{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47408/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47408","id":"gutenberg_47408","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47408","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Legends -- England","Tales -- England"],"text":"FOLK\u2013LORE AND LEGENDS\n\n                               _ENGLISH_\n\n\n\n\n                               FOLK\u2013LORE\n                                  AND\n                                LEGENDS\n\n                                ENGLISH\n\n[Illustration: DECORATION]\n\n                            W. W. GIBBINGS\n                       18 BURY ST., LONDON, W.C.\n                                 1890\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY NOTE.\n\n\nThe old English Folklore Tales are fast dying out. The simplicity of\ncharacter necessary for the retaining of old memories and beliefs is\nbeing lost, more rapidly in England, perhaps, than in any other part of\nthe world. Our folk are giving up the old myths for new ones. Before\nremorseless \u201cprogress,\u201d and the struggle for existence, the poetry\nof life is being quickly blotted out. In editing this volume I have\nendeavoured to select some of the best specimens of our Folklore. With\nregard to the nursery tales, I have taken pains to give them as they\nare in the earliest editions I could find. I must say, however, that,\nwhile I have taken every care to alter only as much as was absolutely\nnecessary in these tales, some excision and slight alteration has at\ntimes been required.\n\n  C. J. T.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                 PAGE\n\n  A Dissertation on Fairies,                        1\n\n  Nelly the Knocker,                               39\n\n  The Three Fools,                                 42\n\n  Some Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham,      46\n\n  The Tulip Fairies,                               54\n\n  The History of Jack and the Giants,              57\n\n  The Fairies\u2019 Cup,                                84\n\n  The White Lady,                                  86\n\n  A Pleasant and Delightful History of Thomas\n  Hickathrift,                                     89\n\n  The Spectre Coach,                              117\n\n  The Baker\u2019s Daughter,                           123\n\n  The Fairy Children,                             126\n\n  The History of Jack and the Beanstalk,          129\n\n  Johnny Reed\u2019s Cat,                              150\n\n  Lame Molly,                                     156\n\n  The Brown man of the Moors,                     159\n\n  How the Cobbler cheated the Devil,              161\n\n  The Tavistock Witch,                            165\n\n  The Worm of Lambton,                            168\n\n  The Old Woman and the Crooked Sixpence,         174\n\n  The Yorkshire Boggart,                          177\n\n  The Duergar,                                    181\n\n  The Barn Elves,                                 185\n\n  Legends of King Arthur,                         187\n\n  Silky,                                          192\n\n\n\n\nA DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES.\n\nBY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ.\n\n\nThe earliest mention of Fairies is made by Homer, if, that is, his\nEnglish translator has, in this instance, done him justice:\u2014\n\n  \u201cWhere round the bed, whence Achel\u00f6us springs,\n  The wat\u2019ry Fairies dance in mazy rings.\u201d\n\n  (_Iliad_, B. xxiv. 617.)\n\nThese Nymphs he supposes to frequent or reside in woods, hills, the\nsea, fountains, grottos etc., whence they are peculiarly called Naiads,\nDryads and Nereids:\n\n  \u201cWhat sounds are those that gather from the shores,\n  The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers,\n  The fair\u2013hair\u2019d dryads of the shady wood,\n  Or azure daughters of the silver flood?\u201d\n\n  (_Odyss._ B. vi. 122.)\n\nThe original word, indeed, is _nymphs_, which, it must be confessed,\nfurnishes an accurate idea of the _fays_ (_f\u00e9es_ or _fates_) of the\nancient French and Italian romances; wherein they are represented as\nfemales of inexpressible beauty, elegance, and every kind of personal\naccomplishment, united with magic or supernatural power; such, for\ninstance, as the Calypso of Homer, or the Alcina of Ariosto. Agreeably\nto this idea it is that Shakespeare makes Antony say in allusion to\nCleopatra\u2014\n\n  \u201cTo this great fairy I\u2019ll commend thy acts,\u201d\n\nmeaning this grand assemblage of power and beauty. Such, also, is the\ncharacter of the ancient nymphs, spoken of by the Roman poets, as\nVirgil, for instance:\n\n  \u201cFortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes,\n  Panaque, Sylvanumque senem, Nymphasque sorores.\u201d\n\n  (_Geor._ ii. 493.)\n\nThey, likewise, occur in other passages as well as in Horace\u2014\n\n  \u201c\u2014\u2014gelidum nemus\n  Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori.\u201d\n\n  (_Carmina_, I., O. 1, v. 30.)\n\nand, still more frequently, in Ovid.\n\nNot far from Rome, as we are told by Chorier, was a place formerly\ncalled \u201cAd Nymphas,\u201d and, at this day, \u201cSanta Ninfa,\u201d which without\ndoubt, he adds, in the language of our ancestors, would have been\ncalled \u201cThe Place of Fays\u201d (_Recherches des Antiquitez, de Vienne_,\nLyon, 1659).\n\nThe word _fa\u00e9e_, or _f\u00e9e_, among the French, is derived, according\nto Du Cange, from the barbarous Latin _fadus_ or _fada_, in Italian\n_fata_. Gervase of Tilbury, in his _Otia Imperialia_ (D. 3, c. 88),\nspeaks of \u201csome of this kind of _larv\u00e6_, which they named _fad\u0153_, we\nhave heard to be lovers,\u201d and in his relation of a nocturnal contest\nbetween two knights (c. 94) he exclaims, \u201cWhat shall I say? I know not\nif it were a true _horse_, or if it were a fairy (_fadus_), as men\nassert.\u201d From the _Roman de Partenay_, or _de Lezignan_, MS. Du Cange\ncites\u2014\n\n  \u201cLe chasteau fut fait d\u2019une f\u00e9e\n  Si comme il est partout retrait.\u201d\n\nHence, he says, _fa\u00ebrie_ for spectres:\n\n  \u201cPlusieurs parlant de Guenart,\n  Du Lou, de l\u2019Asne, et de Renart,\n  De fa\u00ebries, et de songes,\n  De fantosmes, et de mensonges.\u201d\n\nThe same Gervase explains the Latin _fata_ (_f\u00e9e_, French) a divining\nwoman, an enchantress, or a witch (D. 3, c. 88).\n\nMaster Wace, in his _Histoire des Ducs de Normendie_ (confounded by\nmany with the _Roman de Rou_), describing the fountain of Berenton, in\nBretagne, says\u2014\n\n  \u201cEn la forest et environ,\n  Mais jo ne sais par quel raison\n  La scut l\u2019en les f\u00e9es veeir,\n  Se li Breton nos dient veir, etc.\u201d\n\n  (In the forest and around,\n  I wot not by what reason found,\n  There may a man the fairies spy,\n  If Britons do not tell a lie.)\n\nbut it may be difficult to conceive an accurate idea, from the mere\nname, of the popular French _fays_ or _fairies_ of the twelfth century.\n\nIn Vienne, in Dauphiny, is _Le puit des f\u00e9es_, or Fairy\u2013well. These\n_fays_, it must be confessed, have a strong resemblance to the nymphs\nof the ancients, who inhabited caves and fountains. Upon a little rock\nwhich overlooks the Rhone are three round holes which nature alone has\nformed, although it seem, at first sight, that art has laboured after\nher. They say that they were formerly frequented by Fays; that they\nwere full of water when it rained; and that they there frequently took\nthe pleasure of the bath; than which they had not one more charming\n(Chorier, _Recherches_, etc.).\n\nPomponius Mela, an eminent geographer, and, in point of time, far\nanterior to Pliny, relates, that beyond a mountain in \u00c6thiopia, called\nby the Greeks the \u201cHigh Mountain,\u201d burning, he says, with perpetual\nfire, is a hill spread over a long tract by extended shores, whence\nthey rather go to see wide plains than to behold [the habitations]\nof Pans and Satyrs. Hence, he adds, this opinion received faith,\nthat, whereas, in these parts is nothing of culture, no seats of\ninhabitants, no footsteps\u2014a waste solitude in the day, and a mere waste\nsilence\u2014frequent fires shine by night; and camps, as it were, are seen\nwidely spread; cymbals and tympans sound; and sounding pipes are heard\nmore than human (B. 3, c. 9). These invisible essences, however, are\nboth anonymous and nondescript.\n\nThe _penates_ of the Romans, according to honest Reginald Scot, were\n\u201cthe domesticall gods, or rather divels, that were said to make men\nlive quietlie within doores. But some think that _Lares_ are such as\ntrouble private houses. _Larv\u00e6_ are said to be spirits that walk onelie\nby night. _Vinculi terrei_ are such as was Robin Goodfellowe, that\nwould supplie the office of servants, speciallie of maides, as to make\na fier in the morning, sweepe the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe\nwater, etc. These also rumble in houses, drawe latches, go up and down\nstaiers,\u201d etc. (_Discoverie of Witchcraft_, London, 1584, p. 521). A\nmore modern writer says \u201cThe Latins have called the fairies _lares_\nand _larv\u00e6_, frequenting, as they say, houses, delighting in neatness,\npinching the slut, and rewarding the good housewife with money in her\nshoe\u201d (_Pleasaunt Treatise of Witches_, 1673, p. 53). This, however, is\nnothing but the character of an English fairy applied to the name of a\nRoman _lar_ or _larva_. It might have been wished, too, that Scot, a\nman unquestionably of great learning, had referred, by name and work\nand book and chapter, to those ancient authors from whom he derived his\ninformation upon the Roman _penates_, etc.\n\nWhat idea our Saxon ancestors had of the fairy which they called _\u0153lf_,\na word explained by Lye as equivalent to _lamia_, _larva_, _incubus_,\n_ephialtes_, we are utterly at a loss to conceive.\n\nThe nymphs, the satyrs, and the fauns, are frequently noticed\nby the old traditional historians of the north; particularly\n_Saxo\u2013grammaticus_, who has a curious story of three nymphs of the\nforest, and Hother, King of Sweden and Denmark, being apparently the\noriginals of the weird, or wizard, sisters of Macbeth (B. 3, p. 39).\nOthers are preserved by Olaus Magnus, who says they had so deeply\nimpressed into the earth, that the place they have been used to, having\nbeen (apparently) eaten up in a circular form with flagrant heat, never\nbrings forth fresh grass from the dry turf. This nocturnal sport of\nmonsters, he adds, the natives call The Dance of the Elves (B. 3, c.\n10).\n\n  \u201cIn John Milesius any man may reade\n  Of divels in Sarmatia honored,\n  Call\u2019d _Kottri_, or _Kibaldi_; such as wee\n  Pugs and Hob\u2013goblins call. Their dwellings bee\n  In corners of old houses least frequented,\n  Or beneath stacks of wood: and these convented,\n  Make fearfull noise in buttries and in dairies;\n  Robin Goodfellowes some, some call them fairies.\n  In solitarie roomes these uprores keepe,\n  And beat at dores to wake men from their sleepe;\n  Seeming to force locks, be they ne\u2019re so strong,\n  And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.\n  Pots, glasses, trenchers, dishes, pannes, and kettles,\n  They will make dance about the shelves and settles,\n  As if about the kitchen tost and cast,\n  Yet in the morning nothing found misplac\u2019t.\u201d\n\n  (Heywood\u2019s _Hierarchie of Angells_, 1635, fo. p. 574.)\n\nMilton, a prodigious reader of romance, has, likewise, given an apt\nidea of the ancient fays\u2014\n\n  \u201cFairer than famed of old, or fabled since\n  Of fairy damsels met in forest wide,\n  By knights of Logres, and of Liones,\n  Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore.\u201d\n\nThese ladies, in fact, are by no means unfrequent in those fabulous, it\nmust be confessed, but, at the same time, ingenious and entertaining\nhistories; as, for instance, _Melusine_, or _Merlusine_, the heroine of\na very ancient romance in French verse, and who was occasionally turned\ninto a serpent; _Morgan\u2013la\u2013fa\u00e9e_, the reputed half\u2013sister of King\nArthur; and _the Lady of the Lake_, so frequently noticed in Sir Thomas\nMalory\u2019s old history of that monarch.\n\nLe Grand is of opinion that what is called Fairy comes to us from\nthe Orientals, and that it is their _g\u00e9nies_ which have produced our\n_fairies_; a species of nymphs, of an order superior to those women\nmagicians, to whom they nevertheless gave the same name. In Asia, he\nsays, where the women imprisoned in the harems, prove still, beyond the\ngeneral servitude, a particular slavery, the romancers have imagined\nthe _Peris_, who, flying in the air, come to soften their captivity,\nand render them happy (_Fabliaux_, 12mo. i. 112). Whether this be so\nor not, it is certain that we call the _auror\u00e6 boreales_, or active\nclouds, in the night, _perry\u2013dancers_.\n\nAfter all, Sir William Ouseley finds it impossible to give an accurate\nidea of what the Persian poets designed by a Perie, this a\u00ebrial being\nnot resembling our fairies. The strongest resemblance he can find is\nin the description of Milton in _Comus_. The sublime idea which Milton\nentertained of a fairy vision corresponds rather with that which the\nPersian poets have conceived of the Peries.\n\n  \u201cTheir port was more than human as they stood;\n  I took it for a fa\u00ebry vision\n  Of some gay creatures of the element,\n  That in the colours of the rainbow live\n  And play i\u2019 th\u2019 plighted clouds.\u201d\n\n  (D\u2019Israeli\u2019s _Romances_, p. 13.)\n\nIt is by no means credible, however, that Milton had any knowledge of\nthe Oriental Peries, though his enthusiastic or poetical imagination\nmight have easily peopled the air with spirits.\n\nThere are two sorts of _fays_, according to M. Le Grand. The one\na species of nymphs or divinities; the other more properly called\nsorceresses, or women instructed in magic. From time immemorial, in\nthe abbey of Poissy, founded by St. Lewis, they said every year a mass\nto preserve the nuns from the power of the _fays_. When the process of\nthe Damsel of Orleans was made, the doctors demanded, for the first\nquestion, \u201cIf she had any knowledge of those who went to the Sabbath\nwith the _fays_? or if she had not assisted at the assemblies held\nat the fountain of the _fays_, near Domprein, around which dance\nmalignant spirits?\u201d The Journal of Paris, under Charles VI. and Charles\nVII. pretends that she confessed that, at the age of twenty\u2013seven\nyears, she frequently went, in spite of her father and mother, to a\nfair fountain in the county of Lorraine, which she named the \u201cGood\nFountain to the Fays Our Lord\u201d (_Ib._ p. 75).\n\nGervase of Tilbury, in his chapter \u201cof Fauns and Satyrs,\u201d says,\u2014\u201cthere\nare likewise others, whom the vulgar call _Follets_, who inhabit the\nhouses of the simple rustics, and can be driven away neither by holy\nwater, nor exorcisms; and because they are not seen, they afflict\nthose, who are entering, with stones, billets, and domestic furniture,\nwhose words for certain are heard in the human manner, and their forms\ndo not appear\u201d (_Otia imperialia_, D. i. c. 18). He is speaking of\nEngland.