to have been more fortunate. His informant related that an acquaintance in Westmoreland, having a great desire, and praying earnestly, to see a fairy, was told by a friend, if not a fairy in disguise, that on the side of such a hill, at such a time of day, he should have a sight of one, and accordingly, at the time and place appointed, " the hobgoblin," in his own words, " stood before him in the likeness of a green-coat lad," but in the same instant, the
36 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
spectator's eye glancing, vanished into the hill. This, he said, the man told him.
"The streets of Newcastle," says Mr. Brand, " were formerly (so vulgar tradition has it) haunted by a nightly guest, which appeared in the shape of a mastiff dog, etc., and terrified such as were afraid of shadows. I have heard," he adds, " when a boy, many stories concerning it."
The no less famous barguest of Durham, and the Picktree-ira^, have been already alluded to. The former, beside its many other pranks, would some- times, at the dead of night, in passing through the different streets, set up the most horrid and con- tinuous shrieks to scare the poor girls who might happen to be out of bed. The compiler of the present sheets remembers, when very young, to have heard a respectable old woman, then a mid- wife at Stockton, relate that when, in her youth- ful days, she was a servant at Durham, being up late one Saturday night cleaning the irons in the kitchen, she heard these shrikes, first at a great and then at a less distance, till at length the loudest and most horrible that can be conceived, just at the kitchen window, sent her upstairs, she did not know how, where she fell into the arms of a fellow- servant, who could scarcely prevent her fainting away.
" Pioneers or diggers for metal," according to Lavater, " do afiirme that in many mines there
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 37
appeare straunge shapes and spirites, who are apparelled like unto other laborers in the pit. These wander up and down in caves and under- minings, and seeme to bestuire themselves in all kinde of labour, as to digge after the veine, to carrie to- gither oare, to put it in baskets, and to turne the winding-whele to draw it up, when, in very deede, they do nothing lesse. They very seldome hurte the labourers (as they say) except they provoke them by laughing and rayling at them, for then they threw gravel stones at them, or hurt them by some other means. These are especially haunting in pittes where mettall moste aboundeth." — (Of ghosfes, etc., London, 1572, 4to, p. 73.) This is our great Milton's
"Swart faery of the mine."
" Simple foolish men imagine, I know not howe, that there be certayne elves or fairies of the earth, and tell many straunge and marvellous tales of them, Avhich they have heard of their grandmothers and mothers, howe they have appeared unto those of the house, have done service, have rocked the cradell, and (which is a signe of good luck) do con- tinually tarry in the house." — (Of gJiostes, etc., p. 49.)
Mallet, though without citing any authority, says, "after all, the notion is not everywhere ex- ploded that there are in the bowels -of the earth, fairies, or a kind of dwarfish and tiny beings of
38 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
human shape, and remarkable for their riches, their activity, and malevolence. In many countries of the north, the people are still firmly persuaded of their existence. In Ireland, at this day, the good folk show the very rocks and hills in which they maintain that there are swarms of these small sub- terraneous men, of the most tiny size, but the most delicate figures." — {Northern Antiquities, etc, ii. 47.)
There is not a more generally received opinion throughout the principality of Wales than that of the existence of fairies. Amongst the commonalty it is, indeed, universal, and by no means unfrequently credited by the second ranks.
Fairies are said, at a distant period, "to have frequented Bussers-hill in St. Mary's island, but their nightly pranks, aerial gambols, and cockle- shell abodes, are now quite unknown." — (Heath's Account of the Islands of Scilly, p. 129.)
" Evil spirits, called fairies, are frequently seen in several of the isles [of Oi'kney], dancing and making merry, and sometimes seen in armour." — (Brand's Description of Orhieij, Edin., 1703, p. 61.)
NELLY, THE KNOCKER.
A FARM-STEADING situated near the borders of Northumberland, a few miles from Haltwhistle, was
once occupied by a family of the name of W
K n. In front of the dwelling-house, and at
about sixty yards' distance, lay a stone of vast size, as ancient, for so tradition amplifies the date, as the flood. On this stone, at the dead hour of the night, might be discerned a female figure, wrapped in a grey cloak, with one of those low- crowned black bonnets, so familiar to our grandmothers, upon her head. She was incessantly knock, knock, knocking, in a fruitless endeavour to split the im- penetrable rock. Duly as night came round, she occupied her lonely station, in the same low crouch- ing attitude, and pursued the dreary obligations of her destiny, till the grey streaks of the dawn gave admonition to depart. From this, the only per- ceptible action in which she engaged, she obtained the name of Nelly, the Knocker. So perfectly had the inmates of the farmhouse in the lapse of time, which will reconcile sights and events the most disagreeable and alarming, become accustomed to
39
40 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Nelly's undeviating nightly din, that the work went forward unimpeded and undisturbed by any appre- hension accruing from her shadowy presence. Did the servant-man make his punctual resort to the neighbouring cottages, he took the liberty of scrutin- ising Nelly's antiquated garb that varied not with the vicissitudes of seasons, or he pried sympatheti- cally into the progress of her monotonous occupation, and though her pale, ghastly, contracted features gave a momentary pang of terror, it was rapidly effaced in the vortex of good fellowship into which he was speedily drawn. Did the loon venture an appointment with his mistress at the rustic style of the stack-garth, Nelly's unwearied hammer, instead of proving a barrier, only served, by imparting a grateful sense of mutual danger, to render more intense the raptures of the hour of meeting. So apathetic were the feelings cherished towards her, and so little jealousy existed of her power to injure, that the relater of these circumstances states that on several occasions she has passed Nelly at her laborious toil, without evincing the slightest per- turbation, beyond a hurried step, as she stole a glance at the inexplicable and mysterious form.
An event, in the course of years, disclosed the secrets that marvellous stone shrouded, and drove poor Nelly for ever from the scene so inscrutably linked with her fate.
Two of the sons of the farmer were rapidly ap- proaching maturity, when one of them, more reflecting
NELLY, THE KNOCKEK. 41
and shrewd than his compeers, suggested the idea of relieving Nelly from her toilsome avocation, and of taking possession of the alluring legacy to which she was evidently and urgently summoning. He proposed, conjointly with his father and brother, to blast the stone, as the most expeditious mode of gaining access to her arcana, and, this in the open daylight, in order that any tutelary protection she might be disposed to extend to her favourite haunt might, as she was a thing of darkness and the night, be effectually countervailed. Nor were their hopes frustrated, for, upon clearing away the earth and fragments that resulted from the explosion, there was revealed to their elated and admiring gaze, a precious booty of closely packed urns copiously en- riched with gold. Anxious that no intimation of their good fortune should transpire, they had taken the precaution to despatch the female servant on a needless errand, and ere her return the whole trea- sure was efficiently and completely secured. So completely did they succeed in keeping their own counsel, and so successfully did their reputation keep pace with the cautious production of their undivulged treasures, that for many years afterwards they were never suspected of gaining any advantage from poor Nelly's " knocking " ; their improved ap- pearance, and the somewhat imposing figure they made in their little district, being solely attributed to their superior judgment, and to the good manage- ment of their lucky farm.
THE THREE FOOLS.
There was once a good-looking girl, the daughter of well-off country folk, who was loved by an honest young fellow named John. He courted her for a long time, and at last got her and her parents to consent to his marrying her, which was to come off in a few weeks' time.
One day as the girl's father was working in his garden he sat down to rest himself by the well, and, looking in, and seeing how deep it was, he fell a- thinking.
"If Jane had a child," said he to himself, "who knows but that one day it might play about here and fall in and be killed ? "
The thought of such a thing filled him with sorrow, and he sat crying into the well for some time until his wife came to him.
"What is the matter?" asked she. "What are you crying for 1 "
Then the man told her his thoughts —
" If Jane marries and has a child," said he, " who knows but it might play about here and some day fall into the well and be killed 1 "
42
THE THREE FOOLS. 43
"Alack!" cried the woman, "I never thought of that before. It is, indeed, possible."
So she sat down and wept with her husband.
As neither of them came to the house the daughter shortly came to look for them, and when she found them sitting crying into the well —
"What is the matter?" asked she. "Why do you weep 1"
So her father told her of the thought that had struck him.
" Yes," said she, " it might happen."
So she too sat down with her father and mother, and wept into the well.
They had sat there a good while when John comes to them.
" What has made you so sad 1 " asked he.
So the father told him what had occurred, and said that he should be afraid to let him have his daughter seeing her child might fall into the well.
" You are three fools," said the young man, when he had heard him to an end, and leaving them, he thought over whether he should try to get Jane for his wife or not. At length he decided that he would marry her if he could find three people more foolish than her and her father and mother. He put on his boots and went out.
" I will walk till I wear these boots out," said he, " and if I find three more foolish people before I am barefoot, I will marry her."
44 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
So he went on, and walked very far till he came to a barn, at the door of which stood a man with a shovel in his hands. He seemed to be working very hard, shovelling the air in at the door.
" What are you doing 1 " asked John,
" I am shovelling in the sunbeams," replied the man, " to ripen the corn."
" Why don't you have the corn out in the sun for it to ripen it ? " asked John.
" Good," said the man, " AVhy, I never thought of that ! Good luck to you, for you have saved me many a weary day's work."
"That 's fool number one," said John, and went on.
He travelled a long way, until one day he came to a cottage, against the wall of it was placed a ladder, and a man was trying to pull a cow up it by means of a rope, one end of which was round the cow's neck.
" What are you about ? " asked John.
" Why," replied the man, " I want the cow up on the roof to eat off that fine tuft of grass you see growing there."
" Why don't you cut the grass and give it to the cow 1 " asked John.
" Why, now, I never thought of that ! " answered the man. " So I will, of course, and many thanks, for many a good cow have I killed in trying to get it up there."
"That's fool number two," said John to himself.
THE THREE FOOLS. 45
He walked on a long way, thinking there were more fools in the world than he had thought, and wondering what would be the next one he should meet. He had to wait a long time, however, and to walk very far, and his boots were almost worn out before he found another.
One day, however, he came to a field, in the middle of which he saw a pair of trousers standing up, being held up by sticks, A man was running about them and jumping over and over them.
" Hullo ! " cried John. " What are you about 1 "
" Why," said the man, " what need is there to ask 1 Don't you see I want to get the trousers on 1 " so saying he took two or three more runs and jumps, but always jumped either to this side or that of the trousers.
" Why don't you take the trousers and draw them on 1 " asked John.
" Good," said the man. " Why, I never thought of it ! Many thanks. I only wish you had come before, for I have lost a great deal of time in trying to jump into them."
" That," said John, " is fool number three."
So, as his boots were not yet quite worn out, he returned to his home and went again to ask Jane of her father and mother. At last they gave her to him, and they lived very happily together, for John had a rail put round the well and the child did not fall into it.
SOME MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
From a chap-book printed at Hull in the beginning of the present century.]
Tale First.
There were two men of Gotham, and one of them was going to the market at Nottingham to buy- sheep, and the other was coming from the market, and both met together on Nottingham bridge.
" AVell met," said the one to the other.
"Whither are you a-going?" said he that came from Nottingham.
" Marry," said he that was going thither, " I am going to the market to buy sheep."
"Buy sheep," said the other; "and which way will you bring them home 1 "
" Marry," said the other, " I will bring them over this bridge."
"By Robin Hood," said he that came from Not- tingham, " but thou shalt not."
"By maid Marjoram," said he that was going thither, " but I will,"
46
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 47
" Thou shalt not," said the one.
" I will," said the other,
"Tut here," said the one, and "Tut there," said the other. Then they beat their staves against the ground one against the other, as if there had been a hundred sheep betwixt them.
" Hold them there," said one.
"BeAvare of the leaping over the bridge of my sheep," said the other,
" I care not."
" They shall all come this way," said the one,
" But they shall not," said the other.
As they were in contention, another wise man that belonged to Gotham came from the market with a sack of meal upon his horse, and seeing and hearing his neighbours at strife about sheep, and none betwixt them, said he —
" Ah, fools ! will you never learn wit 1 Then help me," said he that had the meal, " and lay this sack upon my shoulder."
They did so, and he went to one side of the bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sack, and shook out the meal into the river. Then said he —
"How much meal is there in the sack, neigh- bours f
"Marry," answered they, "none."
"Now, by my faith," replied this wise man, " even so much wit is there in your two heads, to strive concerning that thing which you have not."
48 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Now, which was the wisest of all these three persons I leave you to judge.
Tale Second.
On a time the men of Gotham fain would have pinned in the cuckoo, whereby she should sing all the year ; and in the midst of the town they had a hedge made round in compass, and they got the cuckoo, and put her into it, and said —
" Sing here, and you shall lack neither meat nor drink all the year."
The cuckoo, when she perceived herself encom- passed within the hedge, flew away.
" A vengeance on her," said the wise men, " we made not our hedge high enough."
Tale Third.
There was a man of Gotham who went to the market of Nottingham to sell cheese, and, as he was going down the hill to Nottingham bridge, one of his cheese fell out of his wallet, and ran down the hill.
"What! " said the fellow, "can you run to the market alone? I will now send one after the other."
Then laying down the wallet, and taking out the cheese, he tumbled them down the hill, one after the other, and some ran into one bush and some into another, so at last he said —
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 49
"I do charge you to meet me in the market- place."
And when the man came into the market to meet the cheese, he stayed until the market was almost done, then went and inquired of his neighbours and other men if they did see his cheese come to market.
"Why, who should bring them 1" said one of his neighbours.
" Marry, themselves ! " said the fellow. " They knew the way well enough," said he. "A ven- geance on them, for I was afraid, to see my cheese run so fast, that they would run beyond the market. I am persuaded that they are by this time almost at York."
So he immediately takes a horse, and rides after them to York, but was very much disappointed.
But to this day no man has ever heard of the cheese.
Tale Fourth.
