English Fairy Tales

XVII. JACK AND HIS SNUFF-BOX.
Source.-Mr. F. Hindes Groome, In Gipsy Tents, p. 201 seq. I
have eliminated a superfluous Gipsy who makes her appear-
ance towards the end of the tale à propos des boltes, but oth-
erwise have left the tale unaltered as one of the few English
folk-tales that have been taken down from the mouths of
the peasantry: this applies also to i., ii., xi.
Parallels.-There is a magic snuff-box with a friendly power
in it in Kennedy’s Fictions of the Irish Celts, p. 49. The choice
between a small cake with a blessing, &c., is frequent (cf.
No. xxiii.), but the closest parallel to the whole story, in-

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Joseph Jacobs
cluding the mice, is afforded by a tale in Carnoy and
Nicolaides’ Traditions populaires de l’Asie Mineure, which is
translated as the first tale in Mr. Lang’s Blue Fairy Book. There
is much in both that is similar to Aladdin, I beg his pardon,
Allah-ed-din.
XVIII. THE THREE BEARS.
Source.—Verbatim et literatim from Southey, The Doctor, &c.,
quarto edition, p. 327.
Parallels.—None, as the story was invented by Southey. There
is an Italian translation, I tre Orsi, Turin, 1868, and it would
be curious to see if the tale ever acclimatises itself in Italy.
Remarks.—”The Three Bears” is the only example I know of
where a tale that can be definitely traced to a specific author
has become a folk-tale. Not alone is this so, but the folk has
developed the tale in a curious and instructive way, by sub-
stituting a pretty little girl with golden locks for the naughty
old woman. In Southey’s version there is nothing of Little
Silverhair as the heroine: she seems to have been introduced
in a metrical version by G. N., much be-praised by Southey.
Silverhair seems to have become a favourite, and in Mrs.
Valentine’s version of “The Three Bears,” in “The Old, Old
Fairy Tales,” the visit to the bear-house is only the prelimi-
nary to a long succession of adventures of the pretty little
girl, of which there is no trace in the original (and this in
“The Old, Old Fairy Tales.” Oh! Mrs. Valentine!). I have,
though somewhat reluctantly, cast back to the original form.
After all, as Prof. Dowden remarks, Southey’s memory is
kept alive more by “The Three Bears” than anything else,
and the text of such a nursery classic should be retained in
all its purity.

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English Fairy Tales