\n\nThis Follet seems to resemble Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, whose pranks\nwere recorded in an old song and who was sometimes useful, and\nsometimes mischievous. Whether or not he was the fairy\u2013spirit of whom\nMilton\n\n  \u201cTells how the drudging goblin swet,\n  To ern his cream\u2013bowle duly set,\n  When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,\n  His shadowy flail hath thresh\u2019d the corn,\n  That ten day\u2013labourers could not end,\n  Then lies him down, the lubbar fend;\n  And stretch\u2019d out all the chimney\u2019s length,\n  Basks at the fire his hairy strength;\n  And crop\u2013full out of dores he flings,\n  Ere the first cock his matin rings.\u201d\n\n  (_L\u2019Allegro_).\n\nis a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the giant son of the witch,\nthat had the devil\u2019s mark about her (of whom \u201cthere is a pretty\ntale\u201d), that was called _Lob\u2013lye\u2013by\u2013the\u2013fire_, was a very different\npersonage from Robin Goodfellow, whom, however, he in some respects\nappears to resemble. A near female relation of the compiler, who was\nborn and brought up in a small village in the bishopric of Durham,\nrelated to him many years ago, several circumstances which confirmed\nthe exactitude of Milton\u2019s description; she particularly told of his\nthreshing the corn, churning the butter, drinking the milk, etc., and,\nwhen all was done, \u201clying before the fire like a great rough hurgin\nbear.\u201d\n\nIn another chapter Gervase says\u2014\u201cAs among men, nature produces certain\nwonderful things, so spirits, in airy bodies, who assume by divine\npermission the mocks they make. For, behold! England has certain d\u00e6mons\n(d\u00e6mons, I call them, though I know not, but I should say secret forms\nof unknown generation), whom the French call _Neptunes_, the English\n_Portunes_. With these it is natural that they take advantage of the\nsimplicity of fortunate peasants; and when, by reason of their domestic\nlabours, they perform their nocturnal vigils, of a sudden, the doors\nbeing shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and eat little frogs,\ncast out of their bosoms and put upon the burning coals; with an\nantiquated countenance; a wrinkled face; diminutive in stature, not\nhaving [in length] half a thumb. They are clothed with rags patched\ntogether; and if anything should be to be carried on in the house, or\nany kind of laborious work to be done, they join themselves to the\nwork, and expedite it with more than human facility. It is natural\nto these, that they may be obsequious, and may not be hurtful. But\none little mode, as it were, they have of hurting. For when, among\nthe ambiguous shades of night, the English occasionally ride alone,\nthe _Portune_, sometimes, unseen, couples himself to the rider; and,\nwhen he has accompanied him, going on, a very long time, at length,\nthe bridle being seized, he leads him up to the hand in the mud, in\nwhich while, infixed, he wallows, the _Portune_, departing, sets up a\nlaugh; and so, in this kind of way, derides human simplicity\u201d (_Otia\nimperialia_, D. 3, c. 61).\n\nThis spirit seems to have some resemblance to the _Picktree\u2013brag_, a\nmischievous barguest that used to haunt that part of the country, in\nthe shape of different animals, particularly of a little galloway; in\nwhich shape a farmer, still or lately living thereabout, reported that\nit had come to him one night as he was going home; that he got upon it,\nand rode very quietly till it came to a great pond, to which it ran and\nthrew him in, and went laughing away.\n\nHe further says there is, in England, a certain species of demons,\nwhich in their language they call _Grant_, like a one\u2013year old foal,\nwith straight legs, and sparkling eyes. This kind of demon very often\nappears in the streets, in the very heat of the day, or about sunset;\nand as often as it makes its appearance, portends that there is about\nto be a fire in that city or town. When, therefore, in the following\nday or night the danger is urgent, in the streets, running to and fro,\nit provokes the dogs to bark, and, while it pretends flight invites\nthem, following, to pursue, in the vain hope of overtaking it. This\nkind of illusion provokes caution to the watchmen who have the custody\nof fire, and so the officious race of demons, while they terrify the\nbeholders, are wont to secure the ignorant by their arrival (Gervase,\nD. 3, c. 62).\n\nGower, in his tale of Narcissus, professedly from Ovid, says\u2014\n\n  \u201c\u2014\u2014As he cast his loke\n  Into the well,\u2014\u2014\n  He sawe the like of his visage,\n  And wende there were an ymage\n  Of such a nymphe, as tho was faye.\u201d\n\n  (_Confessio amantis_, fo. 20, b.)\n\nIn his _Legend of Constance_ is this passage:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThy wife which is of fairie\n  Of suche a childe delivered is,\n  Fro kinde, whiche stante all amis.\u201d\n\n  (_Ibid._ fo. 32, b.)\n\nIn another part of his book is a story \u201cHowe the Kynge of Armenis\ndaughter mette on a tyme a companie of the _fairy_.\u201d These \u201cladies,\u201d\nride aside \u201con fayre [white] ambulende horses,\u201d clad, very\nmagnificently, but all alike, in white and blue, and wore \u201ccorownes on\ntheir heades;\u201d but they are not called _fays_ in the poem, nor does the\nword _fay_ or _fairie_ once occur therein.\n\nThe fairies or elves of the British isles are peculiar to this part\nof the world, and are not, so far as literary information or oral\ntradition enables us to judge, to be found in any other country. For\nthis fact the authority of father Chaucer will be decisive, till we\nacquire evidence of equal antiquity in favour of other nations:\u2014\n\n  \u201cIn olde dayes of the King Artour,\n  Of which the Bretons speken gret honour,\n  All was this lond fulfilled of faerie;\n  The elf\u2013quene, with hire joly compagnie,\n  Danced ful oft in many a grene mede.\n  This was the old opinion as I rede;\n  I speke of many hundred yeres ago;\n  But now can no man see non elves mo,\n  For now the grete charitee and prayers\n  Of limitoures and other holy freres,\n  That serchen every land, and every streme,\n  As thickke as motes in the sunnebeme,\n  Blissing halles, chambres, kichenes, and boures,\n  Citees and burghes, castles highe and toures,\n  Thropes and bernes, shepenes and dairies,\n  This maketh that ther ben no faeries.\u201d\n\n  (_Wif of Bathes Tale._)\n\nThe fairy may be defined as a species of being partly material, partly\nspiritual, with a power to change its appearance, and be, to mankind,\nvisible or invisible, according to its pleasure. In the old song,\nprinted by Peck, Robin Goodfellow, a well\u2013known fairy, professes\nthat he had played his pranks from the time of Merlin, who was the\ncontemporary of Arthur.\n\nChaucer uses the word _fa\u00ebrie_ as well for the _individual_ as for the\n_country_ or _system_, or what we should now call _fairy\u2013land_, or\n_faryism_. He knew nothing, it would seem, of _Oberon_, _Titania_, or\n_Mab_, but speaks of\u2014\n\n  \u201cPluto, that is the King of Faerie,\n  And many a ladie in his compagnie,\n  Folwing his wif, the quene Proserpina, etc.\u201d\n\n  (_The Marchantes Tale_, i. 10101.)\n\nFrom this passage of Chaucer Mr. Tyrwhitt \u201ccannot help thinking that\nhis _Pluto_ and _Proserpina_ were the true progenitors of _Oberon_ and\n_Titania_.\u201d\n\nIn the progress of _The Wif of Bathes Tale_, it happed the knight,\n\n  \u201c\u2014\u2014in his way ... to ride\n  In all his care, under a forest side,\n  Whereas he saw upon a dance go\n  Of ladies foure\u2013and\u2013twenty, and yet mo.\n  Toward this ilke dance, he drow ful yerne,\n  In hope that he som wisdom shulde lerne,\n  But, certainly, er he came fully there,\n  Yvanished was this dance, he wiste not wher.\u201d\n\nThese _ladies_ appear to have been _fairies_, though nothing is\ninsinuated of their size. Milton seems to have been upon the prowl here\nfor his \u201cforest\u2013side.\u201d\n\nIn _A Midsummer\u2013Night\u2019s Dream_, a fairy addresses Bottom the weaver\u2014\n\n  \u201cHail, _mortal_, hail!\u201d\n\nwhich sufficiently shows she was not so herself.\n\nPuck, or Robin Goodfellow, in the same play, calls Oberon,\n\n  \u201c\u2014\u2014King of _shadows_,\u201d\n\nand in the old song just mentioned,\n\n  \u201cThe King of _ghosts_ and _shadows_,\u201d\n\nand this mighty monarch asserts of himself, and his subjects,\n\n  \u201cBut we are _spirits_ of another sort.\u201d\n\nThe fairies, as we already see, were male and female. Their government\nwas monarchical, and Oberon, the King of Fairyland, must have been\na sovereign of very extensive territory. The name of his queen was\nTitania. Both are mentioned by Shakespeare, being personages of no\nlittle importance in the above play, where they, in an ill\u2013humour, thus\nencounter:\n\n  Obe.   Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.\n\n  Tita.  What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence;\n         I have forsworn his bed and company.\n\nThat the name [Oberon] was not the invention of our great dramatist is\nsufficiently proved. The allegorical Spenser gives it to King Henry\nthe Eighth. Robert Greene was the author of a play entitled \u201cThe\nScottishe history of James the Fourthe ... intermixed with a pleasant\ncomedie presented by _Oberon, king of the fairies_.\u201d He is, likewise, a\ncharacter in the old French romances of _Huon de Bourdeaux_, and _Ogier\nle Danois_; and there even seems to be one upon his own exploits,\n_Roman d\u2019 Auberon_. What authority, however, Shakespeare had for the\nname Titania, it does not appear, nor is she so called by any other\nwriter. He himself, at the same time, as well as many others, gives to\nthe queen of fairies the name of Mab, though no one, except Drayton,\nmentions her as the wife of Oberon:\n\n  \u201cO then, I see, queen Mab hath been with you,\n  She is the fairy\u2019s midwife, and she comes\n  In shape no bigger than an agate\u2013stone\n  On the fore\u2013finger of an alderman,\n  Drawn with a team of little atomies\n  Athwart men\u2019s noses as they lie asleep;\n  Her waggon\u2013spokes made of long spinner\u2019s legs;\n  The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;\n  The traces, of the smallest spider\u2019s web;\n  The collars, of the moonshine\u2019s wat\u2019ry beams:\n  Her whip, of cricket\u2019s bone; the lash, of film:\n  Her waggoner, a small grey\u2013coated gnat,\n  Not half so big as a round little worm\n  Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid:\n  Her chariot is an empty hazel\u2013nut,\n  Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,\n  Time out of mind the fairies\u2019 coachmakers.\n  And in this state she gallops night by night\n  Through lovers\u2019 brains, and then they dream of love!\n  ... This is that very Mab,\n  That plats the manes of horses in the night;\n  And bakes the elf\u2013locks in foul sluttish hairs,\n  Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes.\u201d\n\n  (_Romeo and Juliet._)\n\nBen Jonson, in his \u201cEntertainment of the Queen and Prince at Althrope,\u201d\nin 1603, describes to come \u201ctripping up the lawn a bevy of fairies\nattending on Mab their queen, who, falling into an artificial ring that\nwas there cut in the path, began to dance around.\u201d\u2014(_Works_, v. 201.)\n\nIn the same masque the queen is thus characterised by a satyr:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThis is Mab, the mistress fairy,\n  That doth nightly rob the dairy,\n  And can hurt or help the churning,\n  (As she please) without discerning.\n  She that pinches country\u2013wenches\n  If they rub not clean their benches,\n  And with sharper nails remembers\n  When they rake not up their embers;\n  But, if so they chance to feast her,\n  In a shoe she drops a tester.\n  This is she that empties cradles,\n  Takes out children, puts in ladles;\n  Trains forth midwives in their slumber,\n  With a sieve the holes to number;\n  And thus leads them from her boroughs,\n  Home through ponds and water\u2013furrows.\n  She can start our franklin\u2019s daughters,\n  In their sleep, with shrieks and laughters,\n  And on sweet St. Agnes\u2019 night\n  Feed them with a promised sight,\n  Some of husbands, some of lovers,\n  Which an empty dream discovers.\u201d\n\nFairies, they tell you, have frequently been heard and seen\u2014nay, that\nthere are some living who were stolen away by them, and confined seven\nyears. According to the description they give who pretend to have\nseen them, they are in the shape of men, exceeding little. They are\nalways clad in green, and frequent the woods and fields; when they make\ncakes (which is a work they have been often heard at) they are very\nnoisy; and when they have done, they are full of mirth and pastime.\nBut generally they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep and not\ncapable of seeing them, as may be observed on the following morn\u2014their\ndancing\u2013places being very distinguishable. For as they dance hand in\nhand, and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there will be\nseen rings and circles on the grass.\u2014(Bourne\u2019s _Antiquitates Vulgares_,\nNewcastle, 1725, 8vo, p. 82.)\n\nThese circles are thus described by Browne, the author of _Britannia\u2019s\nPastorals_:\u2014\n\n  \u201c... A pleasant meade,\n  Where fairies often did their measures treade,\n  Which in the meadow made such circles greene,\n  As if with garlands it had crowned beene.\n\n    Within one of these rounds was to be seene\n  A hillock rise, where oft the fairie queene\n  At twy\u2013light sate, and did command her elves\n  To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves:\n  And further, if by maidens\u2019 over\u2013sight\n  Within doores water were not brought at night,\n  Or if they spred no table, set no bread,\n  They should have nips from toe unto the head;\n  And for the maid that had perform\u2019d each thing,\n  She in the water\u2013pail bad leave a ring.\u201d\n\nThe same poet, in his \u201cShepeards Pipe,\u201d having inserted Hoccleve\u2019s\ntale of _Jonathas_, and conceiving a strange unnatural affection for\nthat stupid fellow, describes him as a great favourite of the fairies,\nalleging, that\u2014\n\n  \u201cMany times he hath been seene\n  With the fairies on the greene,\n  And to them his pipe did sound,\n  While they danced in a round,\n  Mickle solace would they make him,\n  And at midnight often wake him,\n  And convey him from his roome\n  To a field of yellow broome;\n  Or into the medowes, where\n  Mints perfume the gentle aire,\n  And where Flora spends her treasure,\n  There they would begin their measure.\n  If it chanc\u2019d night\u2019s sable shrowds\n  Muffled Cynthia up in clowds,\n  Safely home they then would see him,\n  And from brakes and quagmires free him.\u201d\n\nThe fairies were exceedingly diminutive, but, it must be confessed, we\nshall not readily find their real dimensions. They were small enough,\nhowever, if we may believe one of queen Titania\u2019s maids of honour, to\nconceal themselves in acorn shells. Speaking of a difference between\nthe king and queen, she says:\u2014\n\n  \u201cBut they do square; that all the elves for fear\n  Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.\u201d\n\nThey uniformly and constantly wore green vests, unless when they had\nsome reason for changing their dress. Of this circumstance we meet with\nmany proofs. Thus in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_\u2014\n\n  \u201cLike urchins, ouphes, and fairies green.\u201d\n\nIn fact we meet with them of all colours; as in the same play\u2014\n\n  \u201cFairies black, grey, green, and white.