English Fairy Tales

XXXIV. CAT AND MOUSE.
Source.—Halliwell, p. 154.
Parallels.—Scarcely more than a variant of the “Old Woman
and her Pig” (No. iv.), which see. It is curious that a very
similar “run” is added by Bengali women at the end of every
folk-tale they tell (Lal Behari Day, Folk Tales of Bengal, Pref.
ad fin.)
XXXV. THE FISH AND THE RING.
Source.—Henderson, l.c., p. 326, from a communication by
the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Parallels.—”Jonah rings” have been put together by Mr.
Clouston in his Popular Tales, i. 398, &c.: the most famous
are those of Polycrates, of Solomon, and the Sanskrit drama
of “Sakuntala,” the plot of which turns upon such a ring.
“Letters to kill bearer” have been traced from Homer down-
wards by Prof. Köhler on Gonzenbach, ii. 220, and “the
substituted letter” by the same authority in Occ. u. Or., ii.
289. Mr. Baring-Gould, who was one of the pioneers of the
study of folk-tales in this country, has given a large number
of instances of “the pre-ordained marriage” in folk-tales in
Henderson, l.c.
XXXVI. THE MAGPIE’S NEST.
Source.—I have built up the “Magpie’s Nest” from two nidi-
fication myths, as a German professor would call them, in
the Rev. Mr. Swainson’s Folk-Lore of British Birds, pp. 80
and 166. I have received instruction about the relative val-
ues of nests from a little friend of mine named Katie, who
knows all about it. If there is any mistake in the order of
neatness in the various birds’ nests, I must have learnt my
lesson badly.

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166
English Fairy Tales
Remarks.—English popular tradition is curiously at variance
about the magpie’s nidificatory powers, for another legend
given by Mr. Swainson represents her as refusing to be in-
structed by the birds and that is why she does not make a
good nest.