When that Good Friday was come the men of Gotham did cast their heads together what to do with their white herrings, red herrings, their sprats, and salt fish. Then one counselled with the other, and agreed that all such fish should be cast into the pond or pool, which was in the middle'^of the town, that the number of them might increase against the next year. Therefore every one that had got any
English. j-v
50 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
fish left did cast them into the pond. Then one said —
** I have as yet gotten left so many red herrings."
" Well," said the other, " and I have left so many whitings."
Another immediately cried out —
"I have as yet gotten so many sprats left."
" And," said the last, " I have got so many salt fishes. Let them all go together into the great pond without any distinction, and we may be sure to fare like lords the next year."
At the beginning of the next Lent they imme- diately went about drawing the pond, imagining they should have the fish, but were much surprised to find nothing but a great eel.
"Ah !" said they, "a mischief on this eel, for he hath eaten up our fish."
"What must we do with him?" said one to the other.
" Kill him !" said one to the other.
" Chop him into pieces," said another.
" Nay, not so," said the other, " but let us drown him."
" Be it accordingly so," replied they all.
So they immediately went to another pond, and did cast the eel into the water.
" Lie there," said these wise men, " and shift for thyself, since you can expect no help from us."
So they left the eel to be drowned.
merry tales of the wise men of gotham. 51
Tale Fifth.
On a certain time there were twelve men of Gotham that went a-fishing ; and some did wade in the water, and some did stand upon dry land. And when they went homeward, one said to the other —
" We have ventured wonderful hard this day in wading, I pray God that none of us may have come from home to be drowned."
" Nay, marry," said one to the other, " let us see that, for there did twelve of us come out."
Then they told themselves, and every man told eleven, and the twelfth man did never tell himself.
"Alas !" said the one to the other, " there is some one of us drowned."
They went back to the brook where they had been fishing, and did make a great lamentation. A courtier did come riding by, and did ask what it was they sought for, and why they were so sor- rowful.
"Oh!" said they, "this day we went to fish in the brook, and here did come out twelve of us, and one of us is drowned. "
" Why," said the courtier, " tell how many there be of you," and the one said eleven, and he did not tell himself.
" Well," said the courtier, " what will you give me, and I will find out twelve men V
52 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" Sir," said they, " all the money we have got."
"Giv^e me the money," said the courtier; and be- gan with the first, and gave a recommendibus over the shoulders, which made him groan, saying, " Here is one ; " and so he served them all, that they groaned at the matter. When he came to the last, he paid him well, saying —
" Here is the twelfth man."
" God's blessing on thy heart for finding out our dear brother."
Tale Sixth.
A man's wife of Gotham had a child, and the father bid the gossips, which were children of eight or ten years of age. The eldest child's name, who was to be godfather, was called Gilbert, the second child's name was Humphrey, and the god- mother's name was Christabel. The friends of all of them did admonish them, saying, that divers of times they must say after the priest. When they were all come to the church-door, the priest said —
" Be you all agreed of the name ? "
" Be you all," said Gilbert, " agreed of the name i
The priest then said —
" Wherefore do you come hither 1 "
Gilbert said, "Wherefore do you come hither]" Humphrey said, " Wherefore do you come hither ] "
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 53
And Christabel said, " Wherefore do you come hither ? "
The priest being amazed, he could not tell what to say, but whistled and said " Whew ! "
Gilbert whistled and said '"' Whew ! " Humphrey whistled and said " Whew ! " and so did Christabel. The priest being angry, said —
" Go home, fools, go home ! "
Then said Gilbert and Humphrey and Christabel the same. #
The priest then himself provided for god-fathers and god-mothers.
Here a man may see that children can do nothing without good instruction, and that they are not wise wJio regard them.
THE TULIP FAIRIES.
Near a pixy field in the ueiglibourlioocl of Dart- moor, there lived, on a time, an old woman who possessed a cottage and a very pretty garden, wherein she cultivated a most beautiful bed of tulips. The pixies, it is traditionally averred, so delighted in this spot that they would carry their elfin babes thither, and sing them to rest. Often, at the dead hour of the night, a sweet lullaby was heard, and strains of the most melodious music would float in the air, that seemed to owe their origin to no other musicians than the beautiful tulips themselves, and whilst these delicate flowers waved their heads to the evening breeze, it sometimes seemed as if they were marking time to their own singing. As soon as the elfin babes were lulled asleep by such melodies, the pixies would return to the neighbouring field, and there commence dancing, making those rings on the green which showed, even to mortal eyes, what sort of gambols had occupied them during the night season.
At the first dawn of light the watchful pixies once more sought the tulips, and, though still
54
THE TULIP FAIRIES. 55
invisible they could be heard kissing and caressing their babies. The tulips, thus favoured by a race of genii, retained their beauty much longer than any other flowers in the garden, whilst, though contrary to their nature, as the pixies breathed over them, they became as fragrant as roses, and so delighted at all was the old woman who kept the garden that she never suffered a single tulip to be plucked from its stem.
At length, however, she died, and the heir who succeeded her destroyed the enchanted flowers, and converted the spot into a parsley-bed, a circumstance which so disappointed and off"ended the pixies, that they caused all the parsley to wither away, and, indeed, for many years nothing would grow in the beds of the Avhole garden. These sprites, however, though eager in resenting an injury, were, like most warm spirits, equally capable of returning a benefit, and if they destroyed the product of the good old woman's garden when it had fallen into unworthy hands, they tended the bed that wrapped her clay with affectionate solicitude. They were heard lamenting and singing sweet dirges around her grave ; nor did they neglect to pay this mournful tribute to her memory every night before the moon was at the full, for then their high solemnity of dancing, singing, and rejoicing took place to hail the queen of the night on completing her circle in the heavens. No human hand ever tended the grave
56 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
of the poor old woman who had nurtured the tulip bed for the delight of these elfin creatures ; but no rank weed was ever seen to grow upon it. The sod was ever green, and the prettiest flowers would spring up without sowing or planting, and so they continued to do until it was supposed the mortal body was reduced to its original dust.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS.
I.
[From a Chap-book printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, London. Probable date, 1780.]
In the reign of King Arthur, near to the Land's End of England, in the County of Cornwall, lived a wealthy farmer, who had a son named Jack. He was brisk and of a ready wit, so that whatever he could not perform by force and strength he completed by wit and policy. Never was any person heard of that could worst him. Nay, the very learned many times he has baffled by his cunning and sharp inventions.
In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a large and monstrous giant of eighteen feet high, and about three yards in circumference, of a fierce and grim countenance, the terror of the neighbouring towns and villages.
His habitation was in a cave in the midst of the Mount. Never would he suffer any living creature to keep near him. His feeding was on other men's
67
58 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
cattle, which often became his prey, for whenever he wanted food, he would wade over to the mainland, where he would well furnish himself with whatever he could find, for the people at his approach would all forsake their habitations. Then would he seize upon their cows and oxen, of which he would think nothing to carry over upon his back half a dozen at one time ; and as for their sheep and boys, he would tie them round his waist like a bunch of candles. This he practised for many years, so that a great part of the county of Cornwall was very much im- poverished by him.
Jack having undertaken to destroy this voracious monster, he furnished himself with a horn, a shovel, and a pickaxe, and over to the mount he went in the beginning of a dark winter's evening, where he fell to work, and before morning had dug a pit twenty-two feet deep, and in width nearly the same, and covering it over with sticks and straw, and then strewing a little mould over it, it appeared like plain ground. Then, putting his horn to his mouth, he blew tan-tivy, tan-tivy, which noise awoke the giant, who came roaring towards Jack, crying out —
" You incorrigible villain, you shall pay dearly for disturbing me, for I will broil you for my breakfast."
These words were no sooner spoke, but he tumbled lieadlong into the pit, and the heavy fall made the foundation of the Mount to shake.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 59
" 0 Mr. Giant, where are you now 1 Oh, faith, you are gotten into Lob's Pound, where I will surely plague you for your threatening words. What do you think now of broiling me for your breakfast 1 Will no other diet serve you but poor Jack 1 "
Having thus spoken and made merry with him a while, he struck him such a blow on the crown with his pole-axe that he tumbled down, and with a groan expired. This done, Jack threw the dirt in upon him and so buried him. Then, searching the cave, he found much treasure.
Now when the magistrates who employed Jack heard that the job was over, the}' sent for him, declaring that he should be henceforth called Jack the Giant Killer, and in honour thereof presented him with a sword and an embroidered belt, upon which these words were written in letters of gold —
" Here 's the valiant Coruish mau, Who slew the giant, Cormorau."
The news of Jack's victory was soon spread over the western parts, so that another giant, called Old Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be revenged on Jack, if it ever was his fortune to light on him. The giant kept an enchanted castle situated in the midst of a lonesome wood.
About four months after as Jack was walk- ing by the borders of this wood, on his journey towards Wales, he grew weary, and therefore sat
60 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
himself dowu by the side of a pleasant fountain, when a deep sleep suddenly seized him. At this time the giant, coming there for water, found him, and by the lines upon his belt immediately knew him to be Jack, who had killed his brother giant. So, without any words, he took him upon his shoulder to carry him to his enchanted castle. As he passed through a thicket, the jostling of the boughs awoke Jack, who, finding himself in the clutches of the giant was very much surprised, though it Avas but the beginning of his terrors, for, entering the walls of the castle, he found the floor strewn and the walls covered with the skulls and bones of dead men, when the giant told him his bones should enlarge the number of what he saw. He also told him that the next day he would eat him with pepper and vinegar, and he did not question but that he would find him a curious breakfast. This said, he locks up poor Jack in an upper room, leaving him there while he went out to fetch another giant who lived in the same wood, that he also might partake of the pleasure they should have in the destruction of honest Jack. While he was gone dreadful shrieks and cries affrighted Jack, especially a voice which continually
cried —
" Do what you can to get away, Or you '11 become the giant's prey ; He 's gone to fetch his brother who Will likewise kill and torture you,"
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 61
This dreadful noise so affrighted poor Jack, that he was ready to run distracted. Then, going to a window he oiDened the casement, and beheld afar off the two giants coming.
" So now," quoth Jack to himself, " my death or deliverance is at hand."
There were two strong cords in the room by him, at the end of which he made a noose, and as the giants were unlocking the iron gates, he threw the ropes over the giants' heads, and then threw the other end across a beam, when he pulled with all his might till he had throttled them. Then, fastening the ropes to a beam, he returned to the window, where he beheld the two giants black in the face, and so sliding down the ropes, he came upon the heads of the helpless giants, Avho could not defend themselves, and, drawing his own sword, he slew them both, and so delivered himself from their intended cruelty. Then, taking the bunch of keys, he entered the castle, where, upon strict search, he found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads, and almost starved to death.
" Sweet ladies," said Jack, " I have destroyed the monster and his brutish brother, by which means I have 'obtained your liberties."
This said, he presented them with the keys of the castle, and proceeded on his journey to Wales.
Jack having got but little money, thought it prudent to make the best of his way by travelling
G2 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hard, and at lengtli, losing liis road, he was benighted, and could not get a place of entertainment, till, coining to a valley between two hills, he found a large house in a lonesome place, and by reason of his present necessity he took courage to knock at the gate. To his amazement there came forth a monstrous giant, having two heads, yet he did not seem so fiery as the other two, for he was a Welsh giant, and all he did was by private and secret malice, under the false show of friendship. Jack, telling his condition, he bid him welcome, showing him into a room with a bed, where he might take his night's repose. Upon this Jack undressed him- self, but as the giant was walking to another apartment Jack heard him mutter these words to himself —
" Tho' here you lodge with me this night, You shall not see the morning light, My club shall dash your brains out quite."
" Say you so 1 " says Jack. " Is this one of your Welsh tricks 1 I hope to be as cunning as you."
Then, getting out of bed, and feeling about the room in the dark, he found a thick billet of wood, and laid it in the bed in his stead, then he hid himself in a dark corner of the room. In the' dead time of the night came the giant with his club, and he struck several blows on the bed where Jack had artfully laid the billet. Then the giant returned back to his own room, supposing he had broken all
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 63
his bones. Early in the morning Jack came to thank him for his lodgins:.
"Oh," said the giant, "how have you rested? Did you see anything in the night 1 "
"No," said Jack, "but a rat gave me three or four slaps with his tail."
Soon after the giant went to breakfast on a great bowl of hasty pudding, giving Jack but a small quantity. Jack, being loath to let him know he could not eat with him, got a leather bag, and, putting it artfully under his coat, put the pudding into it. Then he told the giant he would show him a trick, and taking up a knife he ripped open the bag and out fell the pudding. The giant thought he had cut open his stomach and taken the pudding out.
"Odds splutters," says he, "hur can do that hur- self," and, taking the knife up, he cut himself so badly that he fell down and died.
Thus Jack outwitted the Welsh giant and pro- ceeded on his journey.
King Arthur's only son desired his father to furnish him with a certain sum of money, that he might go and seek his fortune in the principality of Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, whom he had heard was possessed with seven evil spirits.
The king, his father, counselled him against it, yet he could not be persuaded, so the favour was granted, which was one horse loaded with money, and another to ride on. Thus he went forth with-
64 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
out any attendants., and after several days' travel he came to a large market-town in Wales, where he beheld a vast crowd of people gathered together. The king's son demanded the reason of it, and was told that they had arrested a corpse for many large sums of money, which the deceased owed before he diea The king's son replied —
"It is a pity that creditors should be so cruel. Go, bury the dead, and let the creditors come to my lodgings, and their debts shall be discharged."
Accordingly they came, and in such great numbers that before night he had almost left himself penni- less. Now Jack the Giant Killer being there, and seeing the generosity of the king's son, desired to be his servant. It being agreed on, the next morning they set forward. As they were riding out of the town's end, an old woman cried out —
" He has owed me twopence seven years, pray, sir, pay me as well as the rest."