\u201d\n\nThat white, on some occasions, was the dress of a female, we learn from\nReginald Scot. He gives a charm \u201cto go invisible by [means of] these\nthree sisters of fairies,\u201d _Milia_, _Achilia_, _Sibylia_: \u201cI charge you\nthat you doo appeare before me visible, in forme and shape of faire\nwomen, in white vestures, and to bring with you to me the ring of\ninvisibilitie, by the which I may go invisible at mine owne will and\npleasure, and that in all hours and minutes.\u201d\n\nIt was fatal, if we may believe Shakespeare, to speak to a fairy.\nFalstaff, in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, is made to say, \u201cThey are\nfairies. He that speaks to them shall die.\u201d\n\nThey were accustomed to enrich their favourites, as we learn from the\nclown in _A Winter\u2019s Tale_\u2014\n\n  \u201cIt was told me I should be rich by the fairies.\u201d\n\nThey delighted in neatness, could not endure sluts, and even hated\nfibsters, tell\u2013tales, and divulgers of secrets, whom they would slily\nand severely bepinch when they little expected it. They were as\ngenerous and benevolent, on the contrary, to young women of a different\ndescription, procuring them the sweetest sleep, the pleasantest dreams,\nand, on their departure in the morning, always slipping a tester in\ntheir shoe.\n\nThey are supposed by some to have been malignant, but this, it may be,\nwas mere calumny, as being utterly inconsistent with their general\ncharacter, which was singularly innocent and amiable.\n\nImogen, in Shakespeare\u2019s _Cymbeline_, prays, on going to sleep\u2014\n\n  \u201cFrom fairies, and the tempters of the night,\n  Guard me, beseech you.\u201d\n\nIt must have been the _Incubus_ she was so afraid of.\n\nHamlet, too, notices this imputed malignity of the fairies:\u2014\n\n  \u201c... Then no planets strike,\n  No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm.\u201d\n\nThus, also, in _The Comedy of Errors_:\u2014\n\n  \u201cA fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough.\u201d\n\nThey were amazingly expeditious in their journeys. Puck, or Robin\nGoodfellow, answers Oberon, who was about to send him on a secret\nexpedition\u2014\n\n  \u201cI\u2019ll put a girdle round about the earth\n  In forty minutes.\u201d\n\nAgain the same goblin addresses him thus:\u2014\n\n  \u201cFairy king, attend and mark,\n  I do hear the morning lark.\n    _Obe._ Then, my queen, in silence sad,\n  Trip we after the night\u2019s shade\u2014\n  We the globe can compass soon,\n  Swifter than the wand\u2019ring moon.\u201d\n\nIn another place Puck says\u2014\n\n  \u201cMy fairy lord this must be done in haste;\n  For night\u2019s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,\n  And yonder shines Aurora\u2019s harbinger,\n  At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there,\n  Troop home to churchyards,\u201d etc.\n\nTo which Oberon replies\u2014\n\n  \u201cBut we are spirits of another sort:\n  I with the morning\u2019s love have oft made sport;\n  And, like a forester, the groves may tread,\n  Even till the eastern gate, all fiery\u2013red,\n  Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,\n  Turns into yellow gold his salt\u2013green streams.\u201d\n\nCompare, likewise, what Robin himself says on this subject in the old\nsong of his exploits.\n\nThey never ate\u2014\n\n  \u201cBut that it eats our victuals, I should think,\n  Here were a fairy,\u201d\n\nsays Belarius at the first sight of Imogen, as Fidele.\n\nThey were humanely attentive to the youthful dead. Thus Guiderius at\nthe funeral of the above lady\u2014\n\n  \u201cWith female fairies will his tomb be haunted.\u201d\n\nOr, as in the pathetic dirge of Collins on the same occasion:\u2014\n\n  \u201cNo wither\u2019d witch shall here be seen,\n    No goblins lead their nightly crew;\n  The female fays shall haunt the green,\n    And dress the grave with pearly dew.\u201d\n\nThis amiable quality is, likewise, thus beautifully alluded to by the\nsame poet:\u2014\n\n  \u201cBy fairy hands their knell is rung,\n  By forms unseen their dirge is sung.\u201d\n\nTheir employment is thus charmingly represented by Shakespeare, in the\naddress of Prospero:\u2014\n\n  \u201cYe elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;\n  And ye, that on the sands, with printless foot\n  Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him\n  When he comes back; you demi\u2013puppets, that\n  By moonshine do the green\u2013sour ringlets make,\n  Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime\n  Is to make midnight mushrooms; that rejoice\n  To hear the solemn curfew.\u201d\n\nIn _The Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream_, the queen, Titania, being desirous to\ntake a nap, says to her female attendants\u2014\n\n  \u201cCome, now a roundel, and a fairy song;\n  Then, for the third part of a minute hence;\n  Some to kill cankers in the musk\u2013rosebuds;\n  Some, war with rear\u2013mice for their leathern wings,\n  To make my small elves coats; and some keep back\n  The clamorous owl that nightly hoots, and wonders\n  At our quaint spirits.  Sing me now asleep;\n  Then to your offices, and let me rest.\u201d\n\nMilton gives a most beautiful and accurate description of the little\ngreen\u2013coats of his native soil, than which nothing can be more happily\nor justly expressed. He had certainly seen them, in this situation,\nwith \u201cthe poet\u2019s eye\u201d:\u2014\n\n                  \u201c... Fairie elves,\n  Whose midnight revels, by a forest side\n  Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,\n  Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon,\n  Sits arbitress, and neerer to the earth\n  Wheels her pale course, they, on thir mirth and dance\n  Intent, with jocond music charm his ear;\n  At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.\u201d\n\nThe impression they made upon his imagination in early life appears\nfrom his \u201cVacation Exercise,\u201d at the age of nineteen:\u2014\n\n  \u201cGood luck befriend thee, son; for, at thy birth\n  The faiery ladies dannc\u2019t upon the hearth;\n  The drowsie nurse hath sworn she did them spie\n  Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,\n  And, sweetly singing round about thy bed,\n  Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head.\u201d\n\nL\u2019Abb\u00e9 Bourdelon, in his _Ridiculous Extravagances of M. Oufl\u00e9_,\ndescribes \u201cThe fairies of which,\u201d he says, \u201cgrandmothers and nurses\ntell so many tales to children. These fairies,\u201d adds he, \u201cI mean, who\nare affirmed to be blind at home, and very clear\u2013sighted abroad; who\ndance in the moonshine when they have nothing else to do; who steal\nshepherds and children, to carry them up to their caves,\u201d etc.\u2014(English\ntranslation, p. 190.)\n\nThe fairies have already called themselves _spirits_, _ghosts_, or\n_shadows_, and consequently they never died, a position, at the same\ntime, of which there is every kind of proof that a fact can require.\nThe reviser of Johnson and Steevens\u2019s edition of _Shakespeare_, in\n1785, makes a ridiculous reference to the allegories of Spenser, and a\npalpably false one to Tickell\u2019s _Kensington Gardens_, which he affirms\n\u201cwill show that the opinion of fairies dying prevailed in the last\ncentury,\u201d whereas, in fact, it is found, on the slightest glance into\nthe poem, to maintain the direct reverse:\u2014\n\n  \u201cMeanwhile sad Kenna, loath to quit the grove,\n  Hung o\u2019er the body of her breathless love,\n  Try\u2019d every art (vain arts!) to change his doom,\n  And vow\u2019d (vain vows!) to join him in the tomb.\n  What would she do? The Fates alike deny\n  The dead to live, or fairy forms to die.\u201d\n\nThe fact is so positively proved, that no editor or commentator of\nShakespeare, present or future, will ever have the folly or impudence\nto assert \u201cthat in Shakespeare\u2019s time the notion of fairies dying was\ngenerally known.\u201d\n\nAriosto informs us (in Harington\u2019s translation, Bk. x. s. 47) that\n\n    \u201c... (Either ancient folke believ\u2019d a lie,\n  Or this is true) a fayrie cannot die.\u201d\n\nAnd again (Bk. xliii. s. 92),\n\n  \u201cI am a fayrie, and, to make you know,\n    To be a fayrie what it doth import:\n  We cannot dye, how old so ear we grow.\n    Of paines and harmes of ev\u2019rie other sort\n  We tast, onelie no death we nature ow.\u201d\n\nBeaumont and Fletcher, in _The Faithful Shepherdess_, describe\u2014\n\n  \u201cA virtuous well, about whose flow\u2019ry banks\n  The nimble\u2013footed fairies dance their rounds,\n  By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes\n  Their stolen children, so to make \u2019em free\n  From dying flesh, and dull mortality.\u201d\n\nPuck, _alias_ Robin Goodfellow, is the most active and extraordinary\nfellow of a fairy that we anywhere meet with, and it is believed we\nfind him nowhere but in our own country, and, peradventure also, only\nin the South. Spenser, it would seem, is the first that alludes to his\nname of Puck:\u2014\n\n  \u201cNe let the _Pouke_, nor other evill spright,\n  Ne let Hob\u2013goblins, names whose sense we see not,\n  Fray us with things that be not.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn our childhood,\u201d says Reginald Scot, \u201cour mothers\u2019 maids have so\nterrified us with an oughe divell having hornes on his head, fier in\nhis mouth, and a taile, eies like a bason, fanges like a dog, clawes\nlike a beare, a skin like a niger, and a voice roaring like a lion,\nwhereby we start and are afraid when we heare one crie Bough! and\nthey have so fraied us with bull\u2013beggers, spirits, witches, urchens,\nelves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, sylens, Kit with the cansticke,\ntritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps, calcars, conjurors, nymphes,\nchangling, Incubus, Robin Goodfellow, the spoorne, the mare, the man\nin the oke, the hell wain, the fier drake, the puckle, Tom Thombe, Hob\ngobblin, Tom Tumbler, boneles, and such other bugs, that we are afraid\nof our owne shadowes.\u201d\u2014(_Discoverie of Witchcraft_, London, 1584, 4to,\np. 153.) \u201cAnd know you this by the waie,\u201d he says, \u201cthat heretofore\nRobin Goodfellow and Hob goblin were as terrible, and also as credible,\nto the people as hags and witches be now.... And in truth, they that\nmainteine walking spirits have no reason to denie Robin Goodfellow,\nupon whom there hath gone as manie and as credible tales as upon\nwitches, saving that it hath not pleased the translators of the Bible\nto call spirits by the name of Robin Goodfellow.\u201d\u2014(P. 131.)\n\n\u201cYour grandams\u2019 maides,\u201d says he, \u201cwere woont to set a boll of milke\nbefore Incubus and his cousine Robin Goodfellow for grinding of malt\nor mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight; and you have also\nheard that he would chafe exceedingly if the maid or good\u2013wife of the\nhouse, having compassion of his naked state, laid anie clothes for him,\nbesides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing fee.\nFor in that case he saith, What have we here?\n\n  \u201cHemton, hamton,\n  Here will I never more tread nor stampen.\u201d\n\n  (_Discoverie of Witchcraft_, p. 85.)\n\nRobin is thus characterised in _The Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream_ by a\nfemale fairy:\u2014\n\n  Either I mistake your shape and making quite,\n  Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite\n  Call\u2019d Robin Goodfellow: are you not he\n  That fright the maidens of the villagery;\n  Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern,\n  And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;\n  And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;\n  Mislead night\u2013wanderers, laughing at their harm?\n  Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,\n  You do their work, and they shall have good luck.\u201d\n\nTo these questions Robin thus replies:\u2014\n\n          \u201cThou speak\u2019st aright;\n  I am that merry wanderer of the night.\n  I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,\n  When I a fat and bean\u2013fed horse beguile,\n  Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:\n  And sometimes lurk I in a gossip\u2019s bowl,\n  In very likeness of a roasted crab;\n  And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,\n  And on her wither\u2019d dewlap pour the ale.\n  The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,\n  Sometime for three\u2013foot stool mistaketh me;\n  Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,\n  And \u2018tailor,\u2019 cries, and falls into a cough;\n  And then the whole quire hold their hips, and laugh;\n  And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear,\n  A merrier hour was never wasted there.\u201d\n\nHis usual exclamation in this play is Ho, ho, ho!\n\n  \u201cHo, ho, ho! Coward, why com\u2019st thou not?\u201d\n\nSo in _Grim, the Collier of Croydon_:\u2014\n\n  \u201cHo, ho, ho! my masters! No good fellowship!\n  Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown,\n  That he is not worthy to be bid sit down?\u201d\n\nIn the song printed by Peck, he concludes every stanza with Ho, ho, ho!\n\n\u201cIf that the bowle of curds and creame were not duly set out for Robin\nGoodfellow, the frier, and Sisse the dairymaid, why, then, either the\npottage was so burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses would\nnot curdle, or the butter would not come, or the ale in the fat\nnever would have good head. But if a Peter\u2013penny, or an housle\u2013egge\nwere behind, or a patch of tythe unpaid, then \u2019ware of bull\u2013beggars,\nspirits,\u201d etc.\n\nThis frolicsome spirit thus describes himself in Jonson\u2019s masque of\n_Love Restored_: \u201cRobin Goodfellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the\nhouse clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all their other\ndrudgery, while they are at hot\u2013cockles; one that has conversed with\nyour court spirits ere now.\u201d Having recounted several ineffectual\nattempts he had made to gain admittance, he adds: \u201cIn this despair,\nwhen all invention and translation too failed me, I e\u2019en went back and\nstuck to this shape you see me in of mine own, with my broom and my\ncanles, and came on confidently.\u201d The mention of his broom reminds us\nof a passage in another play, _Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream_, where he tells\nthe audience\u2014\n\n  \u201cI am sent with broom before,\n  To sweep the dust behind the door.\u201d\n\nHe is likewise one of the _dramatis person\u00e6_ in the old play of _Wily\nBeguiled_, in which he says\u2014\n\n\u201cTush! fear not the dodge. I\u2019ll rather put on my flashing red nose, and\nmy flaming face, and come wrap\u2019d in a calf\u2013skin, and cry _Bo, bo_! I\u2019ll\npay the scholar, I warrant thee.\u201d\u2014(Harsnet\u2019s _Declaration_, London,\n1604, 4to.) His character, however, in this piece, is so diabolical,\nand so different from anything one could expect in Robin Good\u2013fellow,\nthat it is unworthy of further quotation.\n\nHe appears, likewise, in another, entitled _Grim, the Collier of\nCroydon_, in which he enters \u201cin a suit of leather close to his body;\nhis face and hands coloured russet colour, with a flail.