English Fairy Tales

XXXI. DICK WHITTINGTON.
Source.—I have cobbled this up out of three chap-book ver-
sions; (1) that contained in Mr. Hartland’s English Folk-tales;
(2) that edited by Mr. H. B. Wheatley for the Villon Soci-
ety; (3) that appended to Messrs. Besant and Rice’s mono-
graph.
Parallels.—Whittington’s cat has made the fortune of his
master in all parts of the Old World, as Mr. W. A. Clouston,
among others, has shown, Popular Tales and Fictions, ii. 65-
78 (cf. Köhler on Gonzenbach, ii. 251).
Remarks.—If Bow Bells had pealed in the exact and accurate
nineteenth century, they doubtless would have chimed
Turn again, Whittington,
Thrice and a half Lord Mayor of London.
For besides his three mayoralties of 1397, 1406, and 1419,
he served as Lord Mayor in place of Adam Bamme, deceased,
in the latter half of the mayoralty of 1396. It will be noticed
that the chap-book puts the introduction of potatoes rather
far back.

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164
English Fairy Tales
XXXII. THE STRANGE VISITOR
Source.—From Chambers, l.c., 64, much Anglicised. I have
retained “Aih-late-wee-moul,” though I candidly confess I
have not the slightest idea what it means; judging other chil-
dren by myself, I do not think that makes the response less
effective. The prosaic-minded may substitute “Up-late-and-
little-food.”
Parallels.—The man made by instalments, occurs in the
Grimms’ No. 4, and something like it in an English folk-
tale, The Golden Ball, ap. Henderson, l.c., p. 333.
XXXIII. THE LAIDLY WORM.
Source.—From an eighteenth-century ballad of the Rev. Mr.
Lamb of Norham, as given in Prof. Child’s Ballads; with a
few touches and verses from the more ancient version
“Kempion.” A florid prose version appeared in Monthly
Chronicle of North Country Lore for May 1890. I have made
the obvious emendation of
O quit your sword, unbend your bow
for
O quit your sword, and bend your bow.
Parallels.—The ballad of “Kempe Owein” is a more general
version which “The Laidly Worm” has localised near
Bamborough. We learn from this that the original hero was
Kempe or Champion Owain, the Welsh hero who flour-
ished in the ninth century. Childe Wynd therefore = Childe
Owein. The “Deliverance Kiss” has been studied by Prof.
Child, l.c., i. 207. A noteworthy example occurs in Boiardo’s
Orlando Inamorato, cc. xxv., xxvi.
Remarks.—It is perhaps unnecessary to give the equations
“Laidly Worm = Loathly Worm = Loathsome Dragon,” and
“borrowed = changed.”

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165
Joseph Jacobs