The king's son put his hand in his pocket and gave it her, it being the last money he had, then, turning to Jack, he said —
" Take no thought nor heed. Let me alone, and I warrant you we will never want."
Now Jack had a small spell in his pocket, the which served for a refreshment, after which they had but one penny left between them. They spent the forenoon in travel and familiar discourse, until the sun grew low, when the king's son said —
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 65
" Jack, since we have got no money where can we lodge to-night 1 "
Jack replied —
" Master, we will do well enough, for I have an uncle who lives within two miles of this place. He is a huge and monstrous giant, having three beads. He will beat five hundred men in armour, and make them fly before him."
" Alas ! " said the king's son, " what shall we do there? He will eat us up at a mouthful — nay, we are scarce sufficient to fill one hollow tooth."
" It is no matter for that," says Jack. " I myself will go before and prepare the way for you. Tarry here, and wait my return."
He Avaited, and Jack rode full speed. Coming to the castle gate, he immediately began to knock with such force that all the neighbouring hills resounded. The giant, roaring with a voice like thunder, called —
" Who is there 1 "
" None, but your poor cousin Jack." . " And what news," said he, " with my cousin Jack?"
He replied —
" Dear uncle, heavy news."
" God wot ! Prithee ! what heavy news can come to me ? I am a giant with three heads, and besides, thou knowest, I fight five hundred men in armour, and make them all fly like chaff" before the wind."
" Oh," said Jack, " but here is a king's son coming
6G ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
witii a thousand ineu in armour to kill you, and to destroy all you have."
" 0 my cousin Jack, this is heavy news indeed, but I have a large vault underground where I ■will run and hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt, and bar me in, and keep the keys till the king's son is gone."
Jack, having now secured the giant, returned and fetched his master, and both made merry with the best dainties the house afforded. In the morning Jack furnished his master mth fresh supplies of gold and silver, and having set him three miles on the road out of the giant's smell, he returned and let his uncle out of the hole, who asked Jack what he should give him for his care of him, seeing his castle was demolished.
" Why," said Jack, " I desire nothing but your old rusty sword, the coat in the closet, and the cap and the shoes at your bed's head."
"Ay," said the giant, "thou shalt have them, and be sure keep you them, for my sake. They are things of excellent use. The coat will keep you invisible, the cap will furnish you with knowledge, the sword cuts asunder whatever you strike, and the shoes are of extraordinary swiftness. They may be serviceable to you, so take them with all my heart."
Jack took them, and immediately followed his master. Having overtaken him, they soon arrived at the lady's dwelling, who, finding the king's son to
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 67
be a suitor, prepared a banquet for him, which being ended, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, saying — " You must show me this to-morrow morn- ing, or lose your head," and then she put it in her bosom.
The king's son went to bed right sorrowful, but Jack's cap of knowledge instructed him how to obtain the handkerchief In the midst of the night the lady called upon her familiar to carry her to Lucifer. Jack whipped on his coat of darkness, with his shoes of swiftness, and was there before her, but could not be seen by reason of his coat, which rendered him perfectly invisible to Lucifer himself. When the lady came she gave him the handkerchief, from whom Jack took it, and brought it to his master, who, showing it the next morning to the lady, saved his life. This much surprised the lady, but he had yet a harder trial to undergo. The next night the lady salutes the king's son, telling him he must show her the next day the lips she kissed last or lose his head.
" So I will," replied he, " if you kiss none but mine."
" It is neither here nor there for that," says she. " If you do not, death is your portion."
At midnight she went again and chid Lucifer for letting the handkerchief go.
" But now," said she, " I shall be too hard for the king's son, for I will kiss thee, and he is to show me
68 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the lips I kissed last, and he can never show me thy lips."
Jack, standing up with his sword of sharpness, cut off the evil spirit's head, and brought it under his invisible coat to his master, who laid it at the end of his bolster, and in the morning, when the lady came up, he pulled it out and showed her the lips which she kissed last. Thus, she having been answered twice, the enchantment broke, and the evil spirit left her, to their mutual joy and satisfac- tion. Then she appeared her former self, both beauteous and virtuous. They were married the next morning, and soon after returned with joy to the court of King Arthur, where Jack, for his good services, was made one of the knights of the Round Table.
11.
[From a Chap-book, printed and sold at Newcastle, by J. White, 1711.]
Jack, having been successful in all his undertak- ings, and resolved not to be idle for the future, but to perform what service he could for the honour of his king and country, humbly requested of the king, his royal master, to fit him with a horse and money, to travel in search of strange and new adventures. "For," said he, "there are many giants yet living in the remote parts of the kingdom, and in the
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS, 69
dominions of Wales, to the unspeakable damage of your majesty's liege subjects, wherefore, may it please your majesty to give me encouragement, and I doubt not but in a short time to cut them all off, root and branch, and so rid the realm of those cruel giants and devouring monsters in nature,"
Now, when the king had heard these noble pro- positions, and had duly considered the mischievous practices of those bloodthirsty giants, he immedi- ately granted what honest Jack requested. And on the first day of March, being thoroughly furnished with all necessaries for his progress, he took his leave, not only of King Arthur, but likewise of all the trusty and hardy knights belonging to the Eound Table, who, after much salutation and friendly greeting, parted, the king and nobles to their courtly palaces, and Jack the Giant Killer to the eager pursuit of Fortune's favours, taking with him the cap of knowledge, sword of sharpness, shoes of swift- ness, and likewise the invisible coat, the latter to perfect and complete the dangerous enterprises that lay before him.
He travelled over vast hills and wonderful moun- tains till, at the end of three days, he came to a large and spacious wood, through which he must needs pass, where, on a sudden, to his great amaze- ment, he heard dreadful shrieks and cries. Casting his eyes around to observe what it might be, he beheld with wonder a giant rushing along with a
70 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
worthy knight and his fair lady, whom he held by the hair of their heads in his hands, with as much ease as if they had been but a pair of gloves, the sight of which melted honest Jack into tears of pity and compassion. Alighting off his horse, which he left tied to an oak-tree, and then putting on his invisible coat, under which he carried his sword of sharpness, he came up to the giant, and, though he made several passes at him, yet, nevertheless, he could not reach the trunk of his body by reason of his height, though he wounded his thighs in several places. At length, giving him a swinging stroke, he cut off both his legs, just below the knees, so that the trunk of his body made not only the ground to shake, but likewise the trees to tremble with the force of its fall, at which, by mere fortune, the knight and his lady escaped his rage. Then had Jack time to talk with him, and, setting his foot upon his neck, he said —
" Thou savage and barbarous wretch, I am come to execute upon you the just reward of your villainy," and with that, running him through and through, the monster sent forth a hideous groan, and yielded up his life into the hands of the valiant conqueror, Jack tlie Giant Killer, while the noble knight and virtuous lady were both joyful spectators of his sudden downfall and their deliverance.
This being done, the courteous knight and his fair lady not only returned Jack hearty thanks for
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 71
their deliverance, but also invited him home, there to refresh himself after the dreadful encounter, as likewise to receive some ample reward, by way of gratuity, for his good service.
"No," quoth Jack; "I cannot be at ease till I find out the den which was this monster's habita- tion."
The knight, hearing this, waxed right sorrowful and replied —
" Noble stranger, it is too much to run a second risk, for note, this monster lived in a den under yon mountain with a brother of his, more fierce and fiery than himself. Therefore, if you should go thither and perish in that attempt it would be the heart- breaking of both me and my lady. Therefore let me persuade you to go with us, and desist from any further pursuit."
" Nay," quoth Jack, " if there be another — nay, were there twenty, I would shed the last drop of blood in my body before one of them should escape my fury. When I have finished this task I will come and pay my respects to you."
So, having taken the directions to their habita- tion, he mounted his horse, leaving them to return home, while he went in pursuit of the deceased giant's brotlier. He had not ridden past a mile and a half before he came in sight of the cave's mouth, near to the entrance of which he beheld the other giant sitting upon a huge block of timber with a
72 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
knotted iron club lying by his side, waiting, as Jack supposed, for his brother's return. His goggle eyes appeared like terrible flames of fire. His counten- ance was grim and ugly, his cheeks being like a couple of large fat flitches of bacon. Moreover, the bristles of his beard seemed to resemble rods of iron wire. His locks hung down upon his broad shoulders, like curled snakes or hissing adders.
Jack alighted from his horse and put him into a thicket, then, with his coat of darkness, he came some- what nearer to behold this figure, and said softly —
" Oh ! are you there 1 It will be not long e'er I shall take you by the beard."
The giant all this time could not see him by reason of his invisible coat. So, coming up close to him, valiant Jack, fetching a blow at his head with his sword of sharpness, and missing something of his arm, cut off" the giant's nose. The pain was terrible, and so he put up his hands to feel for his nose, and when he could not find it, he raved and roared louder than claps of thunder. Though he turned up his large eyes, he could not sec from whence the blow came which had done him that great disaster, yet, nevertheless, he took up his iron- knotted club, and began to lay about him like one that was stark staring mad.
" Nay," quoth Jack, " if you are for that sport, then I will despatch you quickly, for I fear an accidental blow should fall on me."
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 73
Then, as the giant rose from his block, Jack makes no more to do but runs the sword up to the hilt in his body, Avhere he left it sticking for a while, and stood himself laughing, with his hands akimbo, to see the giant caper and dance, crying out.
The giant continued raving for an hour or more, and at length fell down dead, whose dreadful fall had like to have crushed poor Jack had he not been nimble to avoid the same.
This being done, Jack cut off both the giants' heads and sent them to King Arthur by a wagoner whom he hired for the purpose, together with an account of his prosperous success in all his under- takings.
Jack, having thus despatched these monsters, re- solved with himself to enter the cave in search of these giants' treasure. He passed along through many turnings and windings, which led him at length to a room paved with free-stone, at the upper end of which was a boiling cauldron. On the right hand stood a large table where, as he supposed, the giants used to dine. He came to an iron gate where Avas a window secured with bars of iron, through which he looked, and there beheld a vast many miserable captives, who, seeing Jack at a distance, cried out with a loud voice —
" Alas ! young man, art thou come to be one amongst us in this miserable den 1 "
" Ay," quoth Jack, " I hope I shall not tarry
74 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
long here ; but pray tell me what is the meaning of your captivity 1 "
" Why," said one young man, " I 'II tell you. We are persons that have been taken by the giants that keep this cave, and here we are kept till such time as they have occasion for a particular feast, and then the fattest amongst us is slaughtered and pre- pared for their devouring jaws. It is not long since they took three for the same purpose."
" Say you so," quoth Jack ; " well, I have given them both such a dinner that it will be long enough e'er they '11 have occasion for any more."
The miserable captives were amazed at his words.
" You may believe me," quoth Jack, " for I have slain them with the point of my sword, and as for their monstrous heads, I sent them in a wagon to the court of King Arthur as trophies of my un- paralleled victory."
For a testimony of the truth he had said, he un- locked the iron gate, setting the miserable captives at liberty, who all rejoiced like condemned male- factors at the sight of a reprieve. Then, leading them all together to the aforesaid room, he placed them round the table, and set before them two quarters of beef, as also bread and wine, so that he feasted them very plentifully. Supper being ended, they searched the giants' coffers, where, find- ing a vast store of gold and silver, Jack equally divided it among them. They all returned him
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 75
hearty thanks for their treasure and miraculous deliverance. That night they went to their rest, and in the morning they arose and departed — the captives to their respectiA'^e towns and places of abode, and Jack to the house of the knight whom he had formerly delivered from the hand of the giant.
It was about sun-rising when Jack mounted his horse to proceed on his journey, and by the help of his directions he came to the knight's house some time before noon, Avhere he was received with all demonstrations of joy imaginable by the knight and his lady, who, in honourable respect to Jack, pre- pared a feast, which lasted for many days, inviting all the gentry in the adjacent parts, to whom the worthy knight was pleased to relate the manner of his former danger and the happy deliverance by the undaunted courage of Jack the Giant Killer. By way of gratitude he presented Jack with a ring of gold, on which was engraved, by curious art, the picture of the giant dragging a distressed knight and his fair lady by the hair of the head, with this motto —
" We are in sad distress, you see, Under a giant's fierce command ; But gained our lives and liberty By valiant Jack's victorious hand.
Now, among the vast assembly there present were five aged gentlemen who were fathers to some of
76 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
those miserable captives which Jack had lately set at liberty, who, understanding that he was the person that performed those great wonders, immediately paid their venerable respects. After this their mirth increased, and the smiling bowls went freely round to the prosperous success of the victorious conqueror, but, in the midst of all this mirth, a dark cloud appeared which daunted all the hearts of the honourable assembly.
Thus it was. A messenger brought the dismal tidings of the approach of one Thunderdel, a huge giant with two heads, who, having heard of the death of his kinsmen, the above-named giants, was come from the northern dales in search of Jack to be revenged of him for their most miserable down- fall. He was now within a mile of the knight's seat, the country people flying before him from their houses and habitations, like chaff before the wind. When they had related this, Jack, not a whit daunted, said —
" Let him come. I am prepared with a tool to pick his teeth. And you, gentlemen and ladies, walk but forth into the garden, and you shall be the joyful spectators of this monstrous giant's death and destruction."
To which they consented, every one wishing him good fortune in that great and dangerous enterprise.
The situation of this knight's house take as follows : It was placed in the midst of a small island, encom-
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 77
passed round with a vast moat, thirty feet deep and twenty feet wide, over which lay a drawbridge. Jack employed two men to cut this last on both sides, almost to the middle, and then, dressing him- self in his coat of darkness, likewise putting on his shoes of swiftness, he marches forth against the giant, with his sword of sharpness ready drawn. When he came up to him, yet the giant could not see Jack, by reason of his invisible coat which he had on. Yet, nevertheless, he was sensible of some approaching danger, which made him cry out in these following words —
" Fe, fi, fo, fum ! I smell the blood of an Englishman ; Be he alive or be he dead I '11 grind his bones to make me bread."