\u201d\n\nHe is here, too, in most respects, the same strange and diabolical\npersonage that he is represented in _Wily Beguiled_, only there is a\nsingle passage which reminds us of his old habits:\u2014\n\n  \u201cWhen as I list in this transform\u2019d disguise\n  I\u2019ll fright the country people as I pass;\n  And sometimes turn me to some other form,\n  And so delude them with fantastic shows,\n  But woe betide the silly dairymaids,\n  For I shall fleet their cream\u2013bowls night by night.\u201d\n\nIn another scene he enters while some of the other characters are at a\nbowl of cream, upon which he says\u2014\n\n  \u201cI love a mess of cream as well as they;\n  I think it were best I stept in and made one:\n  Ho, ho, ho! my masters! No good fellowship!\n  Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown\n  That he is not worthy to be bid sit down?\u201d\n\nThere is, indeed, something characteristic in this passage, but all the\nrest is totally foreign.\n\nDoctor Percy, Bishop of Dromore, has reprinted in his _Reliques of\nAncient English Poetry_ a very curious and excellent old ballad\noriginally published by Peck, who attributes it, but with no\nsimilitude, to Ben Jonson, in which Robin Good\u2013fellow relates his\nexploits with singular humour. To one of these copies, he says, \u201cwere\nprefixed two wooden cuts, which seem to represent the dresses in which\nthis whimsical character was formerly exhibited upon the stage.\u201d In\nthis conjecture, however, the learned and ingenious editor was most\negregiously mistaken, these cuts being manifestly printed from the\nidentical blocks made use of by Bulwer in his \u201cArtificial Changeling,\u201d\nprinted in 1615, the first being intended for one of the black and\nwhite gallants of Seale\u2013bay adorned with the moon, stars, etc., the\nother a hairy savage.\n\nBurton, speaking of fairies, says that \u201ca bigger kind there is of them,\ncalled with Hob\u2013goblins, and Robin Goodfellowes, that would in those\nsuperstitious times, grinde corne for a messe of milke, cut wood, or\ndo any kind of drudgery worke.\u201d Afterward, of the d\u00e6mons that mislead\nmen in the night, he says, \u201cWe commonly call them Pucks.\u201d\u2014(_Anatomy of\nMelancholie._)\n\nCartwright, in _The Ordinary_, introduces _Moth_, repeating this\ncurious charm:\u2014\n\n  \u201cSaint Frances and Saint Benedight\n  Blesse this house from wicked wight,\n  From the nightmare, and the goblin\n  That is hight Goodfellow Robin;\n  Keep it from all evil spirits,\n  Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets;\n      From curfew time\n      To the next prime.\u201d\n\n  (Act III. Sc. I.)\n\nThis Puck, or Robin Good\u2013fellow, seems, likewise, to be the illusory\ncandle\u2013holder, so fatal to travellers, and who is more usually called\n_Jack\u2013a\u2013lantern_, or _Will\u2013with\u2013a\u2013wisp_; and, as it would seem from\na passage elsewhere cited from Scot, _Kit with the canstick_. Thus a\nfairy, in a passage of Shakespeare already quoted, asks Robin\u2014\n\n            \u201c... Are you not he\n  That frights the maidens of the villagery,\n  Misleads night\u2013wanderers laughing at their harm?\u201d\n\nMilton alludes to this deceptive gleam in the following lines\u2014\n\n          \u201c... A wandering fire,\n  Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night\n  Condenses, and the cold environs round,\n  Kindled through agitation to a flame,\n  Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,\n  Hovering and blazing with delusive light,\n  Misleads th\u2019 amazed night\u2013wanderer from his way\n  To bogs and mires, and oft through pond and pool.\u201d\n\n  (_Paradise Lost_, Bk. 9).\n\nHe elsewhere calls him \u201cthe frier\u2019s lantern.\u201d\u2014(_L\u2019 Allegro_).\n\nThis facetious spirit only misleads the benighted traveller (generally\nan honest farmer, in his way from the market, in a state of\nintoxication) for the joke\u2019s sake, as one very seldom, if ever, hears\nany of his deluded followers (who take it to be the torch of Hero in\nsome hospitable mansion, affording \u201cprovision for man and horse\u201d)\nperishing in these ponds or pools, through which they dance or plunge\nafter him so merrily.\n\n\u201cThere go as manie tales,\u201d says Reginald Scot, \u201cupon Hudgin, in some\nparts of Germanie, as there did in England of Robin Good\u2013fellow....\nFrier Rush was for all the world such another fellow as this Hudgin,\nand brought up even in the same schoole\u2014to wit, in a kitchen, inasmuch\nas the selfe\u2013same tale is written of the one as of the other,\nconcerning the skullian, who is said to have beene slaine, etc., for\nthe reading whereof I referre you to frier Rush his storie, or else to\nJohn Wierus, _De Pr\u00e6stigiis D\u00e6monum_.\u201d\n\nIn the old play of _Gammer Gurton\u2019s Needle_, printed in 1575, Hodge,\ndescribing a \u201cgreat black devil\u201d which had been raised by Diccon, the\nbedlam, and being asked by Gammer\u2014\n\n  \u201cBut, Hodge, had he no horns to push?\u201d\n\nreplies\u2014\n\n  \u201cAs long as your two arms. Saw ye never Fryer Rushe,\n  Painted on a cloth, with a side\u2013long cowe\u2019s tayle,\n  And crooked cloven feet, and many a hoked nayle?\n  For al the world (if I schuld judg) chould reckon him his brother;\n  Loke even what face frier Rush had, the devil had such another.\u201d\n\nThe fairies frequented many parts of the bishopric of Durham. There\nis a hillock, or tumulus, near Bishopton, and a large hill near\nBillingham, both which used, in former time, to be \u201chaunted by\nfairies.\u201d Even Ferry\u2013hill, a well\u2013known stage between Darlington and\nDurham, is evidently a corruption of Fairy\u2013hill. When seen, by accident\nor favour, they are described as of the smallest size, and uniformly\nhabited in green. They could, however, occasionally assume a different\nsize and appearance; as a woman, who had been admitted into their\nsociety, challenged one of the guests, whom she espied in the market,\nselling fairy\u2013butter. This freedom was deeply resented, and cost her\nthe eye she first saw him with. Mr. Brand mentions his having met with\na man, who said he had seen one who had seen the fairies. Truth, he\nadds, is to be come at in most cases. None, he believes, ever came\nnearer to it in this than he has done. However that may be, the present\neditor cannot pretend to have been more fortunate. His informant\nrelated that an acquaintance in Westmoreland, having a great desire,\nand praying earnestly, to see a fairy, was told by a friend, if not a\nfairy in disguise, that on the side of such a hill, at such a time of\nday, he should have a sight of one, and accordingly, at the time and\nplace appointed, \u201cthe hobgoblin,\u201d in his own words, \u201cstood before him\nin the likeness of a green\u2013coat lad,\u201d but in the same instant, the\nspectator\u2019s eye glancing, vanished into the hill. This, he said, the\nman told him.\n\n\u201cThe streets of Newcastle,\u201d says Mr. Brand, \u201cwere formerly (so vulgar\ntradition has it) haunted by a nightly _guest_, which appeared in the\nshape of a mastiff dog, etc., and terrified such as were afraid of\nshadows. I have heard,\u201d he adds, \u201cwhen a boy, many stories concerning\nit.\u201d\n\nThe no less famous _barguest_ of Durham, and the Picktree\u2013_brag_, have\nbeen already alluded to. The former, beside its many other pranks,\nwould sometimes, at the dead of night, in passing through the different\nstreets, set up the most horrid and continuous shrieks to scare the\npoor girls who might happen to be out of bed. The compiler of the\npresent sheets remembers, when very young, to have heard a respectable\nold woman, then a midwife at Stockton, relate that when, in her\nyouthful days, she was a servant at Durham, being up late one Saturday\nnight cleaning the irons in the kitchen, she heard these _skrikes_,\nfirst at a great and then at a less distance, till at length the\nloudest and most horrible that can be conceived, just at the kitchen\nwindow, sent her upstairs, she did not know how, where she fell into\nthe arms of a fellow\u2013servant, who could scarcely prevent her fainting\naway.\n\n\u201cPioneers or diggers for metal,\u201d according to Lavater, \u201cdo affirme that\nin many mines there appeare straunge shapes and spirites, who are\napparelled like unto other laborers in the pit. These wander up and\ndown in caves and underminings, and seeme to bestuire themselves in\nall kinde of labour, as to digge after the veine, to carrie to\u2013gither\noare, to put it in baskets, and to turne the winding\u2013whele to draw it\nup, when, in very deede, they do nothing lesse. They very seldome hurte\nthe labourers (as they say) except they provoke them by laughing and\nrayling at them, for then they threw gravel stones at them, or hurt\nthem by some other means. These are especially haunting in pittes where\nmettall moste aboundeth.\u201d\u2014(_Of ghostes_, etc., London, 1572, 4to, p.\n73.)\n\nThis is our great Milton\u2019s\n\n  \u201cSwart fa\u00ebry of the mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cSimple foolish men imagine, I know not howe, that there be certayne\nelves or fairies of the earth, and tell many straunge and marvellous\ntales of them, which they have heard of their grandmothers and mothers,\nhowe they have appeared unto those of the house, have done service,\nhave rocked the cradell, and (which is a signe of good luck) do\ncontinually tarry in the house.\u201d\u2014(_Of ghostes_, etc., p. 49.)\n\nMallet, though without citing any authority, says, \u201cafter all, the\nnotion is not everywhere exploded that there are in the bowels of the\nearth, fairies, or a kind of dwarfish and tiny beings of human shape,\nand remarkable for their riches, their activity, and malevolence. In\nmany countries of the north, the people are still firmly persuaded of\ntheir existence. In Ireland, at this day, the good folk show the very\nrocks and hills in which they maintain that there are swarms of these\nsmall subterraneous men, of the most tiny size, but the most delicate\nfigures.\u201d\u2014(_Northern Antiquities_, etc., ii. 47.)\n\nThere is not a more generally received opinion throughout the\nprincipality of Wales than that of the existence of fairies. Amongst\nthe commonalty it is, indeed, universal, and by no means unfrequently\ncredited by the second ranks.\n\nFairies are said, at a distant period, \u201cto have frequented Bussers\u2013hill\nin St. Mary\u2019s island, but their nightly pranks, a\u00ebrial gambols, and\ncockle\u2013shell abodes, are now quite unknown.\u201d\u2014(Heath\u2019s _Account of the\nIslands of Scilly_, p. 129.)\n\n\u201cEvil spirits, called fairies, are frequently seen in several of the\nisles [of Orkney], dancing and making merry, and sometimes seen in\narmour.\u201d\u2014(Brand\u2019s _Description of Orkney_, Edin., 1703, p. 61.)\n\n\n\n\nNELLY, THE KNOCKER.\n\n\nA farm\u2013steading situated near the borders of Northumberland, a few\nmiles from Haltwhistle, was once occupied by a family of the name of\nW\u2014\u2014 K\u2014\u2014 n. In front of the dwelling\u2013house, and at about sixty yards\u2019\ndistance, lay a stone of vast size, as ancient, for so tradition\namplifies the date, as the flood. On this stone, at the dead hour\nof the night, might be discerned a female figure, wrapped in a grey\ncloak, with one of those low\u2013crowned black bonnets, so familiar to\nour grandmothers, upon her head. She was incessantly knock, knock,\nknocking, in a fruitless endeavour to split the impenetrable rock. Duly\nas night came round, she occupied her lonely station, in the same low\ncrouching attitude, and pursued the dreary obligations of her destiny,\ntill the grey streaks of the dawn gave admonition to depart. From this,\nthe only perceptible action in which she engaged, she obtained the name\nof Nelly, the Knocker. So perfectly had the inmates of the farmhouse\nin the lapse of time, which will reconcile sights and events the most\ndisagreeable and alarming, become accustomed to Nelly\u2019s undeviating\nnightly din, that the work went forward unimpeded and undisturbed\nby any apprehension accruing from her shadowy presence. Did the\nservant\u2013man make his punctual resort to the neighbouring cottages, he\ntook the liberty of scrutinising Nelly\u2019s antiquated garb that varied\nnot with the vicissitudes of seasons, or he pried sympathetically\ninto the progress of her monotonous occupation, and though her pale,\nghastly, contracted features gave a momentary pang of terror, it was\nrapidly effaced in the vortex of good fellowship into which he was\nspeedily drawn. Did the loon venture an appointment with his mistress\nat the rustic style of the stack\u2013garth, Nelly\u2019s unwearied hammer,\ninstead of proving a barrier, only served, by imparting a grateful\nsense of mutual danger, to render more intense the raptures of the\nhour of meeting. So apathetic were the feelings cherished towards\nher, and so little jealousy existed of her power to injure, that the\nrelater of these circumstances states that on several occasions she\nhas passed Nelly at her laborious toil, without evincing the slightest\nperturbation, beyond a hurried step, as she stole a glance at the\ninexplicable and mysterious form.\n\nAn event, in the course of years, disclosed the secrets that marvellous\nstone shrouded, and drove poor Nelly for ever from the scene so\ninscrutably linked with her fate.\n\nTwo of the sons of the farmer were rapidly approaching maturity,\nwhen one of them, more reflecting and shrewd than his compeers,\nsuggested the idea of relieving Nelly from her toilsome avocation,\nand of taking possession of the alluring legacy to which she was\nevidently and urgently summoning. He proposed, conjointly with his\nfather and brother, to blast the stone, as the most expeditious mode\nof gaining access to her arcana, and, this in the open daylight, in\norder that any tutelary protection she might be disposed to extend\nto her favourite haunt might, as she was a thing of darkness and the\nnight, be effectually countervailed. Nor were their hopes frustrated,\nfor, upon clearing away the earth and fragments that resulted from\nthe explosion, there was revealed to their elated and admiring gaze,\na precious booty of closely packed urns copiously enriched with gold.\nAnxious that no intimation of their good fortune should transpire, they\nhad taken the precaution to despatch the female servant on a needless\nerrand, and ere her return the whole treasure was efficiently and\ncompletely secured. So completely did they succeed in keeping their own\ncounsel, and so successfully did their reputation keep pace with the\ncautious production of their undivulged treasures, that for many years\nafterwards they were never suspected of gaining any advantage from\npoor Nelly\u2019s \u201cknocking\u201d; their improved appearance, and the somewhat\nimposing figure they made in their little district, being solely\nattributed to their superior judgment, and to the good management of\ntheir lucky farm.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE FOOLS.\n\n\nThere was once a good\u2013looking girl, the daughter of well\u2013off country\nfolk, who was loved by an honest young fellow named John. He courted\nher for a long time, and at last got her and her parents to consent to\nhis marrying her, which was to come off in a few weeks\u2019 time.\n\nOne day as the girl\u2019s father was working in his garden he sat down to\nrest himself by the well, and, looking in, and seeing how deep it was,\nhe fell a\u2013thinking.\n\n\u201cIf Jane had a child,\u201d said he to himself, \u201cwho knows but that one day\nit might play about here and fall in and be killed?