English Fairy Tales

XXIV. GOLDEN ARM.
Source.—Henderson, l.c., p. 338, collected by the Rev. S.
Baring-Gould, in Devonshire. Mr. Burne-Jones remembers
hearing it in his youth in Warwickshire.
Parallels.—The first fragment at the end of Grimm (ii. 467,
of Mrs. Hunt’s translation), tells of an innkeeper’s wife who
had used the liver of a man hanging on the gallows, whose
ghost comes to her and tells her what has become of his hair,
and his eyes, and the dialogue concludes
“SHE: Where is thy liver?
IT: Thou hast devoured it!”
For similar “surprise packets” see Cosquin, ii. 77.
Remarks.—It is doubtful how far such gruesome topics should
be introduced into a book for children, but as a matter of
fact the katharsis of pity and terror among the little ones is as
effective as among the spectators of a drama, and they take
the same kind of pleasant thrill from such stories. They know
it is all make-believe just as much as the spectators of a trag-
edy. Every one who has enjoyed the blessing of a romantic
imagination has been trained up on such tales of wonder.
XXV. TOM THUMB.
Source.—From the chap-book contained in Halliwell, p. 199,
and Mr. Hartland’s English Folk and Fairy Tales. I have omit-
ted much of the second part.
Parallels.—Halliwell has also a version entirely in verse. “Tom
Thumb” is “Le petit Poucet” of the French, “Daumling” of

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Joseph Jacobs
the Germans, and similar diminutive heroes elsewhere (cf.
Deulin, Contes de ma Mère l’Oye, 326), but of his adventures
only that in the cow’s stomach (cf. Cosquin, ii. 190) is com-
mon with his French and German cousins. M. Gaston Paris
has a monograph on “Tom Thumb.”
XXVI. MR. FOX.
Source.—Contributed by Blakeway to Malone’s Variorum
Shakespeare, to illustrate Benedick’s remark in Much Ado
about Nothing (I. i. 146): “Like the old tale, my Lord, ‘It is
not so, nor ’twas not so, but, indeed, God forbid it should
be so;’” which clearly refers to the tale of Mr. Fox. “The
Forbidden Chamber” has been studied by Mr. Hartland,
Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 193, seq.
Parallels.—Halliwell, p. 166, gives a similar tale of “An Ox-
ford Student,” whose sweetheart saw him digging her grave.
“Mr. Fox” is clearly a variant of the theme of “The Robber
Bridegroom” (Grimm, No. 40, Mrs. Hunt’s translation, i.
389, 395; and Cosquin, i. 180-1).