" Sayest thou so 1 " quoth Jack, " then thou art a monstrous miller indeed. But what if I serve thee as I did the two giants of late 1 On my conscience, I should spoil your practice for the future,"
At which time the giant spoke, in a voice as loud as thunder —
" Art thou that villain which destroyed my kins- men 1 Then will I tear thee with my teeth, and, what is more, I will grind thy bones to powder."
" You will catch me first, sir," quoth Jack, and with that he threw off his coat of darkness that the giant might see him clearly, and then ran from him, as if through fear. The giant, with foaming mouth
78 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and glaring eyes, followed after, like a walking castle, making the foundation of the earth, as it were, to shake at every step. Jack led him a dance three or four times round the moat belonging to the knight's house, that the gentlemen and ladies might take a full view of this huge monster of nature, who followed Jack with all his might, but could not overtake him by reason of his shoes of swiftness, which carried him faster than the giant could follow. At last Jack, to finish the work, took over the bridge, the giant with full speed pursuing after him, with his iron club upon his shoulder, but, . coming to the middle of the draAvbridge, what with the weight of his body and the most dreadful steps that he took, it broke down, and he tumbled full into the water, where he rolled and wallowed like a whale. Jack, standing at the side of the moat, laughed at the giant and said —
"You told me you would grind my bones to powder. Here you have water enough. Pray, where is your mill 1 "
The giant fretted and foamed to hear him scoff at that rate, and though he plunged from place to place in the moat, yet he could not get out to be avenged on his adversary. Jack at length got a cast rope and cast it over the giant's two heads with a slip-knot, and, by the help of a train of horses, dragged him out again, with which the giant was near strangled, and before Jack would let him loose
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 79
he cut off both his heads with his sword of sharp- ness, in the full view of all the worthy assembly of knights, gentlemen, and ladies, who gave a joyful shout when they saw the giant fairly despatched. Then, before he would either <eat or drink, Jack sent the heads also, after the others, to the court of King Arthur, which being done, he, with the knights and ladies, returned to their mirth and pastime, which lasted for many days.
After some time spent in triumphant mirth and pastime. Jack grew weary of riotous living, where- fore, taking leave of the noble knights and ladies, he set forward in search of new adventures. Through many woods and groves he passed, meeting with nothing remarkable, till at length, coming near the foot of a high mountain, late at night, he knocked at the door of a lonesome house, at which time an ancient man, with a head as white as snow, arose and let him in.
"Father," said Jack, "have you any entertain- ment for a benighted traveller that has lost his way 1 "
" Yes," said the old man, " if you will accept of such accommodation as my poor cottage will afford, thou shalt be right welcome."
Jack returned him many thanks for his great civility, wherefore down they sat together, and the old man began to discourse him as follows —
" Son," said he, " I am sensible thou art the great
80 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
conqueror of giants, and it is in thy power to free this part of the country from an intolerable burden which we groan under. For, behold ! my son, on the top of this high mountain there is an enchanted castle kept by a huge monstrous giant named Galli- gantus, who, by the help of an old conjuror, betrays many knights and ladies into this strong castle, wbere, by magic art, they are transformed into sundry shapes and forms. But, above all, I lament the fate of a duke's daughter, whom they snatched from her father's garden by magic art, carrying her through the air in a mourning chariot drawn, as it were, by two fiery dragons, and, being secured within the walls of the castle, she was immediately transformed into the real shape of a white hind, where she miserably moans her misfortune. Though many worthy knights have endeavoured to break the enchantment and work her deliverance, yet none of them could accomplish this great work, by reason of two dreadful griffins who were fixed by magic art at the entrance of the castle gate, which destroy any as soon as they see them. You, my son, being furnished with an invisible coat, may pass by them undiscovered, and on the brazen gates of the castle you will find engraved in large char- acters by what means the enchantment may be broken."
The old man having ended his discourse, Jack gave him his hand, with a faithful promise that in
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 81
the morning he would venture his life to break the enchantment and free the lady, together with the rest that were miserable partners in her calamity.
Having refreshed themselves with a small morsel of meat, they laid them down to rest, and in the morning Jack arose and put on his invisible coat, cap of knowledge, and shoes of swiftness, and so prepares himself for the dangerous enterprises.
Now, when he had ascended to the top of the mountain, he soon discovered the two fiery griffins. He passed on between them without fear, for they could not see him by reason of his invisible coat. Now, when he was got beyond them, he cast his eyes around him, where he found upon the gates a golden trumpet, hung in a chain of fine silver, under which these lines were engraved —
" Whosoever shall this trumpet blow Shall soon the giant overthrow, And break the black enchantment straight, So all shall be in happy state."
Jack had no sooner read this inscription but he blew the trumpet, at which time the vast founda- tion of the castle tumbled, and the giant, together with the conjuror, was in horrid confusion, biting their thumbs and tearing their hair, knowing their wicked reign was at an end. At that time Jack, standing at the giant's elbow, as he was stooping to take up his club, at one blow, with his sword of
English. F
82 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
sharpness, cut off his head. The conjuror, seeing this, immediately mounted into the air and was carried away in a whirlwind. Thus was the whole enchantment broken, and every knight and lady, that had been for a long time transformed into birds and beasts, returned to their proper shapes and likeness again. As for the castle, though it seemed at first to be of vast strength and bigness, it vanished in a cloud of smoke, whereupon an universal joy appeared among the released knights and ladies. This being done, the head of Galligantus was like- wise, according to the accustomed manner, conveyed to the court of King Arthur, as a present made to his majesty. The very next daj^ after having re- freshed the knights and ladies at the old man's habitation (who lived at the foot of the mountain). Jack set forward for the court of King Arthur, with those knights and ladies he had so honourably delivered.
Coming to his majesty, and having related all the passages of his fierce encounters, his fame rang though the whole court, and, as a reward for his good services, the king prevailed with the aforesaid duke to bestow his daughter in marriage to honest Jack, protesting that there was no man so worthy of her as he, to all which the duke very honourably consented. So married they were, and not only the court, but likewise the kingdom were filled with joy and triumph at the wedding. After which the king.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 83
as a reward for all his good services done for the nation, bestowed upon him a noble habitation with a plentiful estate thereto belonging, where he and his lady lived the residue of their days in great joy and happiness.
THE FAIRIES' CUP.
''In the province of the Deiri (Yorkshire), not far from my birthplace," says William of Newbury, " a wonderful thing occurred, which I have known from my boyhood. There is a town a few miles distant from the Eastern Sea, near which are those celebrated waters commonly called Gipse. ... A peasant of this town went once to see a friend who lived in the next town, and it was late at night when he was coming back, not very sober, when, lo ! from the adjoining barrow, which I have often seen, and which is not much over a quarter of a mile from the town, he heard the voices of people singing, and, as it were, joyfully feasting. He wondered who they could be that were breaking in that place, by their merriment, the silence of the dead night, and he wished to examine into the matter more closely. Seeing a door open in the side of the barrow he went up to it and looked in, and there he beheld a large and luminous house, full of people, women as well as men, who were reclining as at a solemn banquet. One of the attendants, seeing him standing at the door, offered him a cup.
84
THE fairies' cup. 85
He took it, but would not drink, and pouring out the .'contents, kept the vessel. A great tumuh arose at the banquet on account of his taking away the cup, and all the guests pursued him, but he escaped by the fleetness of the beast he rode, and got into the town with his booty.
" Finally this vessel of unknown material, of un- usual colour, and of extraordinary form, was pre- sented to Henry the Elder, King of the English, as a valuable gift ; was then given to the Queen's brother, David, King of the Scots, and was kept for several years in the treasury of Scotland. A few years ago, as I have heard from good authority, it was given by William, King of the Scots, to Henry the Second, who wished to see it."
THE WHITE LADY
There was once on a time an old woman who lived near Heathfield, in Devonshire. She made a slight mistake, I do not know how, and got up at mid- night, thinking it to be morning. This good woman mounted her horse, and set off, panniers, cloak, and all, on her way to market. Anon she heard a cry of hounds, and soon perceived a hare making rapidly towards her. The hare, however, took a turn and a leap and got on the top of the hedge, as if it would say to the old woman " Come, catch me." She liked such hunting as this very well, put forth her hand, secured the game, popped it into one of the panniers, covered it over, and rode forward. She had not gone far, when great was her alarm at perceiving on the dismal and solitary waste of Heathfield, advanc- ing at full pace, a headless horse, bearing a black and grim rider, with horns sprouting from under a little jockey-cap, and having a cloven foot thrust into one stirrup. He was surrounded by a pack of hounds which had tails that whisked about and shone like fire, while the air itself had a strong sulphurous scent. These were signs not to be mis-
8C
THE WHITE LADY. 87
taken, and the poor old woman knew in a moment that huntsman and hounds were taking a ride from the regions below. It soon, however, appeared that however clever the rider might be, he was no con- juror, for he very civilly asked the old woman if she could set him right, and point out which way the hare was flown. The old woman probably thought it was no harm to pay the father of lies in his own coin, so she boldly gave him a negative, and he rode on, not suspecting the cheat. When he was out of sight the old woman perceived the hare in the pannier began to move, and at length, to her great amazement, it changed into a beautiful young lady, all in white, who thus addressed her preserver —
" Good dame, I admire your courage, and I thank you for the kindness with which you have saved me from a state of suff"ering that must not be told to human ears. Do not start when I tell you that I am not an inhabitant of the earth. For a great crime committed during the time I dwelt upon it, I was doomed, as a punishment in the other world, to be constantly pursued either above or below ground by evil spirits, until I could get behind their tails whilst they passed on in search of me. This diffi- cult object, by your means, I have now happily eff"ected, and, as a reward for your kindness, I promise that all your hens shall lay two eggs instead of one, and that your cows shall yield the most plentiful store of milk all the year round, that you
88 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
shall talk twice as much as you ever did before, and your husband stand no chance in any matter be- tween you to be settled by the tongue. But beware of the devil, and don't grumble about tithes, for my enemy and yours may do you an ill-turn when he finds out you were clever enough to cheat even him, since, like all great impostors, he does not like to be cheated himself. He can assume all shapes, except those of the lamb and dove."
The lady in white then vanished. The old woman found the best possible luck that morning in her traffic. And to this day the story goes in the town, that from the Saviour of the world having hallowed the form of the lamb, and the Holy Ghost that of the dove, they can never be assumed by the mortal enemy of the human race under any circum- stances.
A PLEASANT AND DELIGHTFUL HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT.
I.
[From a Chap-book, printed at Whitehaven by Ann Dunn, Market Place. Probable date 17S0.]
In the reign before William the Conqueror, I have read in an ancient history that there dwelt a man in the parish of the Isle of Ely, in the county of Cambridge, whose name was Thomas Hickathrift — a poor man and a day-labourer, yet he was a very stout man, and able to perform two days' work instead of one. He having one son and no more children in the world, he called him by his own name, Thomas Hickathrift. This old man put his son to good learning, but he would take none, for he was, as we call them in this age, none of the wisest sort, but something less, and had no docility at all in him.
His father being soon called out of the world, his mother was tender of him, and maintained him by her hand labour as well as she could, he being sloth-
89
90 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
ful aud not willing to work to get a penny for his living, but all his delight was to be in the chimney- corner, and he would eat as much at one time as would serve four or five men. He was in height, when he was but ten years of age, about eight feet ; and in thickness, five feet; and his hand was like unto a shoulder of mutton ; and in all his parts, from top to toe, he was like unto a monster, aud yet his great strength was not known.
The first time that his strength was known was by his mother's going to a rich farmer's house (she being but a poor woman) to desire a bottle of straw for herself and her son Thomas. The farmer, being a very honest, charitable man, bid her take what she would. She going home to her son Tom, said —
" I pray, go to such a place and fetch me a bottle of straw ; I have asked him leave."
He swore he would not go.
" Nay, prithee, Tom, go," said his mother.
He swore again he would not go unless she would borrow him a cart-rope. She, being willing to please him, because she would have some straw, went and borrowed him a cart-rope to his desire.
He, taking it, went his way. Coming to the farmer's house, the master was in the barn, aud two men a-thrashing. Said Tom —
" I am come for a bottle of straw."
" Tom," said the master, " take as much as thou canst carry."
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 91
He laid down the cart-rope and began to make his bottle. Said they —
" Tom, thy rope is too short," and jeered poor Tom, but he fitted the man well for it, for he made his bottle, and when he had finished it, there was supposed to be a load of straw in it of two thousand pounds weight. Said they —
" What a great fool art thou. Thou canst not carry the tenth of it."
Tom took the bottle, and flung it over his shoulder, and made no more of it than we would do of a hundredweight, to the great admiration of master and man.
Tom Hickathrift's strength being then known in the town they would no longer let him lie baking by the fire in the chimney-corner. Every one would be hiring him for work. They seeing him to have so much strength told him that it was a shame for him to live such a lazy course of life, and to be idle day after day, as he did.
Tom seeing them bate him in such a manner as they did, went first to one work and then to another, but at length came to a man who would hire him to go to the wood, for he had a tree to bring home, and he would content him. Tom went with him, and took with him four men besides ; but when they came to the wood they set the cart to the tree, and began to draw it up with pulleys. Tom seeing them not able to stir it, said —
92 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" Stand away, ye fools!" then takes it up and sets it on one end and lays it in the cart.
" Now," says he, " see what a man can do ! "
" Marry, it is true," said they.
When they had done, as they came through the wood, they met the woodman. Tom asked him for a stick to make his mother a fire Avith.
" Ay," says the woodman. " Take one that thou canst carry."