\u201d\n\nThe thought of such a thing filled him with sorrow, and he sat crying\ninto the well for some time until his wife came to him.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d asked she. \u201cWhat are you crying for?\u201d\n\nThen the man told her his thoughts\u2014\n\n\u201cIf Jane marries and has a child,\u201d said he, \u201cwho knows but it might\nplay about here and some day fall into the well and be killed?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlack!\u201d cried the woman, \u201cI never thought of that before. It is,\nindeed, possible.\u201d\n\nSo she sat down and wept with her husband.\n\nAs neither of them came to the house the daughter shortly came to look\nfor them, and when she found them sitting crying into the well\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d asked she. \u201cWhy do you weep?\u201d\n\nSo her father told her of the thought that had struck him.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said she, \u201cit might happen.\u201d\n\nSo she too sat down with her father and mother, and wept into the well.\n\nThey had sat there a good while when John comes to them.\n\n\u201cWhat has made you so sad?\u201d asked he.\n\nSo the father told him what had occurred, and said that he should be\nafraid to let him have his daughter seeing her child might fall into\nthe well.\n\n\u201cYou are three fools,\u201d said the young man, when he had heard him to an\nend, and leaving them, he thought over whether he should try to get\nJane for his wife or not. At length he decided that he would marry her\nif he could find three people more foolish than her and her father and\nmother. He put on his boots and went out.\n\n\u201cI will walk till I wear these boots out,\u201d said he, \u201cand if I find\nthree more foolish people before I am barefoot, I will marry her.\u201d\n\nSo he went on, and walked very far till he came to a barn, at the\ndoor of which stood a man with a shovel in his hands. He seemed to be\nworking very hard, shovelling the air in at the door.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d asked John.\n\n\u201cI am shovelling in the sunbeams,\u201d replied the man, \u201cto ripen the corn.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you have the corn out in the sun for it to ripen it?\u201d asked\nJohn.\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d said the man. \u201cWhy, I never thought of that! Good luck to you,\nfor you have saved me many a weary day\u2019s work.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s fool number one,\u201d said John, and went on.\n\nHe travelled a long way, until one day he came to a cottage, against\nthe wall of it was placed a ladder, and a man was trying to pull a cow\nup it by means of a rope, one end of which was round the cow\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cWhat are you about?\u201d asked John.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d replied the man, \u201cI want the cow up on the roof to eat off that\nfine tuft of grass you see growing there.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you cut the grass and give it to the cow?\u201d asked John.\n\n\u201cWhy, now, I never thought of that!\u201d answered the man. \u201cSo I will, of\ncourse, and many thanks, for many a good cow have I killed in trying to\nget it up there.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s fool number two,\u201d said John to himself.\n\nHe walked on a long way, thinking there were more fools in the world\nthan he had thought, and wondering what would be the next one he should\nmeet. He had to wait a long time, however, and to walk very far, and\nhis boots were almost worn out before he found another.\n\nOne day, however, he came to a field, in the middle of which he saw\na pair of trousers standing up, being held up by sticks. A man was\nrunning about them and jumping over and over them.\n\n\u201cHullo!\u201d cried John. \u201cWhat are you about?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said the man, \u201cwhat need is there to ask? Don\u2019t you see I want\nto get the trousers on?\u201d so saying he took two or three more runs and\njumps, but always jumped either to this side or that of the trousers.\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you take the trousers and draw them on?\u201d asked John.\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d said the man. \u201cWhy, I never thought of it! Many thanks. I only\nwish you had come before, for I have lost a great deal of time in\ntrying to jump into them.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said John, \u201cis fool number three.\u201d\n\nSo, as his boots were not yet quite worn out, he returned to his home\nand went again to ask Jane of her father and mother. At last they gave\nher to him, and they lived very happily together, for John had a rail\nput round the well and the child did _not_ fall into it.\n\n\n\n\nSOME MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.\n\n [From a chap\u2013book printed at Hull in the beginning of the present\n century.]\n\n\nTALE FIRST.\n\nThere were two men of Gotham, and one of them was going to the market\nat Nottingham to buy sheep, and the other was coming from the market,\nand both met together on Nottingham bridge.\n\n\u201cWell met,\u201d said the one to the other.\n\n\u201cWhither are you a\u2013going?\u201d said he that came from Nottingham.\n\n\u201cMarry,\u201d said he that was going thither, \u201cI am going to the market to\nbuy sheep.\u201d\n\n\u201cBuy sheep,\u201d said the other; \u201cand which way will you bring them home?\u201d\n\n\u201cMarry,\u201d said the other, \u201cI will bring them over this bridge.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy Robin Hood,\u201d said he that came from Nottingham, \u201cbut thou shalt\nnot.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy maid Marjoram,\u201d said he that was going thither, \u201cbut I will.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou shalt not,\u201d said the one.\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said the other.\n\n\u201cTut here,\u201d said the one, and \u201cTut there,\u201d said the other. Then they\nbeat their staves against the ground one against the other, as if there\nhad been a hundred sheep betwixt them.\n\n\u201cHold them there,\u201d said one.\n\n\u201cBeware of the leaping over the bridge of my sheep,\u201d said the other.\n\n\u201cI care not.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey shall all come this way,\u201d said the one.\n\n\u201cBut they shall not,\u201d said the other.\n\nAs they were in contention, another wise man that belonged to Gotham\ncame from the market with a sack of meal upon his horse, and seeing and\nhearing his neighbours at strife about sheep, and none betwixt them,\nsaid he\u2014\n\n\u201cAh, fools! will you never learn wit? Then help me,\u201d said he that had\nthe meal, \u201cand lay this sack upon my shoulder.\u201d\n\nThey did so, and he went to one side of the bridge, and unloosed the\nmouth of the sack, and shook out the meal into the river. Then said he\u2014\n\n\u201cHow much meal is there in the sack, neighbours?\u201d\n\n\u201cMarry,\u201d answered they, \u201cnone.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, by my faith,\u201d replied this wise man, \u201ceven so much wit is there\nin your two heads, to strive concerning that thing which you have not.\u201d\n\nNow, which was the wisest of all these three persons I leave you to\njudge.\n\n\nTALE SECOND.\n\nOn a time the men of Gotham fain would have pinned in the cuckoo,\nwhereby she should sing all the year; and in the midst of the town they\nhad a hedge made round in compass, and they got the cuckoo, and put her\ninto it, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cSing here, and you shall lack neither meat nor drink all the year.\u201d\n\nThe cuckoo, when she perceived herself encompassed within the hedge,\nflew away.\n\n\u201cA vengeance on her,\u201d said the wise men, \u201cwe made not our hedge high\nenough.\u201d\n\n\nTALE THIRD.\n\nThere was a man of Gotham who went to the market of Nottingham to sell\ncheese, and, as he was going down the hill to Nottingham bridge, one of\nhis cheese fell out of his wallet, and ran down the hill.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said the fellow, \u201ccan you run to the market alone? I will now\nsend one after the other.\u201d\n\nThen laying down the wallet, and taking out the cheese, he tumbled them\ndown the hill, one after the other, and some ran into one bush and some\ninto another, so at last he said\u2014\n\n\u201cI do charge you to meet me in the market\u2013place.\u201d\n\nAnd when the man came into the market to meet the cheese, he stayed\nuntil the market was almost done, then went and inquired of his\nneighbours and other men if they did see his cheese come to market.\n\n\u201cWhy, who should bring them?\u201d said one of his neighbours.\n\n\u201cMarry, themselves!\u201d said the fellow. \u201cThey knew the way well enough,\u201d\nsaid he. \u201cA vengeance on them, for I was afraid, to see my cheese run\nso fast, that they would run beyond the market. I am persuaded that\nthey are by this time almost at York.\u201d\n\nSo he immediately takes a horse, and rides after them to York, but was\nvery much disappointed.\n\nBut to this day no man has ever heard of the cheese.\n\n\nTALE FOURTH.\n\nWhen that Good Friday was come the men of Gotham did cast their heads\ntogether what to do with their white herrings, red herrings, their\nsprats, and salt fish. Then one counselled with the other, and agreed\nthat all such fish should be cast into the pond or pool, which was in\nthe middle of the town, that the number of them might increase against\nthe next year. Therefore every one that had got any fish left did cast\nthem into the pond. Then one said\u2014\n\n\u201cI have as yet gotten left so many red herrings.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the other, \u201cand I have left so many whitings.\u201d\n\nAnother immediately cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cI have as yet gotten so many sprats left.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd,\u201d said the last, \u201cI have got so many salt fishes. Let them all go\ntogether into the great pond without any distinction, and we may be\nsure to fare like lords the next year.\u201d\n\nAt the beginning of the next Lent they immediately went about drawing\nthe pond, imagining they should have the fish, but were much surprised\nto find nothing but a great eel.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said they, \u201ca mischief on this eel, for he hath eaten up our\nfish.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat must we do with him?\u201d said one to the other.\n\n\u201cKill him!\u201d said one to the other.\n\n\u201cChop him into pieces,\u201d said another.\n\n\u201cNay, not so,\u201d said the other, \u201cbut let us drown him.\u201d\n\n\u201cBe it accordingly so,\u201d replied they all.\n\nSo they immediately went to another pond, and did cast the eel into the\nwater.\n\n\u201cLie there,\u201d said these wise men, \u201cand shift for thyself, since you can\nexpect no help from us.\u201d\n\nSo they left the eel to be drowned.\n\n\nTALE FIFTH.\n\nOn a certain time there were twelve men of Gotham that went a\u2013fishing;\nand some did wade in the water, and some did stand upon dry land. And\nwhen they went homeward, one said to the other\u2014\n\n\u201cWe have ventured wonderful hard this day in wading, I pray God that\nnone of us may have come from home to be drowned.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, marry,\u201d said one to the other, \u201clet us see that, for there did\ntwelve of us come out.\u201d\n\nThen they told themselves, and every man told eleven, and the twelfth\nman did never tell himself.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said the one to the other, \u201cthere is some one of us drowned.\u201d\n\nThey went back to the brook where they had been fishing, and did make a\ngreat lamentation. A courtier did come riding by, and did ask what it\nwas they sought for, and why they were so sorrowful.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said they, \u201cthis day we went to fish in the brook, and here did\ncome out twelve of us, and one of us is drowned.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said the courtier, \u201ctell how many there be of you,\u201d and the one\nsaid eleven, and he did not tell himself.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the courtier, \u201cwhat will you give me, and I will find out\ntwelve men?\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d said they, \u201call the money we have got.\u201d\n\n\u201cGive me the money,\u201d said the courtier; and began with the first, and\ngave a recommendibus over the shoulders, which made him groan, saying,\n\u201cHere is one;\u201d and so he served them all, that they groaned at the\nmatter. When he came to the last, he paid him well, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cHere is the twelfth man.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod\u2019s blessing on thy heart for finding out our dear brother.\u201d\n\n\nTALE SIXTH.\n\nA man\u2019s wife of Gotham had a child, and the father bid the gossips,\nwhich were children of eight or ten years of age. The eldest child\u2019s\nname, who was to be godfather, was called Gilbert, the second child\u2019s\nname was Humphrey, and the godmother\u2019s name was Christabel. The friends\nof all of them did admonish them, saying, that divers of times they\nmust say after the priest. When they were all come to the church\u2013door,\nthe priest said\u2014\n\n\u201cBe you all agreed of the name?\u201d\n\n\u201cBe you all,\u201d said Gilbert, \u201cagreed of the name?\u201d\n\nThe priest then said\u2014\n\n\u201cWherefore do you come hither?\u201d\n\nGilbert said, \u201cWherefore do you come hither?\u201d Humphrey said, \u201cWherefore\ndo you come hither?\u201d And Christabel said, \u201cWherefore do you come\nhither?\u201d\n\nThe priest being amazed, he could not tell what to say, but whistled\nand said \u201cWhew!\u201d\n\nGilbert whistled and said \u201cWhew!\u201d Humphrey whistled and said \u201cWhew!\u201d\nand so did Christabel. The priest being angry, said\u2014\n\n\u201cGo home, fools, go home!\u201d\n\nThen said Gilbert and Humphrey and Christabel the same.\n\nThe priest then himself provided for god\u2013fathers and god\u2013mothers.\n\nHere a man may see that children can do nothing without good\ninstruction, and that they are not wise who regard them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TULIP FAIRIES.\n\n\nNear a pixy field in the neighbourhood of Dartmoor, there lived, on a\ntime, an old woman who possessed a cottage and a very pretty garden,\nwherein she cultivated a most beautiful bed of tulips. The pixies, it\nis traditionally averred, so delighted in this spot that they would\ncarry their elfin babes thither, and sing them to rest. Often, at the\ndead hour of the night, a sweet lullaby was heard, and strains of the\nmost melodious music would float in the air, that seemed to owe their\norigin to no other musicians than the beautiful tulips themselves, and\nwhilst these delicate flowers waved their heads to the evening breeze,\nit sometimes seemed as if they were marking time to their own singing.