Tom espied a tree bigger than that one that was in the cart, and lays it on his shoulder, and goes home with it as fast as the cart and the six horses could draw it. This was the second time that Tom's strength was known.
When Tom began to know that he had more strength than twenty men, he then began to be merry and very tractable, and would run or jump ; took great delight to be amongst company, and to go to fairs and meetings, to see sports and pas- times.
Going to a feast, the young men were all met, some to cudgels, some to wrestling, some throwing the hammer, and the like. Tom stood a little to see the sport, and at last goes to them that were throwing the hammer. Standing a little to see their manlike sport, at last he takes the hammer in his hand, to feel the weight of it, and bid them stand out of the way, for he would throw it as far as he could.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 93
"Ay," said the smith, and jeered poor Tom, " You '11 throw it a great way, I '11 av arrant you,"
Tom took the hammer in his hand and flung it. And there was a river about five or six furlongs ofiP, and he flung it into that. When he had done, he bid the smith fetch the hammer, and laughed the smith to scorn.
When Tom had done this exploit he would go to wrestling, though he had no more skill of it than an ass but what he did by strength, yet he flung all that came to oppose him, for if he once laid hold of them they were gone. Some he would throw over his head, some he would lay down slyly and how he pleased. He would not like to strike at their heels, but flung them two or three yards from him, ready to break their necks asunder. So that none at last durst go into the ring to wrestle with him, for they took him to be some devil that was come amons them. So Tom's fame spread more and more in the country.
Tom's fame being spread abroad both far and near, there was not a man durst give him an angry word, for he was something fool-hardy, and did not care what he did unto them, so that all they that knew him would not in the least displease him. At length there was a brewer at Lynn that wanted a good lusty man to carry his beer to the Marsh and to Wisbeach, hearing of Tom, went to hire him, but Tom seemed coy, and would not be his man until his
94 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
mother and friends persuaded him, and his master entreated him. He likewise promised him that he should have a new suit of clothes and everything answerable from top to toe, besides he should eat of the best. Tom at last yielded to be his man, and his master told him how far he must go, for you must understand there was a monstrous giant kept some part of the Marsh, and none durst go that way, for if they did he would keep them or kill them, or else he would make bond slaves of them.
But to come to Tom and his master. He did more work in one day than all his men could do in three, so that his master, seeing him very tractable, and to look well after his business, made him his head man to go into the Marsh to carry beer by himself, for he needed no man with him. Tom went every day in the week to Wisbeach, which was a very good journey, and it was twenty miles the road- way.
Tom — going so long that wearisome journey; and finding that way the giant kept was nearer by half, and Tom having now got much more strength than before by being so well kept and drinking so much strong ale as he did — one day as he was going to Wisbeach, and not saying anything to his master or to any of his fellow-servants, he was resolved 'to make the nearest way to the wood or lose his life, to win the horse or lose the saddle, to kill or be killed, if he met with the giant. And with this
A PLEASANT HISTORY Of THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 95
resolution he goes the nearest way with his cart and horses to go to Wisbeach ; but the giant, perceiving him, and seeing him to be bold, thought to prevent him, and came, intending to take his cart for a prize, but he cared not a bit for him.
The giant met Tom like a lion, as though he would have swallowed him up at a mouthful.
"Sirrah," said he, "who gave you authority to come this way 1 Do you not know I make all stand in fear of my sight, and you, like an impudent rogue, must come and fling my gates open at your pleasure? How dare you presume to do this? Are you so careless of your life ? I will make thee an example for all rogues under the sun. Dost thou not care what thou dost 1 Do you see how many heads hang upon yonder tree that have off"ended my law? Thy head shall hang higher than all the rest for an example ! "
Tom made him answer —
"A fig for your news, for you shall not find me like one of them."
" No ? " said the giant. " Why ? Thou art but a fool if thou comest to fight with such a one as I am, and bring no weapon to defend thyself withal."
Said Tom —
" I have a weapon here will make you understand you are a traitorly rogue."
" Ay, sirrah," said the giant ; and took that word in high disdain that Tom should call him a traitorly
96 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
might become the mansion of a great feudal lord or prince.
Thirty carcasses of deer were lying on the massive kitchen board, under the hands of numerous cooks, who toiled to cut them up and dress them, while the gigantic greyhounds which had taken the spoil lay lapping the blood, and enjoying the sight of the slain game. They came next to the royal hall, where the king received his loving consort ; knights and ladies, dancing by threes, occupied the floor of the hall; and Thomas, the fatigue of his journey from the Eildon Hills forgotten, went forward and joined in the revelry. After a period, however, which seemed to him a very short one, the queen spoke with him apart, and bade him prepare to return to his own country.
" Now," said the queen, " how long think you that you have been here 1 "
" Certes, fair lady," answered Thomas, " not above these seven days."
"You are deceived," answered the queen; "you have been seven years in this castle, and it is full time you were gone. Know, Thomas, that the archfiend will come to this castle to-morrow to de- mand his tribute, and so handsome a man as yo^. will attract his eye. For all the world would I not suffer you to be betrayed to such a fate ; therefore up, and let us be going."
This terrible news reconciled Thomas to his do-
THOMAS THE RHYMER. 97
parture from Elfinlaud ; and the queen was not long in placing him upon Huntly Bank, where the birds were singing. She took leave of him, and to ensure his reputation bestowed on him the tongue which could not lie. Thomas in vain objected to this inconvenient and involuntary adhesion to veracity, which would make him, as he thought, unfit for church or for market, for king's court or for lady's bower. But all his remonstrances were disregarded by the lady; and Thomas the Ehymer, whenever the discourse turned on the future, gained the credit of a prophet whether he would or not, for he could say nothing but what was sure to come to pass.
Thomas remained several years in his own tower near Ercildouu, and enjoyed the fame of his pre- dictions, several of which are current among the country people to this day. At length, as the prophet was entertaining the Earl of March in his dwelling, a cry of astonishment arose in the village, on the appearance of a hart and hind, which left the forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came quietly onward, traversing the village towards the dwelling of Thomas. The prophet instantly rose from the board, and acknowledging the prodigy as
-* the summons of his fate, he accompanied the hart and hind into the forest, and though occasionally
X seen by individuals to whom he has chosen to snow himself, he has never again mixed familiarly with mankind.
Scotch. p
98 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
he put his cart together again, loaded it, and drove it to Wisbeach and delivered his beer, and, coming home to his master, he told it to him. His master was so overjoyed at the new^s that he would not be- lieve him till he had seen ; and, getting up the next day, he and his master went to see if he spoke the truth or not, together with most of the town of Lynn. When they came to the place and found the giant dead, he then showed the place where the head was, and what silver and gold there was in the cave. All of them leaped for joy, for this monster was a great enemy to all the country.
This news was spread all up and down the country, how Tom Hickathrift had killed the giant, and well was he that could run or go to see the giant and his cave. Then all the folks made bonfires for joy, and Tom was a better respected man than before.
Tom took possession of the giant's cave by con- sent of the whole country, and every one said he deserved twice as much more. Tom pulled down the cave and built him a fine house where the cave stood, and in the ground that the giant kept by force and strength, some of which he gave to the poor for their common, the rest he made pastures of, and divided the most part into tillage to maintain him and his mother, Jane Hickathrift.
Tom's fame was spread both far and near through- out the country, and it was no longer Tom but Mr. Hickathrift, so that he was now the chiefest
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 99
man among them, for the people feared Tom's anger as much as they did the giant before. Tom kept men and maid servants, and lived most bravely. He made a park to keep deer in. Near to his house he built a church and gave it the name of St. James's Church, because he killed the giant on that day, which is so called to this hour. He did many good deeds, and became a public benefactor to all persons that lived near him.
Tom having got so much money about him, and being not used to it, could hardly tell how to dispose of it, but yet he did use the means to do it, for he kept a pack of hounds and men to hunt with him, and who but Tom then? So he took such delight in sports that he would go far and near to any meetings, as cudgel-play, bear baiting, football, and the like.
Now as Tom was riding one day, he alighted off his horse to see that sport, for they were playing for a wager. Tom was a stranger, and none did know him there. But Tom spoiled their sport, for he, meeting the football, took it such a kick, that they never found their ball more. They could see it fly, but whither none could tell. They all wondered at it, and began to quarrel with Tom, but some of them got nothing by it, for Tom gets a great spar which belonged to a house that was blown down, and all that stood in his way he knocked down, so that all the county was up in arms to take Tom,
100 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
but all in Vcain, for he manfully made way wherever he came.
When he was gone from them, and returning homewards, he chanced to be somewhat late in the evening on the road. There met him four stout, lusty rogues that had been robbing passengers that way, and none could escape them, for they robbed all they met, both rich and poor. They thought Avhen they met with Tom he would be a good prize for them, and, perceiving he was alone made cock-sure of his money, but they were mistaken, for he got a prize by them. Whereupon, meeting him, they bid him stand and deliver.
" What," said Tom, " shall I deliver ] "
" Your money, sirrah," said they.
" But," said Tom, " you will give me better words for it, and you must be better armed."
" Come, come," said they, " we do not come here to parley, but we come for money, and money we will have before we stir from this place."
" Ay ! " said Tom. " Is it so 'I Then get it and take it."
So then one of them made at him, but he presently unarmed him and took away his sword, which was made of good trusty steel, and smote so hard at the others that they began to put spurs to their horses and be-gone. But he soon stayed their journey, for one of them having a portmanteau behind him, Tom, supposing there was money in it, fougiit with a great
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 101
deal of more courage than before, till at last he killed two of the four, and the other two he wounded very- sore so that they cried out for quarter. With much ado he gave them their lives, but took all their money, which was about two lumdred pounds, to bear his expenses home. Now when Tom came home he told tliem how he had served the football- players and the four highwaymen, which caused a laughter from his old mother. Then, refreshing himself, he went to see how all things were, and what his men had done since he went from home. , Then going into his forest, he walked up and down, and at last met with a lusty tinker that had a good staff on his shoulder, and a great dog to carry his leather bag and tools of work. Tom asked the tinker from whence he came, and whither he was going, for that was no highway. The tinker, being a sturdy fellow, bid him go look, and what was that to him, for fools would be meddling.
" No," says Tom, " but I '11 make you know, before you and I part, it is me."
"Ay!" said the tinker, "I have been this three long years, and have had no combat with any man, and none durst make me an answer. I think they be all cowards in this country, except it be a man who is called Thomas Hickathrift who killed a giant. Him I would fain see to have one combat with him."
" Ay ! " said Tom, " but, methinks, I might be
102 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
master in your month. I am the man : what have you to say to me 1 "
" Why," said the tinker, " verily, I am glad we have met so happily together, that Ave may have one single combat."
" Sure," said Tom, " you do but jest 1 "
" Marry," said the tinker, " I am in earnest."
"A match," said Tom. " Will you give me leave to get a twig 1 "
" Ay," says the tinker. " Hang him that will fight a man unarmed. I scorn that."
Tom steps to the gate, and takes one of the rails for his staff. So they fell to work. The tinker at Tom and Tom at the tinker, like unto two giants, they laid one at the other. The tinker had on a leathern coat, and at every blow Tom gave the tinker his coat cracked again, yet the tinker did not give way to Tom an inch, but Tom gave the tinker a blow on the side of the head which felled the tinker to the ground.
" Now, tinker, where are you ? " said Tom.
But the tinker, being a man of metal, leaped up again, and gave Tom a blow which made him reel again, and followed his blows, and then took Tom on the other side, whicn made Tom's neck crack again. Tom flung down the weapon, and yielded the tinker to be the best man, and took him home to his house, where I shall leave Tom and the tinker to be recovered of their many wounds and bruises, which
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 103
relation is more enlarged as you may read in the second part of Thomas Hickathrift.
II.
[From a Chap-book. The book beai's no date or note as to where or by whom it was printed. It was probably printed at London about the year 1780.]
In and about the Isle of Ely many disaffected persons, to the number of ten thousand and upwards, drew themselves up in a body, presuming to contend for their pretended ancient rights and liberties, insomuch that the gentry and civil magistrates of the country were in great danger, at which time the sheriff, by night, privately got into the house of Thomas Hickathrift as a secure place of refuge in so imminent a time of danger, where before Thomas Hickathrift he laid open the villainous intent of this headstrong, giddy-brained multitude.
"Mr. Sheriff," quoth Tom, "what service my brother " (meaning the tinker) " and I can perform shall not be wanting."
This said, in the morning by daybreak, with trusty clubs, they both went forth, desiring the Sheriff to be their guide in conducting them to the place of the rebels' rendezvous. When they came there, Tom and the tinker marched up to the head of
104 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the multitude, and demanded of them the reason why they disturbed the government, to which they answered with a loud cry —
" Our will 's our law, and by that alone we will be governed."
"Nay," quoth Tom, "if it be so, these trusty clubs are our weapons, and by them you shall be chastised," which Avords were no sooner out of his mouth than the tinker and he put themselves both together in the midst of the throng, and with their clubs beat the multitude down, trampling them under their feet. Every blow which they struck laid twenty or thirty before them, nay — remarkable it was, the tinker struck a tall man, just upon the nape of the neck, with that force that his head flew off and was carried violently fourteen feet from him, where it knocked down one of their chief ring- leaders,— Tom, on the other hand, still pressing forward, till by an unfortunate blow he broke his club. Yet he was not in the least dismayed, for he presently seized upon a lusty, stout, raw-boned miller, and made use of him for a weapon, till at length they cleared the field, so that there Avas not found one that dare lift up a hand against them, havino; run to holes and corners to hide themselves. Shortly after some of their heads were taken and made public examples of justice, the rest being pardoned at the humble request of Thomas Hicka- thrift and the tinker.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 105
The king, being truly informed of the faithful services performed by these his loving subjects, Thomas Hickathrift and the tinker, he was pleased to send for them to his palace, where a royal banquet was prepared for their entertainment, most of the nobility being present. Now after the banquet was over, the king said unto all that were there —
" These are my trusty and well-beloved subjects, meu of approved courage and valour. They are the men that overcam.e and conquered ten thousand, which were got together to disturb the peace of my realm. According to the character that hath been given to Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonsuch, persons here present, they cannot be matched in any other kingdom in the world. Were it jjossible to have an army of twenty thousand such as these, I dare venture to act the part of Alexander the Great over again, yet, in the meanwhile, as a proof of my royal favour, kneel down and receive the ancient order of knighthood, Mr. Hickathrift," which was instantly performed.
"And as for Henry Nonsuch, I will settle upon him, as a reward for his great service, the sum of forty shillings a year, during life," Avhich said, the king withdrew, and Sir Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonsuch, the tinker, returned home, attended by many persons of quality some miles from the court. But, to the great grief of Sir Thomas, at his return from the court, he found his aged mother
106 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
drawing to her end, who, in a few days after, died, and was buried in the Isle of Ely.
Tom's mother being dead, and he left alone in a large and spacious house, he found himself strange and uncouth, therefore he began to consider with himself that it would not be amiss to seek out for a wife. Hearing of a young rich widow, not far from Cambridge, to her he went and made his addresses, and, at the first coming, she seemed to show him much favour and countenance, but between this and his coming again she had given some entertainment to a more genteel and airy spai'k, who happened like- wise to come while honest Tom Avas there the second time. He looked wistfully at Tom, and he stared as wistfully at him again. At last the young spark began with abuseful language to affront Tom, telling him that he was a great lubberly whelp, adding that such a one as he should not pretend to make love to a lady, as he was but a brewer's servant.
" Scoundrel ! " quoth Tom, " better words should become you, and if you do not mend your manners you shall not fail to feel my sharp correction,"
At which the young spark challenged him forth into the back-yard, for, as he said, he did not question but to make a fool of Tom in a trice. Into the yard they both walk together, the young spark with a naked sword, and Tom with neither stick nor staff in his hand nor any other weapon.
" What ! " says the spark, " have you nothing to
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHUIFT. 107
defend yourself? Well, T shall tlie sooner despatch you." _ "
Which said, he ran furiously forward, making a pass at Tom, which he put by, and then, wheeling round, Tom gave him such a swinging kick as sent the spark, like a crow, up into the air, from whence he fell upon the ridge of a thatched house, and then came down into a large fish-pond, and had been certainly drowned if it had not been for a poor shepherd who was walking that way, and, seeing him float upon the water, dragged him out with his hook, and home he ran, like a drowned rat, while Tom returned to the lady.
This young gallant being tormented in his mind to think how Tom had conquered and shamed him before his mistress, he was now resolved for speedy revenge, and knowing that he was not able to cope with a man of Tom's strength and activity, he, therefore, hired two lusty troopers to lie in ambush in a thicket which Tom was to pass through from his home to the young lady. Accordingly they attempted to set upon him.
" How, now," quoth Tom, " rascals, what would you be af? Are you, indeed, weary of the world that you so unadvisedly set upon one who is able to crush you in like a cucumber ? "
The troopers, laughing at him, said that they were not to be daunted at his high words.
" High words," quoth Tom. " No, I will come to
108 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
action," and with that he ran in between these armed troopers, catching them under his arm, horse and men, with as much ease as if they had been but a couple of baker's babbins, steering his course with them hastily towards his own home. As he passed through a meadow, in which there were many haymakers at work, the poor distressed troopers cried out —
" Stop him ! stop him ! He runs away with two of the king's troopers."
The haymakers laughed heartily to see how Tom hugged them along. Ever and anon he upbraided- them for their baseness, and declared that he would make minced meat of them to feed the crows and jackdaws about his house and habitation. This was such a dreadful lecture to them that the poor rogues begged that he would be merciful and spare their lives, and they would discover the Avhole plot, and who was the person that employed them. This accordingly they did, and gained favour in the sight of Tom, who pardoned them upon promise that they would never be concerned in such a villainous action for the time to come.
In regard Tom had been hindered by these ti'oopers, he delayed his visit to his lady till the next day, and then, coming to her, gave her a full account of what had happened. She was pleased at heart at this wonderful relation, knowing it was safe for a woman to marry with a man who was able
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 109
to defend her against all assaults whatsoever, and such a one she found Tom to be. The day of marriage was accordingly appointed, and friends and relations invited, yet secret malice, which is never satisfied without sweet revenge, had like to have prevented the solemnity, for, having three miles to go to church, where they were to be married, the aforesaid gentleman had provided a second time llussians in armour, to the number of twenty-one, he himself being then present, either to destroy the life of Tom, or put them into strange consternation. However, thus it happened. In a lonesome place they rolled out upon them, making their first assault upon Tom, and, with a spear, gave him a slight wound, at which his love and the rest of the women shrieked and cried like persons out of their wits. Tom endeavoured all that he could to pacify them, saying —
" Stand you still and I Avill show you pleasant sport.
With that he caught a back-sword from the side of a gentleman in his own company, with which he so bravely behaved himself that at ev-ery stroke he cut off a joint. Loath he was to touch the life of any, but, aiming at their legs and arms, he lopped tliem off so fast that, in less than a quarter of an hour, there was not one in the company but what had lost a limb, the green grass being stained with their purple gore, and the ground strewn with legs
110 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and arms, as 'tis with tiles from the tops of the houses after a dreadful storm — his love and the rest of the company standing all the while as joyful spec- tators, laughing one at another, saying —
" What a company of cripples has he made, as it were in the twinkling of an eye ! "
"Yes," quoth Tom, "I believe that for every drop of blood that I lost, I have made the rascals pay me a limb as a just tribute."
This done, he stept to a farmer's hard by, and hired there a servant, giving him tAventy shillings to carry these cripples home to their respective habitations in his cart. Then did he hasten with his love to the church to be married, and then returned home, where they were heartily merry with their friends, after their fierce and dreadful encounter.
Now, Tom being married, he made a plentiful feast, to which he invited all the poor widows in four or five parishes, for the sake of his mother, whom he had lately buried. This feast was kept in his own house, with all manner of varieties that the country could afford, for the space of four days, in honour likcAvise of the four victories which he had lately obtained. Now, when the time of feasting was ended, a silver cup was missing, and, being asked about it, they every one denied they knew anything about it. At length it was agreed that they should all stand the search, which they did, and the cup was
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. Ill
found on a certain old woman, named the widow Stumbelow. Then were all the rest in a rage. Some were for hanging her, others were for chopping the old woman in pieces for her ingratitude to such a generous soul as Sir Thomas Hickathrift, but he entreated them all to be quiet, saying they should not murder the old Avoman, for he would appoint a punishment for her himself, which was this — he bored a hole through her nose, and, tying a string therein, then ordered her to be led by the nose through all the streets and lanes in Cambridge.
The tidings of Tom's wedding were soon noised in the court, so that the king sent them a royal in- vitation to the end that he might see his la'dy. They immediately Avent, and were received with all demonstrations of joy and triumph, but while they were in their mirth a dreadful cry approached the court, which proved to be the commons of Kent who were come thither to complain of a dreadful giant that was landed in one of the islands, and brought with him abundance of bears and young lions, like- wise a dreadful dragon, on which he himself rode, which monster and ravenous beasts had frightened all the inhabitants out of the island. Moreover, they said, if speedy course was not taken to suppress them in time, they might overrun the whole island. The king, hearing this dreadful relation, was a little startled, yet he persuaded them to return home and make the best defence they could for themselves at
112 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
present, assuring them that he should not forget them, and so they departed.
The, king, hearing the aforesaid dreadful tidings, immediately sat in council to consider what was to be done for the overcoming this monstrous giant, and barbarous savage lions and beasts, that with him had invaded his princely territories. At length it was agreed upon that Thomas Hickathrift was the most likely man in the whole kingdom for under- taking of so dangerous an enterprise, he being not only a fortunate man of great strength, but like- wise a true and trusty subject, one that was always ready and willing to do his king and country service. For which reason it was thought necessary to make him governor of the aforesaid island, which place of trust and honour he readily received, and accord- ingly he forthwith went down with his wife and family, attended by a hundred knights and gentle- men, Avho conducted him to the entrance of the island which he was to govern. A castle in those days there was, in which he was to take up his head- quarters, the same being situated with that advanta2;e that he could view the island for several miles upon occasion. The knights and gentlemen, at last taking their leave of him, wished him all happy success and prosperity. Many days he had not been there when it was his fortune to behold this monstrous giant, mounted upon a dreadful dragon, bearing upon his shoulder a club of iron,
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 113
having but one eye, the which was placed in his forehead, and larger in compass than a barber's basin, and seemed to appear like a flaming fire. His visage was dreadful, grim and tawny ; the hair of his head hanging down his back and shoulders like snakes of a prodigious length ; the bristles of his beard being like rusty wire. Lifting up his blare eye, he happened to discover Sir Thomas Hickathrift, who was looking upon him from one of his Avindows of the castle. The giant then began to knit his brow and breathe forth threatening words to the governor, who, indeed, was a little surprised at the approach of so monstrous a brute. The giant, find- ing that Tom did not make much haste down to meet him, alighted from the back of the dragon, and chained the same to an oak-tree. Then, marching furiously to the castle, he set his broad shoulder against a corner of the stone walls, as if he intended to overthrow the whole building at once, which Tom perceiving, said —
"Is this the game you would be at? Faith, I shall spoil your sport, for I have a delicate tool to pick your teeth withal."
Then, taking his two-handed sword of five foot long, a weapon which the king had given him to govern with, — taking this, I say, down he went, and flinging open the gates, he there found the giant, who, by an unfortunate slip in his thrusting, was fallen all along, where he lay and could not help himself.
English. H
114 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
"What!" quoth Tom, "do you come here to take up your lodging] This is not to be suffered."
With that he ran his long broad-sword into the giant's body, which made the monstrous brute give such a terrible groan that it seemed like roaring thunder, making the very neighbouring trees to tremble. Then Tom, pulling out his sword again, at six or seven blows separated his head from his unconscionable trunk, which head, when it was off, seemed like the root of a mighty oak. Then turn- ing to the dragon, which Avas all this while chained to a tree, without any further discourse, with four blows with his two-handed sword, he cut oiF his head also. This fortunate adventure being over, he sent immediately for a team of horses and a wagon, which he loaded with these heads. Then, summon- ing all the constables in the country for a guard, he sent them to the court, with a promise to his majesty that he would rid the whole island likewise of bears and lions before he left it. Tom's victories rang so long that they reached the ears of his old acquaint- ance the tinker, who, desirous of honour, resolved to go down and visit Tom in his new government. Coming there, he met with kind and loving enter- tainment, for they were very joyful to see one another. Now, after three or four days' enjoyment of one another's company, Tom told the tinker that he must needs go forth in search after wild bears and lions, in order to rout them out of the island.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 115
" Well," quoth the tinker, " I would gladly take my fortune with you, hoping that I may be service- able to you upon occasion."
" Well," quoth Tom, " with all my heart, for I must needs acknowledge I shall be right glad of your company."
This said, they both went forward, Tom with his two-handed sword, and the tinker with his long pike- staff. Now, after they had travelled about four or five hours, it was their fortune to light on the Avhole knot of wild beasts together, of which six of them were bears, the other eight young lions. Now, when they had fastened their eyes on Tom and the tinker, these ravenous beasts began to roar and run furiously, as if they would have devoured them at a mouthful. Tom and the tinker stood, side by side, with their backs against an oak, and as the lions and bears came within their reach, Tom, with his long sword, clove their heads asunder till they were all destroyed, saving one lion who, seeing the rest of his fellows slain, was endeavouring to escape. Now the tinker, being somewhat too venturous, ran too hastily after him, and, having given the lion one blow, he turned upon him again, seizing him by the throat with that violence that the poor tinker fell dead to the ground. Tom Hickathrift, seeing this, gave the lion such a blow that it ended his life.
Now was his joy uiiiigled with sorrow, for though he had cleared the island of those ravenous savage
116 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
beasts, yet his grief was intolerable for the loss of his old friend. Home he returned to his lady, where, in token of joy for the wonderful success which he had in his dangerous enterprises, he made a very noble and splendid feast, to which he invited most of his best friends and acquaintances, to whom he made the following promise —
" My friends, while I have strength to stand.
Most manfully I will pursue All dangers, till I clear this land
Of lions, bears, and tigers too. This you '11 find true, or I 'm to blame.
Let it remain upon record, Tom Hickathrift's most glorious fame,
Who never yet has broke his word.
The man who does his country bless
Shall merit much from this fair land ; He who relieved them in distress
His fame upon record shall stand. And you, my friends, who hear me now,
Let honest Tom for ever dwell Within your minds and thoughts, I trow,
Since he has pleased you all so well."
THE SPECTRE COACH.
Cobblers are a thoughtful race of men, and Tom Shanks was one of their number. He lived in the little village of Acton, in Suffolk, and it was there that an adventure befell him, which, as I am informed by a grandson of his, " had an effect on him from that day to this " — though the " this " in the present case is of a somewhat vague meaning, seeing that Tom has unfortunately been dead some twenty years at least. The terrible adventure that befell him was so much the subject of Tom's talk, that if ever tale could be handed down by means of oral tradition sure Tom's story should be intact in every detail.
It seems that one day Tom left Acton on a journey — quite a remarkable event for him, for he was a quiet-going fellow, not given to running away from his last, but sitting contentedly in his little shop, busily employed in providing his neighbours Avith good foot-gear. On this day, however, Tom was called away by the intelligence that a sister of his, who was in service in a town some little distance away, was ill and wished to see him. The little
117
118 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
cobbler was a man Avith a warm heart, and as soon as he received this ill news he laid aside a pair of shoes he was on for the parson, and which he was very anxious to finish, for the sooner he touched the money the better for him and his ; put on his best coat, took his stick in his hand, and, having bid farewell to his wife and three little ones, went on his way, looking back now and then to shake his stick to them, till he came to the turn in the road by the side of the high trees when he could see them no more.