\nAs soon as the elfin babes were lulled asleep by such melodies, the\npixies would return to the neighbouring field, and there commence\ndancing, making those rings on the green which showed, even to mortal\neyes, what sort of gambols had occupied them during the night season.\n\nAt the first dawn of light the watchful pixies once more sought the\ntulips, and, though still invisible they could be heard kissing and\ncaressing their babies. The tulips, thus favoured by a race of genii,\nretained their beauty much longer than any other flowers in the garden,\nwhilst, though contrary to their nature, as the pixies breathed over\nthem, they became as fragrant as roses, and so delighted at all was the\nold woman who kept the garden that she never suffered a single tulip to\nbe plucked from its stem.\n\nAt length, however, she died, and the heir who succeeded her destroyed\nthe enchanted flowers, and converted the spot into a parsley\u2013bed, a\ncircumstance which so disappointed and offended the pixies, that they\ncaused all the parsley to wither away, and, indeed, for many years\nnothing would grow in the beds of the whole garden. These sprites,\nhowever, though eager in resenting an injury, were, like most warm\nspirits, equally capable of returning a benefit, and if they destroyed\nthe product of the good old woman\u2019s garden when it had fallen into\nunworthy hands, they tended the bed that wrapped her clay with\naffectionate solicitude. They were heard lamenting and singing sweet\ndirges around her grave; nor did they neglect to pay this mournful\ntribute to her memory every night before the moon was at the full,\nfor then their high solemnity of dancing, singing, and rejoicing took\nplace to hail the queen of the night on completing her circle in the\nheavens. No human hand ever tended the grave of the poor old woman who\nhad nurtured the tulip bed for the delight of these elfin creatures;\nbut no rank weed was ever seen to grow upon it. The sod was ever green,\nand the prettiest flowers would spring up without sowing or planting,\nand so they continued to do until it was supposed the mortal body was\nreduced to its original dust.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS.\n\n\nI.\n\n [From a Chap\u2013book printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, London.\n Probable date, 1780.]\n\nIn the reign of King Arthur, near to the Land\u2019s End of England, in the\nCounty of Cornwall, lived a wealthy farmer, who had a son named Jack.\nHe was brisk and of a ready wit, so that whatever he could not perform\nby force and strength he completed by wit and policy. Never was any\nperson heard of that could worst him. Nay, the very learned many times\nhe has baffled by his cunning and sharp inventions.\n\nIn those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a large and monstrous\ngiant of eighteen feet high, and about three yards in circumference, of\na fierce and grim countenance, the terror of the neighbouring towns and\nvillages.\n\nHis habitation was in a cave in the midst of the Mount. Never would\nhe suffer any living creature to keep near him. His feeding was on\nother men\u2019s cattle, which often became his prey, for whenever he\nwanted food, he would wade over to the mainland, where he would well\nfurnish himself with whatever he could find, for the people at his\napproach would all forsake their habitations. Then would he seize upon\ntheir cows and oxen, of which he would think nothing to carry over\nupon his back half a dozen at one time; and as for their sheep and\nboys, he would tie them round his waist like a bunch of candles. This\nhe practised for many years, so that a great part of the county of\nCornwall was very much impoverished by him.\n\nJack having undertaken to destroy this voracious monster, he furnished\nhimself with a horn, a shovel, and a pickaxe, and over to the mount\nhe went in the beginning of a dark winter\u2019s evening, where he fell to\nwork, and before morning had dug a pit twenty\u2013two feet deep, and in\nwidth nearly the same, and covering it over with sticks and straw, and\nthen strewing a little mould over it, it appeared like plain ground.\nThen, putting his horn to his mouth, he blew tan\u2013tivy, tan\u2013tivy, which\nnoise awoke the giant, who came roaring towards Jack, crying out\u2014\n\n\u201cYou incorrigible villain, you shall pay dearly for disturbing me, for\nI will broil you for my breakfast.\u201d\n\nThese words were no sooner spoke, but he tumbled headlong into the pit,\nand the heavy fall made the foundation of the Mount to shake.\n\n\u201cO Mr. Giant, where are you now? Oh, faith, you are gotten into Lob\u2019s\nPound, where I will surely plague you for your threatening words. What\ndo you think now of broiling me for your breakfast? Will no other diet\nserve you but poor Jack?\u201d\n\nHaving thus spoken and made merry with him a while, he struck him such\na blow on the crown with his pole\u2013axe that he tumbled down, and with a\ngroan expired. This done, Jack threw the dirt in upon him and so buried\nhim. Then, searching the cave, he found much treasure.\n\nNow when the magistrates who employed Jack heard that the job was over,\nthey sent for him, declaring that he should be henceforth called Jack\nthe Giant Killer, and in honour thereof presented him with a sword and\nan embroidered belt, upon which these words were written in letters of\ngold\u2014\n\n  \u201cHere\u2019s the valiant Cornish man,\n  Who slew the giant, Cormoran.\u201d\n\nThe news of Jack\u2019s victory was soon spread over the western parts, so\nthat another giant, called Old Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be\nrevenged on Jack, if it ever was his fortune to light on him. The giant\nkept an enchanted castle situated in the midst of a lonesome wood.\n\nAbout four months after as Jack was walking by the borders of this\nwood, on his journey towards Wales, he grew weary, and therefore sat\nhimself down by the side of a pleasant fountain, when a deep sleep\nsuddenly seized him. At this time the giant, coming there for water,\nfound him, and by the lines upon his belt immediately knew him to be\nJack, who had killed his brother giant. So, without any words, he took\nhim upon his shoulder to carry him to his enchanted castle. As he\npassed through a thicket, the jostling of the boughs awoke Jack, who,\nfinding himself in the clutches of the giant was very much surprised,\nthough it was but the beginning of his terrors, for, entering the walls\nof the castle, he found the floor strewn and the walls covered with the\nskulls and bones of dead men, when the giant told him his bones should\nenlarge the number of what he saw. He also told him that the next day\nhe would eat him with pepper and vinegar, and he did not question but\nthat he would find him a curious breakfast. This said, he locks up poor\nJack in an upper room, leaving him there while he went out to fetch\nanother giant who lived in the same wood, that he also might partake of\nthe pleasure they should have in the destruction of honest Jack. While\nhe was gone dreadful shrieks and cries affrighted Jack, especially a\nvoice which continually cried\u2014\n\n  \u201cDo what you can to get away,\n  Or you\u2019ll become the giant\u2019s prey;\n  He\u2019s gone to fetch his brother who\n  Will likewise kill and torture you.\u201d\n\nThis dreadful noise so affrighted poor Jack, that he was ready to run\ndistracted. Then, going to a window he opened the casement, and beheld\nafar off the two giants coming.\n\n\u201cSo now,\u201d quoth Jack to himself, \u201cmy death or deliverance is at hand.\u201d\n\nThere were two strong cords in the room by him, at the end of which\nhe made a noose, and as the giants were unlocking the iron gates, he\nthrew the ropes over the giants\u2019 heads, and then threw the other end\nacross a beam, when he pulled with all his might till he had throttled\nthem. Then, fastening the ropes to a beam, he returned to the window,\nwhere he beheld the two giants black in the face, and so sliding down\nthe ropes, he came upon the heads of the helpless giants, who could\nnot defend themselves, and, drawing his own sword, he slew them both,\nand so delivered himself from their intended cruelty. Then, taking\nthe bunch of keys, he entered the castle, where, upon strict search,\nhe found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads, and almost\nstarved to death.\n\n\u201cSweet ladies,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI have destroyed the monster and his\nbrutish brother, by which means I have obtained your liberties.\u201d\n\nThis said, he presented them with the keys of the castle, and proceeded\non his journey to Wales.\n\nJack having got but little money, thought it prudent to make the best\nof his way by travelling hard, and at length, losing his road, he was\nbenighted, and could not get a place of entertainment, till, coming to\na valley between two hills, he found a large house in a lonesome place,\nand by reason of his present necessity he took courage to knock at\nthe gate. To his amazement there came forth a monstrous giant, having\ntwo heads, yet he did not seem so fiery as the other two, for he was\na Welsh giant, and all he did was by private and secret malice, under\nthe false show of friendship. Jack, telling his condition, he bid him\nwelcome, showing him into a room with a bed, where he might take his\nnight\u2019s repose. Upon this Jack undressed himself, but as the giant\nwas walking to another apartment Jack heard him mutter these words to\nhimself\u2014\n\n  \u201cTho\u2019 here you lodge with me this night,\n  You shall not see the morning light,\n  My club shall dash your brains out quite.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay you so?\u201d says Jack. \u201cIs this one of your Welsh tricks? I hope to\nbe as cunning as you.\u201d\n\nThen, getting out of bed, and feeling about the room in the dark, he\nfound a thick billet of wood, and laid it in the bed in his stead, then\nhe hid himself in a dark corner of the room. In the dead time of the\nnight came the giant with his club, and he struck several blows on the\nbed where Jack had artfully laid the billet. Then the giant returned\nback to his own room, supposing he had broken all his bones. Early in\nthe morning Jack came to thank him for his lodging.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the giant, \u201chow have you rested? Did you see anything in the\nnight?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Jack, \u201cbut a rat gave me three or four slaps with his tail.\u201d\n\nSoon after the giant went to breakfast on a great bowl of hasty\npudding, giving Jack but a small quantity. Jack, being loath to let\nhim know he could not eat with him, got a leather bag, and, putting\nit artfully under his coat, put the pudding into it. Then he told the\ngiant he would show him a trick, and taking up a knife he ripped open\nthe bag and out fell the pudding. The giant thought he had cut open his\nstomach and taken the pudding out.\n\n\u201cOdds splutters,\u201d says he, \u201chur can do that hurself,\u201d and, taking the\nknife up, he cut himself so badly that he fell down and died.\n\nThus Jack outwitted the Welsh giant and proceeded on his journey.\n\nKing Arthur\u2019s only son desired his father to furnish him with a certain\nsum of money, that he might go and seek his fortune in the principality\nof Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, whom he had heard was possessed\nwith seven evil spirits.\n\nThe king, his father, counselled him against it, yet he could not\nbe persuaded, so the favour was granted, which was one horse loaded\nwith money, and another to ride on. Thus he went forth without\nany attendants, and after several days\u2019 travel he came to a large\nmarket\u2013town in Wales, where he beheld a vast crowd of people gathered\ntogether. The king\u2019s son demanded the reason of it, and was told that\nthey had arrested a corpse for many large sums of money, which the\ndeceased owed before he died. The king\u2019s son replied\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is a pity that creditors should be so cruel. Go, bury the dead,\nand let the creditors come to my lodgings, and their debts shall be\ndischarged.\u201d\n\nAccordingly they came, and in such great numbers that before night he\nhad almost left himself penniless. Now Jack the Giant Killer being\nthere, and seeing the generosity of the king\u2019s son, desired to be his\nservant. It being agreed on, the next morning they set forward. As they\nwere riding out of the town\u2019s end, an old woman cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cHe has owed me twopence seven years, pray, sir, pay me as well as the\nrest.\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s son put his hand in his pocket and gave it her, it being the\nlast money he had, then, turning to Jack, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cTake no thought nor heed. Let me alone, and I warrant you we will\nnever want.\u201d\n\nNow Jack had a small spell in his pocket, the which served for a\nrefreshment, after which they had but one penny left between them. They\nspent the forenoon in travel and familiar discourse, until the sun grew\nlow, when the king\u2019s son said\u2014\n\n\u201cJack, since we have got no money where can we lodge to\u2013night?\u201d\n\nJack replied\u2014\n\n\u201cMaster, we will do well enough, for I have an uncle who lives within\ntwo miles of this place. He is a huge and monstrous giant, having three\nheads. He will beat five hundred men in armour, and make them fly\nbefore him.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said the king\u2019s son, \u201cwhat shall we do there? He will eat us up\nat a mouthful\u2014nay, we are scarce sufficient to fill one hollow tooth.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is no matter for that,\u201d says Jack. \u201cI myself will go before and\nprepare the way for you. Tarry here, and wait my return.\u201d\n\nHe waited, and Jack rode full speed. Coming to the castle gate, he\nimmediately began to knock with such force that all the neighbouring\nhills resounded. The giant, roaring with a voice like thunder, called\u2014\n\n\u201cWho is there?\u201d\n\n\u201cNone, but your poor cousin Jack.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what news,\u201d said he, \u201cwith my cousin Jack?\u201d\n\nHe replied\u2014\n\n\u201cDear uncle, heavy news.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod wot! Prithee! what heavy news can come to me? I am a giant with\nthree heads, and besides, thou knowest, I fight five hundred men in\narmour, and make them all fly like chaff before the wind.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Jack, \u201cbut here is a king\u2019s son coming with a thousand men\nin armour to kill you, and to destroy all you have.\u201d\n\n\u201cO my cousin Jack, this is heavy news indeed, but I have a large vault\nunderground where I will run and hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt,\nand bar me in, and keep the keys till the king\u2019s son is gone.\u201d\n\nJack, having now secured the giant, returned and fetched his master,\nand both made merry with the best dainties the house afforded. In the\nmorning Jack furnished his master with fresh supplies of gold and\nsilver, and having set him three miles on the road out of the giant\u2019s\nsmell, he returned and let his uncle out of the hole, who asked Jack\nwhat he should give him for his care of him, seeing his castle was\ndemolished.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI desire nothing but your old rusty sword, the coat\nin the closet, and the cap and the shoes at your bed\u2019s head.