Well, he walked on, and being a stout-hearted little fellow without much flesh to carry, for cobbling did not even in those days bring in a fortune, and Tom and his folk often had hard times of it ; he, in the course of the morning, Avith a slice out of the afternoon, arrived at his destination. There, thank God, he found his sister much better than he might have expected, judging from the account he had heard of her, and having stayed an hour or two to rest his legs, and recruit his stomach with some beef and a pint of ale, he set out on his way home- ward.
The way back seemed much longer than it ought to have been, and Tom cleared the ground very slowly. Before he had gone far the night closed in ; but what was that to him, for he knew every inch of the road ; and as to thieves, why, he had little enough in his pocket to tempt them, and if need be —
THE SPECTRE COACH. 119
and Tom was not for his size deficient in courage — he had a good stout stick to defend himself with. Still it was dismal work that tramp through lonely lanes, with the trees standing on each side — not bright and lively as they had been in the day- time, with the sun shining on their leaves, and the wind rustling amongst them, but drawn up, still and dark, like sentinels watching in big cloaks. The day had closed in with clouds, which threatened to make the cobbler's journey more miserable with a down-pour of rain. But this fortunately kept off, and the moon, having risen, looked out now and then between the clouds, and a star or two winked in a style which brought comfort to Tom's heart — they seemed so companionable.
So he went on and on, till at length he came to the neighbourhood of Acton again ; and glad enough he was once more to find himself in quarters where the very trees and gates and stiles seemed, as it were, to be old friends — Tom having been used to the sight of them daily for as many years as had passed since he was born, and those were not a few, for he was not exactly a chicken.
Well, he came at length to the park gates, and was hurrying past them, for the spot had no particularly good name, and he remembered that he had heard some queer tales concerning sights folk had chanced to see there which they would very much sooner have escaped, when on a sudden his
120 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
legs seemed, as it were, to refuse to stir, and with his heart thumping against his ribs, as if it would beat a way out for itself, Tom came to a dead stand. What was it that he heard 1 It seemed like a rushing and grinding of stones, with a cracking like a body of men walking over dry sticks. It could not be the wind, for there was not a breath stirring, and the leaves on the trees lay perfectly still. The noise came nearer and nearer, and the next thought of Tom was that he would like to hide himself in some of the dark shadows around him. But his legs would not stir, and it was as much as he could do, with the aid of his stick, to liold him- self up on them. To make matters worse, the moon now, just as the cobbler was wishing for darkness, broke out from a cloud, and cast its light all about him, as if with the very object of showing him up. It is true the light enabled him to have a good look about him, but that was not a thing Tom very much cared about just then.
He stood there a few moments, with the sound coming louder and louder, till it seemed to be just at hand. It was evidently in the park itself. Now it was at the gate. Then, all of a sudden, the gates swung back with a terrible clang, and there issued as strange a procession as Tom's, or indeed mortal's, eyes ever set on. First there came two grooms on horses, and then a carriage drawn by four large steeds, while two men rode behind. They were
THE SPECTRE COACH. 121
all goodly looking men enough, and the horses were, as Tom saw at a glance, as pretty pieces of flesh as any man might wish to throw leg across, but one thing struck horror to the cobbler's heart as he looked, for he saw that none of the horsemen had a head on him. On they dashed at a break-neck speed, their horses' hoofs seeming to dash fire from the stones on the road, while the wheels of the coach looked like four bright circles, so fast was it drawn over the ground. Cracking their whips, as if to urge the steeds on to even greater speed, the men rode on, nor did Tom hear them utter a word, as they swept past him.
As the coach went by him, and his eyes were glued upon it, the interior of the carriage seemed to him to be lighted up in some mysterious manner, and inside, Tom said, he clearly saw a gentleman and a lady, for such they evidently were by their dress, sitting side by side, but without heads like their attendants.
Another minute and all was gone. Tom rubbed his eyes and wondered if he had not been asleep, but who ever heard of a man falling asleep standing up with no better prop than a stick in his hand 1 He looked at the gates. They were closed and fast. He looked down the road, but could distinguish nothing.* In the distance, however, he could hear the sound of, as it were, a big gust of wind gradually travelling away, while all around him was still.
122 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
It did not take him long to get home after that, you may be sure, and when he told his storj^, though there were some that laughed and hinted that Tom was trying to make a hero of himself by pretending that he had seen what no one else of those he told the story to had set eyes on, yet the old folk remembered that they themselves had spoken with folk who had seen the very same siglit for themselves, so I think that Tom Shanks has the very best claim to be considered the last man in the place who ever witnessed the progress of the spectre coach.
THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER.
A VERY long time ago, I cannot tell you when, it is so long since, there lived in a town in Herefordshire a baker who used to sell bread to all the folk around. He was a mean, greedy man, who sought in every way to put money by, and who did not scruple to cheat such people as he was able when they came to his shop.
He had a daughter who helped him in his business, being unmarried and living with him, and seeing how her father treated the people, and how he suc- ceeded in getting money by his bad practices, she, too, in time came to do the like.
One day when her father was away, and the girl remained alone in the shop, an old woman came in —
" My pretty girl," said she, " give me a bit of dough I beg of you, for I am old and hiuigry."
The girl at first told her to be off, but as the old woman would not go, and begged harder than before for a piece of bread, at last the baker's daughter took up a piece of dough, and giving it to her, says —
123
124 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" There now, be off, and do not trouble me any- more."
" My dear," says the woman, " you have given me a piece of dough, let me bake it in your oven, for I have no place of my own to bake it in."
"Very well," replied the girl, and, taking the dough, she placed it in the oven, while the old woman sat down to wait till it was baked.
When the girl thought the bread should be ready she looked in the oven expecting to find there a small cake, and was very much amazed to find instead a very large loaf of bread. She pretended to look about the oven as if in search of something.
" I cannot find the cake," said she, " It must have tumbled into the fire and got burnt."
"Very Avell," said the old woman, "'give me another piece of dough instead and I will wait while it bakes."
So the girl took another piece of dough, smaller than the first piece, and having put it in the oven, shut to the door. At the end of a few minutes or so she looked in again, and found there another loaf, larger than the last.
" Dear me," said she, pretending to look about her, "I have surely lost the dough again. There 's no cake here."
" 'Tis a pity," said the old woman, " but never mind. T will wait while you bake me another piece."
THE baker's daughter. 125
So the baker's daughter took a piece of dough as small as one of her fingers and put it in the oven, while the old woman sat near. When she thought it ought to be baked, she looked into the oven and there saw a loaf, larger than either of the others.
" That is mine," said the old woman.
" No," replied the girl. " How could such a large loaf have grown out of a little piece of dough ] "
" It is mine, it is sure," said the woman.
" It is not," said the girl, " and you shall not have it."
Well, when the old woman saw that the girl would not give her the loaf, and saw how she had tried to cheat her, for she was a fairy, and knew all the tricks that the baker's daughter had put upon her, she draws out from under her cloak a stick, and just touches the girl with it. Then a wonderful thing occurred, for the girl became all of a sudden changed into an owl, and flying about the room, at last, made for the door, and, finding it open, she flew out and was never seen again.
THE FAIRY CHILDEEN.
" Another wonderful thing," says Ralph of Cogge- shall, "hapi^ened in Suffolk, at St, Mary's of the Wolf-pits.
A boy and his sister were found by the inhabit- ants of that place near the mouth of a pit which is there, who had the 4'orni of all their limbs like to those of other men, but they were different in the colour of their skin from all the people of our habitable world, for the whole surface of their skin was tinged of a green colour. No one could under- stand their speech.
When they Avere brought as curiosities to the house of a certain knight, Sir Richard de Calne, at Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and victuals were set before them, but they would touch none of them, though they were tormented by great hunger, as the girl afterwards acknowledged. At length when some beans, just cut, with their stalks, were brought into the house, they made signs, with great avidity, that they should be given to them. When they were brought they opened the stalks instead of the pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of them.
126
THE FAIRY CHILDREN. 127
But not finding tliem there, tliey began to weep anew. When those who were present saw this, they opened the pods, and showed them the naked beans. Tliey fed on these with great delight, and for a long time tasted no other food. The boy, however, was always languid and depressed, and he died within a short time.
The girl enjoyed continual good health, and, be- coming accustomed to various kinds of food, lost completely that green colour, and gradually recovered the sanguine habit of her entire body. She was afterwards regenerated by the laver of holy baptism, and lived for many years in .the service of that knight, as I have frequently heard from him and his family.
Being frequently asked about the people of her country, she asserted that the inhabitants, and all they had in that country, were of a green colour, and that they saw no sun, but enjoyed a degree of light like what is after sunset. Being asked how she came into this country with the aforesaid boy, she replied, that, as they were following their flocks, they came to a certain cavern, on entering which they heard a delightful sound of bells, ravished by whose sweetness they went on for a long time wandering on through the cavern, until they came to its mouth. When they came out of it, they were struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun, and the unusual temperature of the air, and they
128 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
thus lay for a long time. Being terrified by the noise or those who came on them, they wished to fly, but they could not find the entrance of the cavern before they were caught."
This story is also told by William of Newbury, who places it in the reign of King Stephen. He says he long hesitated to believe it, but was at length overcome by the weight of evidence. Ac- cording to him, the place where the children appeared, was about four or five miles from Bury- St.-Edmund's. They came in harvest-time out of the Wolf-pits. They both lost their green hue, and were baptized, and learned English. The boy, who was the younger, died, but the girl married-^a man at Lenna, and lived many years. They said their country was called St. Martin's Land, as that saint was chiefly worshipped there ; that the people were Christians, and had churches ; that the sun did not rise there, but that there was a bright country which could be seen from theirs, being divided from it by a very broad river.
THE HISTOEY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK.
[From a Chap-book printed at Paisley, by G. Caldwell, bookseller. Probable date, 1810]
In the days of King Alfred there lived a poor woman whose cottage was situated in a remote country village, a great many miles from London.
Shg had been a widow some years, and had an only child named Jack, whom she indulged to a fault. The consequence of her blind partiality was, that Jack did not pay the least attention to any- thing she said, but was indolent, careless, and ex- travagant. His follies were not owing to a bad disposition, but that his mother had never checked him. By degrees she disposed of all she possessed — scarcely anything remained but a cow.
The poor woman one day met Jack with tears in her eyes. Her distress was great, and, for the first time in her life, she could not help reproaching him, saying —
" 0 you wicked child ! by your ungrateful course of life you have at last brought me to beggary and ruin. Cruel, cruel boy ! I have not
English. I
130 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
money enough to purchase even a bit of bread for another day. Nothing now remains to sell but my poor cow. I am sorry to part Avitli her. It grieves me sadly, but we must not starve."
For a few minutes Jack felt a degree of remorse, but it was soon over, and he began teasing his mother to let him sell the cow at the next village so much, that she at last consented.
As he was going along he met a butcher, who inquired why he was driving the cow from home. Jack replied he was going to sell it. The butcher held some curious beans in his hat that were of various colours and attracted Jack's notice. This did not pass unnoticed by the butcher, who, know- ing Jack's easy temper, thought now was the time to take advantage of it, and, determined not to let slip so good an opportunity, asked what was the price of the cow, offering at the same time all the beans in his hat for her. The silly boy could not conceal the pleasure he felt at what he supposed so great an offer. The bargain was struck instantly, and the cow exchanged for a few paltry beans. Jack made the best of his way home, calling aloud to his mother before he reached the house, thinking to surprise her.
When she saw the beans and heard Jack's account, her patience quite forsook her. She kicked the beans away in a passion — they flew in all directions — some were scattered in the garden. Not having
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 131
anything to eat, they both went supperless to bed.
Jack awoke very early in the morning, and see- ing something uncommon from the window of his bed-chamber, ran downstairs into the garden, where he soon discovered that some of the beans had taken root and sprung up surprisingly. The stalks were of an immense thickness, and had so entwined that they formed a ladder nearly like a chain in appearance.
Looking upwards, he could not discern the top. It appeared to be lost in the clouds. He tried the stalk, found it firm, and not to be shaken. He quickly formed the resolution of endeavouring to climb up to the top in order to seek his fortune, and ran to communicate his intention to his mother, not doubting but she would be equally pleased with himself She declared he should not go ; said it would break her heart if he did; entreated and threatened, but all in vain.
Jack set out, and, after climbing for some hours, reached the top of the beanstalk, fatigued and quite exhausted. Looking around, he found himself in a- strange country. It appeared to be a desert, quite barren, not a tree, shrub, house, or living creature to be seen. Here and there were scattered frag- ments of stone, and at unequal distances small heaps of earth were loosely thrown together.
Jack seated himself, pensively, upon a block of stone, and thought of his mother. He reflected
132 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
with sorrow on his disobedience in climbing the beanstalk against her will; and concluded that he must die of hunger.
However, he walked on, hoping to see a house where he might beg something to eat and drink. Presently a handsome young woman appeared at a distance. As she approached Jack could not help admiring how beautiful and lively she looked. She was dressed in the most elegant manner, and had a small white Avand in her hand, on the top of which was a peacock of pure gold.
While Jack was looking, with the greatest sur- prise, at this charming female, she came up to him, and, with a smile of the most bewitching sweetness, inquired how he came there. Jack related the circumstance of the beanstalk. She asked him if he recollected his father. He replied he did not, and added there must be some mystery relating to him, because if he asked his mother who his father was she always burst into tears and appeared to be violently agitated, nor did she recover her- .self for some days after. One thing, however, he could not avoid observing on these occasions, which was, that she always carefully avoided answering him, and even seemed afraid of speaking, as if there were some secret connected with his father's history which she must not disclose.
The young woman replied —
" I will reveal the whole story. Your mother
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 133
must not do so. But before I begin I require a solemn promise on your part to do what I com- mand. I ain a fairy, and, if you do not perform exactly what I desire, you will be destroyed."
Jack was frightened at her menaces, and promised to fulfil her injunctions exactly, and the fairy thus addressed him —
"Your father was a rich man. His disposition was very benevolent. He was very good to the poor, and constantly relieved them. He made it a rule never to let a day pass without doing good to some person. On one particular day in the week he kept open house, and invited only those who were reduced and had lived well. He always pre- sided himself, and did all in his power to render his guests comfortable. The rich and the great were next invited. The servants were all happy and greatly attached to their master and mistress. Your father, though only a private gentleman, was as rich as a prince, and he deserved all he possessed, for he only lived to do good. Such a man was soon known and talked of. A giant lived a great many miles off. This man was altogether as wicked as your father was good. He was, in his heart, envious, covetous, and cruel, but he had the art of concealing those vices. He was poor, and wished to enrich himself at any rate.
" Hearing your father spoken of, he formed the design of becoming acquainted Avith him, hoping to
134 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
ingratiate himself into your father's favour. He removed quickly into your neighbourhood, and caused it to be reported that he was a gentleman who had just lost all he possessed by an earthquake and had found it difficult to escape with his life. His wife was with him. Your father gave credit to his story and pitied him. He gave him hand- some apartments in his own house, and caused him and his wife to be treated like visitors of con- sequence, little imagining that the giant was under- taking a horrid return for all his favours.
" Things went on this way for some time, the giant becoming daily more impatient to put his plan in execution. At last a favourable opportunity presented itself. Your father's house was at some distance from the sea-shore, but with a glass the coast could be seen distinctly. The giant was one day using the telescope ; the wind was very high, and he saw a fleet of ships in distress off the rocks. He hastened to your father, mentioned the circum- stance, and eagerly requested he would send all the servants he could spare to relieve the sufferers.
" Eveiy one was instantly despatched, except the porter and your nurse. The giant then joined your father in the study, and appeared to be de- lighted. He really was so. Your father recom- mended a favourite book, and was handing it down, Avhen the giant, taking the opportunity, stabbed him, and he instantly fell down dead. The giant
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 135
left the body, found the porter and nurse, and presently despatched them, being determined to have no living witnesses of his crimes.
"You were then only three months old. Your mother had you in her arms in a remote part of the house, and was ignorant of what was going on. She went into the study, but how was she shocked on discovering your father dead. She was stupefied with horror and grief, and was motionless. The giant, who was seeking her, found her in that state, and hastened to serve her and you as he had done your father, but she fell at his feet, and, in a pathetic manner, besought him to spare her life and yours.
" Remorse, for a moment, seemed to touch the barbarian's heart. He granted your lives, but first he made her take a most solemn oath never to inform you who your father was, or to answer any questions concerning him, assuring her that if she did he would certainly discover her and put both of you to death in the most cruel manner. Your mother took you in her arms and fled as quickly as possible. She was scarcely gone when the giant repented he had suffered her to escape. He would have pursued her instantly, but he had to provide for his own safety, as it was necessary he should be gone before the servants returned. Having gained your father's confidence he knew where to find all his treasure. He soon loaded himself and his wife, set the house
136 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
on fire in several pLaces, and, when the servants returned, the house was burnt quite down to the ground.
" Your poor mother, forlorn, abandoned, and for- saken, wandered with you a great many miles from this scene of desolation. Fear added to her haste. She settled in the cottage where you were brought up, and it was entirely owing to her fear of the giant that she never mentioned your father to you.
'* I became your father's guardian at his birth, but fairies have laws to which they are subject as well as mortals. A short time before the giant went to your father's I transgressed. My punishment was a suspension of power for a limited time — an unfor- tunate circumstance — for it totally prevented my succouring your father.
" The day on which you met the butcher, as you went to sell your mother's cow, my poAver was re- stored. It was I who secretly prompted you to take the beans in exchange for the cow.
" By my power the beanstalk grew to so great a height and formed a ladder. I need not add I in- spired you with a strong desire to ascend the ladder.
" The giant lives in this country, and you are the person appointed to punish him for all his wicked- ness. You will have dangers and difficulties to encounter, but you must persevere in avenging the death of your father, or you will not jirosper in any of your undertakings, but be always miserable.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 137
" As to the giant's possessions, you may seize on all you can, for everything he has is yours though now you are unjustly deprived of it. One thing I desire. Do not let your mother know you are acquainted with your father's history till you see me again.
" Go along the direct road, and you will soon see the house where your cruel enemy lives. While you do as I order you I will protect and guard you, but, remember, if you dare disobey my commands, a most dreadful punishment awaits you."
When the fairy had concluded, she disappeared leaving Jack to pursue his journey. He walked on till after sunset when, to his great joy, he espied a large mansion. This agreeable sight revived his drooping spirits, and he redoubled his speed, and soon reached the house. A plain-looking woman was at the door, and Jack accosted her, begging she would give him a morsel of bread and a night's lodging.
She expressed the greatest surprise at seeing him, and said it was quite uncommon to see a human being near their house, for it was well known her husband was a large and very powerful giant, and that he would never eat anything but human flesh, if he could possibly get it ; that he did not think anything of walking fifty miles to procure it, usually being out the whole day for that purpose.
This account greatly terrified Jack, but still he
138 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hoped to elude the giant, and tlierefore he again entreated the woman to take him in for one night only, and hide him where she thought proper. The good woman at last suffered herself to be persuaded, for she was of a compassionate and generous dis- position, and took him into the house.
First they entered a fine large hall, magnificently furnished. They then passed through several spacious rooms, all in the same style of grandeur, but they appeared to be quite forsaken and deso- late.
A long gallery was next. It was very dark, with just light enough to show that, instead of a wall, on one side there was a grating of iron which parted off a dismal dungeon, from whence issued the groans of those poor victims whom the cruel giant reserved in confinement for his own voracious appetite.
Poor Jack was half dead with fear, and would have given the world to have been with his mother again, for he now began to fear that he should never see her more, and gave himself up for lost. He even mistrusted the good woman, and thought she had let him into the house for no other purpose than to lock him up among the unfortunate people in the dungeon.
At the further end of the gallery there was a spacious kitchen, and a very excellent fire was burn- ing in the grate. The good woman bade Jack sit down, and gave him plenty to eat and drink. Jack,
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 139
not seeing anything here to make him uncomfort- able, soon forgot his fear, and was just beginning to enjoy himself when he was aroused by a loud knocking at the street-door, which made the whole house shake. The giant's wife ran to secure Jack in the oven and then went to let her husband in.
Jack heard him accost her in a voice like thunder, saying —
" Wife, I smell fresh meat."
" Oh, my dear," replied she, " it is nothing but the people in the dungeon,"
The giant appeared to believe her, and walked into the very kitchen where poor Jack was concealed, who shook, trembled, and was more terrified than he had yet been.
At last the monster seated himself quietly by the fireside, whilst his wife prepared supper. By degrees Jack recovered himself sufficiently to look at the giant through a small crevice. He was quite astonished to see what an amazing quantity he devoured, and thought he would never have done eating and drinking. When supper was ended the giant desired his wife to bring him his hen. A very beautiful hen was brought and placed on the table before him. Jack's curiosity was very great to see what would happen. He observed that every time the giant said " Lay," the hen laid an egg of solid gold.
The giant amused himself a long while with his
140 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hen, and meanwhile his wife went to bed. At length the giant fell asleep by the fireside and snored like the roaring of a cannon. At daybreak Jack, finding the giant still asleep, and not likely to awaken soon, crept softly out of his hiding-place, seized the hen, and ran off wdth her.
He met with some difficulty in finding his way out of the house, but, at last, he reached the road in safety. He easily found his way to the beanstalk and descended it better and quicker than he had ex- pected. His mother was overjoyed to see him. He found her crying bitterly, and lamenting his hard fate, for she concluded he had come to some shock- ing end through his rashness.
Jack was impatient to show his hen, and inform his mother how valuable it was.
" And now, mother," said Jack, " I have brought home that which will make us rich, and I hope to make some amends for the affliction I have caused you through my idleness, extravagance, and folly."
The hen produced as many golden eggs as they desired, which Jack and his mother sold, and so in a little time became possessed of as much riches as they wanted.
For some months Jack and his mother lived very happily together, but he, being very desirous of travelling, recollecting the fairy's commands, and fearing that if he delayed she would put her threats into execution, longed to climb the beanstalk and
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 141
pay the giant another visit, in order to carry away some more of his treasure, for, during the time that Jack was in the giant's mansion, while he lay con- cealed in the oven, he learned, from the conversation that took place between the giant and his wife, that he possessed some wonderful curiosities. Jack thought of his journey again and again, but still he could not summon resolution enough to break it to his mother, being well assured she would endeavour to prevent his going. However, one day he told her boldly that he must take a journey up the bean- stalk. His mother begged and prayed him not to think of it, and tried all in her power to dissuade him. She told him that the giant's wife would certainly knoAv him again, and the giant would desire nothing better than to get him into his power, that he might put him to a cruel death in order tfi be revenged for the loss of his hen.
Jack, finding that all his arguments were useless, pretended to give up the point, though he was resolved to go at all events. He had a dress pre- pared which would disguise him, and something to colour his skin, and he thought it impossible for any one to recollect him in this dress.
In a few mornings after this, he rose very early, changed his complexion, and, unperceived by any one, climbed the beanstalk a second time. He was greatly fatigued when he reached the top, and very hungry.
142 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Having rested some time on on of the stones, he pursued his journey to the giant's mansion. He reached it late in the evening, and found the woman at the door as before. Jack addressed her, at the same time telling her a pitiful tale, and requesting she would give him some victuals and drink, and also a night's lodging.
She told him (what he knew very well before) about her husband's being a powerful and cruel giant and also how she one night admitted a poor, hungry, friendless boy, who was half dead with travelling, and that the ungrateful fellow had stolen one of the giant's treasures, ever since which her husband had been worse than before, had used her very cruelly, and continually upbraided her with being the cause of his loss.
Jack was at no loss to discover that he was attending to the account of a story in which he was the principal actor. He did his best to persuade the old woman to admit him, but found it a ver}^ hard task.
At last she consented, and as she led the way Jack observed that everything was just as he had found it before. She took him into the kitchen, and after he had done eating and drinking, she hid him in an old lumber closet. The giant returned at the usual time, and walked in so heavily that the house was shaken to the foundation. He seated himself by the fire, and, soon after, exclaimed —
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 143
" Wife, I smell fresh meat."
The wife replied it was the crows, which had brought a piece of raw meat and left it on the top of the house.
Whilst supper was preparing, the giant was very ill-tempered and impatient, frequently lifting up his hand to strike his wife for not being quick enough, but she was always so fortunate as to elude the blow. The giant was also continually upbraiding her Avith the loss of his wonderful hen.
The giant's wife, having set supper on the table, went to another apartment and brought from it a huge pie which she also placed before him.
When he had ended his plentiful supper and eaten till he was quite satisfied, he said to his wife —
" I must have something to amuse me, either my bags of money or my harp."
After a good deal of ill-humour, and after having teased his wife for some time, he commanded her to bring down his bags of gold and silver. Jack, as before, peeped out of his hiding place, and presently the wife brought two bags into the room. They were of a very large size. One was filled with new guineas, and the other with new shillings. They were placed before the giant, who began reprimand- ing his poor wife most severely for staying so long. She replied, trembling with fear, that they Avere so heavy she could scarcely lift them, and concluded by saying she would never again bring them downstairs,
144 ENGLISH FOLKLORE,
adding that she had nearly fainted owing to their weight.
This so exasjjerated the giant that he raised his hand to strike her, but she escaped and went to bed, leaving him to count over his treasure by way of amusement.
The giant took his bags, and after turning them over and over to see they were in the same state he had left them, began to count their contents. First the bag which contained the silver was emptied, and the contents placed upon the table. Jack viewed the glittering heaps with delight, and most heartily wished them in his own possession. The giant (little thinking he was so narrowly watched) reckoned the silver over several times, and then, having satisfied himself that all was safe, put it into the bags again, which he made very secure.
The other bag was opened next, and the guineas placed upon the table. If Jack was pleased at the sight of the silver, how much more delighted must he have felt when he saw such a heap of glittering gold 1 He even had the boldness to think of gaining both bags, but, suddenly recollecting himself, he began to fear that the giant would sham sleep, the better to entrap any one who might be concealed.
When the giant had counted over the gold till he was tired, he put it up, if possible more secure than he had put up the silver before, and he then fell back on his chair by the fireside and fell asleep.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 145
He snored so loud that Jack compared his noise to the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide is coming in. At last Jack concluded him to be asleep and therefore secure. He stole out of his hiding- place and approached the giant, in order to carry off" the two bags of money. Just as he laid his hand upon one of the bags a little dog, which he had not observed before, started from under the giant's chair and barked at Jack most furiously, who now gave himself up for lost. Fear rivetted him to the spot, and instead of endeavouring to escape he stood still, though expecting his enemy to awake every instant. Contrary, hoAvever, to his expectation the giant con- tinued in a sound sleep, and the dog grew weary of barking. Jack now began to recollect himself, and, on looking around, saw a large piece of meat. This he threw to the dog, who instantly seized it, and took it into the lumber-closet which Jack had just left.
Finding himself delivered from a noisy and troublesome enemy, and seeing the giant did not awake. Jack boldly seized the bags, and, throwing them over his shoulders, ran out of the kitchen. He reached the street-door in safety, and found it quite daylight. On his way to the top of the bean- stalk he found himself greatly incommoded with the weight