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d said the giant, \u201cthou shalt have them, and be sure keep you\nthem, for my sake. They are things of excellent use. The coat will\nkeep you invisible, the cap will furnish you with knowledge, the sword\ncuts asunder whatever you strike, and the shoes are of extraordinary\nswiftness. They may be serviceable to you, so take them with all my\nheart.\u201d\n\nJack took them, and immediately followed his master. Having overtaken\nhim, they soon arrived at the lady\u2019s dwelling, who, finding the king\u2019s\nson to be a suitor, prepared a banquet for him, which being ended,\nshe wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, saying\u2014\u201cYou must show me this\nto\u2013morrow morning, or lose your head,\u201d and then she put it in her bosom.\n\nThe king\u2019s son went to bed right sorrowful, but Jack\u2019s cap of knowledge\ninstructed him how to obtain the handkerchief. In the midst of the\nnight the lady called upon her familiar to carry her to Lucifer. Jack\nwhipped on his coat of darkness, with his shoes of swiftness, and was\nthere before her, but could not be seen by reason of his coat, which\nrendered him perfectly invisible to Lucifer himself. When the lady came\nshe gave him the handkerchief, from whom Jack took it, and brought it\nto his master, who, showing it the next morning to the lady, saved his\nlife. This much surprised the lady, but he had yet a harder trial to\nundergo. The next night the lady salutes the king\u2019s son, telling him he\nmust show her the next day the lips she kissed last or lose his head.\n\n\u201cSo I will,\u201d replied he, \u201cif you kiss none but mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is neither here nor there for that,\u201d says she. \u201cIf you do not,\ndeath is your portion.\u201d\n\nAt midnight she went again and chid Lucifer for letting the\nhandkerchief go.\n\n\u201cBut now,\u201d said she, \u201cI shall be too hard for the king\u2019s son, for I\nwill kiss thee, and he is to show me the lips I kissed last, and he\ncan never show me thy lips.\u201d\n\nJack, standing up with his sword of sharpness, cut off the evil\nspirit\u2019s head, and brought it under his invisible coat to his master,\nwho laid it at the end of his bolster, and in the morning, when the\nlady came up, he pulled it out and showed her the lips which she kissed\nlast. Thus, she having been answered twice, the enchantment broke, and\nthe evil spirit left her, to their mutual joy and satisfaction. Then\nshe appeared her former self, both beauteous and virtuous. They were\nmarried the next morning, and soon after returned with joy to the court\nof King Arthur, where Jack, for his good services, was made one of the\nknights of the Round Table.\n\n\nII.\n\n [From a Chap\u2013book, printed and sold at Newcastle, by J. WHITE, 1711.]\n\nJack, having been successful in all his undertakings, and resolved not\nto be idle for the future, but to perform what service he could for\nthe honour of his king and country, humbly requested of the king, his\nroyal master, to fit him with a horse and money, to travel in search\nof strange and new adventures. \u201cFor,\u201d said he, \u201cthere are many giants\nyet living in the remote parts of the kingdom, and in the dominions\nof Wales, to the unspeakable damage of your majesty\u2019s liege subjects,\nwherefore, may it please your majesty to give me encouragement, and I\ndoubt not but in a short time to cut them all off, root and branch,\nand so rid the realm of those cruel giants and devouring monsters in\nnature.\u201d\n\nNow, when the king had heard these noble propositions, and had duly\nconsidered the mischievous practices of those bloodthirsty giants,\nhe immediately granted what honest Jack requested. And on the first\nday of March, being thoroughly furnished with all necessaries for his\nprogress, he took his leave, not only of King Arthur, but likewise of\nall the trusty and hardy knights belonging to the Round Table, who,\nafter much salutation and friendly greeting, parted, the king and\nnobles to their courtly palaces, and Jack the Giant Killer to the eager\npursuit of Fortune\u2019s favours, taking with him the cap of knowledge,\nsword of sharpness, shoes of swiftness, and likewise the invisible\ncoat, the latter to perfect and complete the dangerous enterprises that\nlay before him.\n\nHe travelled over vast hills and wonderful mountains till, at the end\nof three days, he came to a large and spacious wood, through which\nhe must needs pass, where, on a sudden, to his great amazement, he\nheard dreadful shrieks and cries. Casting his eyes around to observe\nwhat it might be, he beheld with wonder a giant rushing along with a\nworthy knight and his fair lady, whom he held by the hair of their\nheads in his hands, with as much ease as if they had been but a pair of\ngloves, the sight of which melted honest Jack into tears of pity and\ncompassion. Alighting off his horse, which he left tied to an oak\u2013tree,\nand then putting on his invisible coat, under which he carried his\nsword of sharpness, he came up to the giant, and, though he made\nseveral passes at him, yet, nevertheless, he could not reach the trunk\nof his body by reason of his height, though he wounded his thighs in\nseveral places. At length, giving him a swinging stroke, he cut off\nboth his legs, just below the knees, so that the trunk of his body\nmade not only the ground to shake, but likewise the trees to tremble\nwith the force of its fall, at which, by mere fortune, the knight and\nhis lady escaped his rage. Then had Jack time to talk with him, and,\nsetting his foot upon his neck, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cThou savage and barbarous wretch, I am come to execute upon you the\njust reward of your villainy,\u201d and with that, running him through and\nthrough, the monster sent forth a hideous groan, and yielded up his\nlife into the hands of the valiant conqueror, Jack the Giant Killer,\nwhile the noble knight and virtuous lady were both joyful spectators of\nhis sudden downfall and their deliverance.\n\nThis being done, the courteous knight and his fair lady not only\nreturned Jack hearty thanks for their deliverance, but also invited\nhim home, there to refresh himself after the dreadful encounter, as\nlikewise to receive some ample reward, by way of gratuity, for his good\nservice.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d quoth Jack; \u201cI cannot be at ease till I find out the den which\nwas this monster\u2019s habitation.\u201d\n\nThe knight, hearing this, waxed right sorrowful and replied\u2014\n\n\u201cNoble stranger, it is too much to run a second risk, for note, this\nmonster lived in a den under yon mountain with a brother of his, more\nfierce and fiery than himself. Therefore, if you should go thither and\nperish in that attempt it would be the heartbreaking of both me and my\nlady. Therefore let me persuade you to go with us, and desist from any\nfurther pursuit.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d quoth Jack, \u201cif there be another\u2014nay, were there twenty, I would\nshed the last drop of blood in my body before one of them should escape\nmy fury. When I have finished this task I will come and pay my respects\nto you.\u201d\n\nSo, having taken the directions to their habitation, he mounted his\nhorse, leaving them to return home, while he went in pursuit of the\ndeceased giant\u2019s brother. He had not ridden past a mile and a half\nbefore he came in sight of the cave\u2019s mouth, near to the entrance of\nwhich he beheld the other giant sitting upon a huge block of timber\nwith a knotted iron club lying by his side, waiting, as Jack supposed,\nfor his brother\u2019s return. His goggle eyes appeared like terrible flames\nof fire. His countenance was grim and ugly, his cheeks being like a\ncouple of large fat flitches of bacon. Moreover, the bristles of his\nbeard seemed to resemble rods of iron wire. His locks hung down upon\nhis broad shoulders, like curled snakes or hissing adders.\n\nJack alighted from his horse and put him into a thicket, then, with his\ncoat of darkness, he came somewhat nearer to behold this figure, and\nsaid softly\u2014\n\n\u201cOh! are you there? It will be not long e\u2019er I shall take you by the\nbeard.\u201d\n\nThe giant all this time could not see him by reason of his invisible\ncoat. So, coming up close to him, valiant Jack, fetching a blow at his\nhead with his sword of sharpness, and missing something of his arm,\ncut off the giant\u2019s nose. The pain was terrible, and so he put up his\nhands to feel for his nose, and when he could not find it, he raved\nand roared louder than claps of thunder. Though he turned up his large\neyes, he could not see from whence the blow came which had done him\nthat great disaster, yet, nevertheless, he took up his iron\u2013knotted\nclub, and began to lay about him like one that was stark staring mad.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d quoth Jack, \u201cif you are for that sport, then I will despatch you\nquickly, for I fear an accidental blow should fall on me.\u201d\n\nThen, as the giant rose from his block, Jack makes no more to do but\nruns the sword up to the hilt in his body, where he left it sticking\nfor a while, and stood himself laughing, with his hands akimbo, to see\nthe giant caper and dance, crying out.\n\nThe giant continued raving for an hour or more, and at length fell down\ndead, whose dreadful fall had like to have crushed poor Jack had he not\nbeen nimble to avoid the same.\n\nThis being done, Jack cut off both the giants\u2019 heads and sent them to\nKing Arthur by a wagoner whom he hired for the purpose, together with\nan account of his prosperous success in all his undertakings.\n\nJack, having thus despatched these monsters, resolved with himself to\nenter the cave in search of these giants\u2019 treasure. He passed along\nthrough many turnings and windings, which led him at length to a\nroom paved with free\u2013stone, at the upper end of which was a boiling\ncauldron. On the right hand stood a large table where, as he supposed,\nthe giants used to dine. He came to an iron gate where was a window\nsecured with bars of iron, through which he looked, and there beheld a\nvast many miserable captives, who, seeing Jack at a distance, cried out\nwith a loud voice\u2014\n\n\u201cAlas! young man, art thou come to be one amongst us in this miserable\nden?\u201d\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d quoth Jack, \u201cI hope I shall not tarry long here; but pray tell\nme what is the meaning of your captivity?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said one young man, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you. We are persons that have\nbeen taken by the giants that keep this cave, and here we are kept\ntill such time as they have occasion for a particular feast, and then\nthe fattest amongst us is slaughtered and prepared for their devouring\njaws. It is not long since they took three for the same purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay you so,\u201d quoth Jack; \u201cwell, I have given them, both such a dinner\nthat it will be long enough e\u2019er they\u2019ll have occasion for any more.\u201d\n\nThe miserable captives were amazed at his words.\n\n\u201cYou may believe me,\u201d quoth Jack, \u201cfor I have slain them with the point\nof my sword, and as for their monstrous heads, I sent them in a wagon\nto the court of King Arthur as trophies of my unparalleled victory.\u201d\n\nFor a testimony of the truth he had said, he unlocked the iron gate,\nsetting the miserable captives at liberty, who all rejoiced like\ncondemned malefactors at the sight of a reprieve. Then, leading them\nall together to the aforesaid room, he placed them round the table, and\nset before them two quarters of beef, as also bread and wine, so that\nhe feasted them very plentifully. Supper being ended, they searched the\ngiants\u2019 coffers, where, finding a vast store of gold and silver, Jack\nequally divided it among them. They all returned him hearty thanks\nfor their treasure and miraculous deliverance. That night they went to\ntheir rest, and in the morning they arose and departed\u2014the captives to\ntheir respective towns and places of abode, and Jack to the house of\nthe knight whom he had formerly delivered from the hand of the giant.\n\nIt was about sun\u2013rising when Jack mounted his horse to proceed\non his journey, and by the help of his directions he came to the\nknight\u2019s house some time before noon, where he was received with all\ndemonstrations of joy imaginable by the knight and his lady, who, in\nhonourable respect to Jack, prepared a feast, which lasted for many\ndays, inviting all the gentry in the adjacent parts, to whom the worthy\nknight was pleased to relate the manner of his former danger and the\nhappy deliverance by the undaunted courage of Jack the Giant Killer.\nBy way of gratitude he presented Jack with a ring of gold, on which\nwas engraved, by curious art, the picture of the giant dragging a\ndistressed knight and his fair lady by the hair of the head, with this\nmotto\u2014\n\n  \u201cWe are in sad distress, you see,\n  Under a giant\u2019s fierce command;\n  But gained our lives and liberty\n  By valiant Jack\u2019s victorious hand.\u201d\n\nNow, among the vast assembly there present were five aged gentlemen\nwho were fathers to some of those miserable captives which Jack had\nlately set at liberty, who, understanding that he was the person\nthat performed those great wonders, immediately paid their venerable\nrespects. After this their mirth increased, and the smiling bowls went\nfreely round to the prosperous success of the victorious conqueror,\nbut, in the midst of all this mirth, a dark cloud appeared which\ndaunted all the hearts of the honourable assembly.\n\nThus it was. A messenger brought the dismal tidings of the approach\nof one Thunderdel, a huge giant with two heads, who, having heard of\nthe death of his kinsmen, the above\u2013named giants, was come from the\nnorthern dales in search of Jack to be revenged of him for their most\nmiserable downfall. He was now within a mile of the knight\u2019s seat, the\ncountry people flying before him from their houses and habitations,\nlike chaff before the wind. When they had related this, Jack, not a\nwhit daunted, said\u2014\n\n\u201cLet him come. I am prepared with a tool to pick his teeth. And you,\ngentlemen and ladies, walk but forth into the garden, and you shall be\nthe joyful spectators of this monstrous giant\u2019s death and destruction.\u201d\n\nTo which they consented, every one wishing him good fortune in that\ngreat and dangerous enterprise.\n\nThe situation of this knight\u2019s house take as follows: It was placed\nin the midst of a small island, encompassed round with a vast moat,\nthirty feet deep and twenty feet wide, over which lay a drawbridge.\nJack employed two men to cut this last on both sides, almost to the\nmiddle, and then, dressing himself in his coat of darkness, likewise\nputting on his shoes of swiftness, he marches forth against the giant,\nwith his sword of sharpness ready drawn. When he came up to him, yet\nthe giant could not see Jack, by reason of his invisible coat which he\nhad on. Yet, nevertheless, he was sensible of some approaching danger,\nwhich made him cry out in these following words\u2014\n\n  \u201cFe, fi, fo, fum!\n  I smell the blood of an Englishman;\n  Be he alive or be he dead\n  I\u2019ll grind his bones to make me bread.\u201d\n\n\u201cSayest thou so?\u201d quoth Jack, \u201cthen thou art a monstrous miller indeed.\nBut what if I serve thee as I did the two giants of late? On my\nconscience, I should spoil your practice for the future.\u201d\n\nAt which time the giant spoke, in a voice as loud as thunder\u2014\n\n\u201cArt thou that villain which destroyed my kinsmen? Then will I tear\nthee with my teeth, and, what is more, I will grind thy bones to\npowder.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will catch me first, sir,\u201d quoth Jack, and with that he threw\noff his coat of darkness that the giant might see him clearly, and\nthen ran from him, as if through fear. The giant, with foaming mouth\nand glaring eyes, followed after, like a walking castle, making the\nfoundation of the earth, as it were, to shake at every step. Jack\nled him a dance three or four times round the moat belonging to the\nknight\u2019s house, that the gentlemen and ladies might take a full view\nof this huge monster of nature, who followed Jack with all his might,\nbut could not overtake him by reason of his shoes of swiftness, which\ncarried him faster than the giant could follow. At last Jack, to finish\nthe work, took over the bridge, the giant with full speed pursuing\nafter him, with his iron club upon his shoulder, but, coming to the\nmiddle of the drawbridge, what with the weight of his body and the most\ndreadful steps that he took, it broke down, and he tumbled full into\nthe water, where he rolled and wallowed like a whale. Jack, standing at\nthe side of the moat, laughed at the giant and said\u2014\n\n\u201cYou told me you would grind my bones to powder. Here you have water\nenough. Pray, where is your mill?\u201d\n\nThe giant fretted and foamed to hear him scoff at that rate, and though\nhe plunged from place to place in the moat, yet he could not get out to\nbe avenged on his adversary. Jack at length got a cast rope and cast\nit over the giant\u2019s two heads with a slip\u2013knot, and, by the help of a\ntrain of horses, dragged him out again, with which the giant was near\nstrangled, and before Jack would let him loose he cut off both his\nheads with his sword of sharpness, in the full view of all the worthy\nassembly of knights, gentlemen, and ladies, who gave a joyful shout\nwhen they saw the giant fairly despatched. Then, before he would either\neat or drink, Jack sent the heads also, after the others, to the court\nof King Arthur, which being done, he, with the knights and ladies,\nreturned to their mirth and pastime, which lasted for many days.\n\nAfter some time spent in triumphant mirth and pastime, Jack grew weary\nof riotous living, wherefore, taking leave of the noble knights and\nladies, he set forward in search of new adventures. Through many woods\nand groves he passed, meeting with nothing remarkable, till at length,\ncoming near the foot of a high mountain, late at night, he knocked at\nthe door of a lonesome house, at which time an ancient man, with a head\nas white as snow, arose and let him in.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d said Jack, \u201chave you any entertainment for a benighted\ntraveller that has lost his way?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the old man, \u201cif you will accept of such accommodation as\nmy poor cottage will afford, thou shalt be right welcome.\u201d\n\nJack returned him many thanks for his great civility, wherefore down\nthey sat together, and the old man began to discourse him as follows\u2014\n\n\u201cSon,\u201d said he, \u201cI am sensible thou art the great conqueror of giants,\nand it is in thy power to free this part of the country from an\nintolerable burden which we groan under. For, behold! my son, on the\ntop of this high mountain there is an enchanted castle kept by a huge\nmonstrous giant named Galligantus, who, by the help of an old conjuror,\nbetrays many knights and ladies into this strong castle, where, by\nmagic art, they are transformed into sundry shapes and forms. But,\nabove all, I lament the fate of a duke\u2019s daughter, whom they snatched\nfrom her father\u2019s garden by magic art, carrying her through the air in\na mourning chariot drawn, as it were, by two fiery dragons, and, being\nsecured within the walls of the castle, she was immediately transformed\ninto the real shape of a white hind, where she miserably moans her\nmisfortune. Though many worthy knights have endeavoured to break the\nenchantment and work her deliverance, yet none of them could accomplish\nthis great work, by reason of two dreadful griffins who were fixed by\nmagic art at the entrance of the castle gate, which destroy any as\nsoon as they see them. You, my son, being furnished with an invisible\ncoat, may pass by them undiscovered, and on the brazen gates of the\ncastle you will find engraved in large characters by what means the\nenchantment may be broken.\u201d\n\nThe old man having ended his discourse, Jack gave him his hand, with\na faithful promise that in the morning he would venture his life to\nbreak the enchantment and free the lady, together with the rest that\nwere miserable partners in her calamity.\n\nHaving refreshed themselves with a small morsel of meat, they laid them\ndown to rest, and in the morning Jack arose and put on his invisible\ncoat, cap of knowledge, and shoes of swiftness, and so prepares himself\nfor the dangerous enterprises.\n\nNow, when he had ascended to the top of the mountain, he soon\ndiscovered the two fiery griffins. He passed on between them without\nfear, for they could not see him by reason of his invisible coat. Now,\nwhen he was got beyond them, he cast his eyes around him, where he\nfound upon the gates a golden trumpet, hung in a chain of fine silver,\nunder which these lines were engraved\u2014\n\n  \u201cWhosoever shall this trumpet blow\n  Shall soon the giant overthrow,\n  And break the black enchantment straight,\n  So all shall be in happy state.\u201d\n\nJack had no sooner read this inscription but he blew the trumpet,\nat which time the vast foundation of the castle tumbled, and the\ngiant, together with the conjuror, was in horrid confusion, biting\ntheir thumbs and tearing their hair, knowing their wicked reign was\nat an end. At that time Jack, standing at the giant\u2019s elbow, as he\nwas stooping to take up his club, at one blow, with his sword of\nsharpness, cut off his head. The conjuror, seeing this, immediately\nmounted into the air and was carried away in a whirlwind. Thus was the\nwhole enchantment broken, and every knight and lady, that had been\nfor a long time transformed into birds and beasts, returned to their\nproper shapes and likeness again. As for the castle, though it seemed\nat first to be of vast strength and bigness, it vanished in a cloud of\nsmoke, whereupon an universal joy appeared among the released knights\nand ladies. This being done, the head of Galligantus was likewise,\naccording to the accustomed manner, conveyed to the court of King\nArthur, as a present made to his majesty. The very next day, after\nhaving refreshed the knights and ladies at the old man\u2019s habitation\n(who lived at the foot of the mountain), Jack set forward for the court\nof King Arthur, with those knights and ladies he had so honourably\ndelivered.\n\nComing to his majesty, and having related all the passages of his\nfierce encounters, his fame rang through the whole court, and, as a\nreward for his good services, the king prevailed with the aforesaid\nduke to bestow his daughter in marriage to honest Jack, protesting that\nthere was no man so worthy of her as he, to all which the duke very\nhonourably consented. So married they were, and not only the court, but\nlikewise the kingdom were filled with joy and triumph at the wedding.\nAfter which the king, as a reward for all his good services done for\nthe nation, bestowed upon him a noble habitation with a plentiful\nestate thereto belonging, where he and his lady lived the residue of\ntheir days in great joy and happiness.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRIES\u2019 CUP.\n\n\n\u201cIn the province of the Deiri (Yorkshire), not far from my birthplace,\u201d\nsays William of Newbury, \u201ca wonderful thing occurred, which I have\nknown from my boyhood. There is a town a few miles distant from the\nEastern Sea, near which are those celebrated waters commonly called\nGipse.... A peasant of this town went once to see a friend who lived\nin the next town, and it was late at night when he was coming back,\nnot very sober, when, lo! from the adjoining barrow, which I have\noften seen, and which is not much over a quarter of a mile from the\ntown, he heard the voices of people singing, and, as it were, joyfully\nfeasting. He wondered who they could be that were breaking in that\nplace, by their merriment, the silence of the dead night, and he wished\nto examine into the matter more closely. Seeing a door open in the\nside of the barrow he went up to it and looked in, and there he beheld\na large and luminous house, full of people, women as well as men, who\nwere reclining as at a solemn banquet. One of the attendants, seeing\nhim standing at the door, offered him a cup. He took it, but would not\ndrink, and pouring out the contents, kept the vessel. A great tumult\narose at the banquet on account of his taking away the cup, and all the\nguests pursued him, but he escaped by the fleetness of the beast he\nrode, and got into the town with his booty.\n\n\u201cFinally this vessel of unknown material, of unusual colour, and of\nextraordinary form, was presented to Henry the Elder, King of the\nEnglish, as a valuable gift; was then given to the Queen\u2019s brother,\nDavid, King of the Scots, and was kept for several years in the\ntreasury of Scotland. A few years ago, as I have heard from good\nauthority, it was given by William, King of the Scots, to Henry the\nSecond, who wished to see it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHITE LADY\n\n\nThere was once on a time an old woman who lived near Heathfield, in\nDevonshire. She made a slight mistake, I do not know how, and got up at\nmidnight, thinking it to be morning. This good woman mounted her horse,\nand set off, panniers, cloak, and all, on her way to market. Anon she\nheard a cry of hounds, and soon perceived a hare making rapidly towards\nher. The hare, however, took a turn and a leap and got on the top of\nthe hedge, as if it would say to the old woman \u201cCome, catch me.\u201d She\nliked such hunting as this very well, put forth her hand, secured the\ngame, popped it into one of the panniers, covered it over, and rode\nforward. She had not gone far, when great was her alarm at perceiving\non the dismal and solitary waste of Heathfield, advancing at full pace,\na headless horse, bearing a black and grim rider, with horns sprouting\nfrom under a little jockey\u2013cap, and having a cloven foot thrust into\none stirrup. He was surrounded by a pack of hounds which had tails that\nwhisked about and shone like fire, while the air itself had a strong\nsulphurous scent. These were signs not to be mistaken, and the poor\nold woman knew in a moment that huntsman and hounds were taking a ride\nfrom the regions below. It soon, however, appeared that however clever\nthe rider might be, he was no conjuror, for he very civilly asked the\nold woman if she could set him right, and point out which way the hare\nwas flown. The old woman probably thought it was no harm to pay the\nfather of lies in his own coin, so she boldly gave him a negative, and\nhe rode on, not suspecting the cheat. When he was out of sight the old\nwoman perceived the hare in the pannier began to move, and at length,\nto her great amazement, it changed into a beautiful young lady, all in\nwhite, who thus addressed her preserver\u2014\n\n\u201cGood dame, I admire your courage, and I thank you for the kindness\nwith which you have saved me from a state of suffering that must not\nbe told to human ears. Do not start when I tell you that I am not an\ninhabitant of the earth. For a great crime committed during the time\nI dwelt upon it, I was doomed, as a punishment in the other world, to\nbe constantly pursued either above or below ground by evil spirits,\nuntil I could get behind their tails whilst they passed on in search of\nme. This difficult object, by your means, I have now happily effected,\nand, as a reward for your kindness, I promise that all your hens shall\nlay two eggs instead of one, and that your cows shall yield the most\nplentiful store of milk all the year round, that you shall talk twice\nas much as you ever did before, and your husband stand no chance in\nany matter between you to be settled by the tongue. But beware of the\ndevil, and don\u2019t grumble about tithes, for my enemy and yours may do\nyou an ill\u2013turn when he finds out you were clever enough to cheat even\nhim, since, like all great impostors, he does not like to be cheated\nhimself. He can assume all shapes, except those of the lamb and dove.\u201d\n\nThe lady in white then vanished. The old woman found the best possible\nluck that morning in her traffic. And to this day the story goes in\nthe town, that from the Saviour of the world having hallowed the form\nof the lamb, and the Holy Ghost that of the dove, they can never be\nassumed by the mortal enemy of the human race under any circumstances.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEASANT AND DELIGHTFUL HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT.\n\n\nI.\n\n [From a Chap\u2013book, printed at Whitehaven by Ann Dunn, Market Place.\n Probable date 1780.]\n\nIn the reign before William the Conqueror, I have read in an ancient\nhistory that there dwelt a man in the parish of the Isle of Ely, in the\ncounty of Cambridge, whose name was Thomas Hickathrift\u2014a poor man and\na day\u2013labourer, yet he was a very stout man, and able to perform two\ndays\u2019 work instead of one. He having one son and no more children in\nthe world, he called him by his own name, Thomas Hickathrift. This old\nman put his son to good learning, but he would take none, for he was,\nas we call them in this age, none of the wisest sort, but something\nless, and had no docility at all in him.\n\nHis father being soon called out of the world, his mother was tender\nof him, and maintained him by her hand labour as well as she could, he\nbeing slothful and not willing to work to get a penny for his living,\nbut all his delight was to be in the chimney\u2013corner, and he would eat\nas much at one time as would serve four or five men. He was in height,\nwhen he was but ten years of age, about eight feet; and in thickness,\nfive feet; and his hand was like unto a shoulder of mutton; and in all\nhis parts, from top to toe, he was like unto a monster, and yet his\ngreat strength was not known.\n\nThe first time that his strength was known was by his mother\u2019s going to\na rich farmer\u2019s house (she being but a poor woman) to desire a bottle\nof straw for herself and her son Thomas. The farmer, being a very\nhonest, charitable man, bid her take what she would. She going home to\nher son Tom, said\u2014\n\n\u201cI pray, go to such a place and fetch me a bottle of straw; I have\nasked him leave.\u201d\n\nHe swore he would not go.\n\n\u201cNay, prithee, Tom, go,\u201d said his mother.\n\nHe swore again he would not go unless she would borrow him a cart\u2013rope.\nShe, being willing to please him, because she would have some straw,\nwent and borrowed him a cart\u2013rope to his desire.\n\nHe, taking it, went his way. Coming to the farmer\u2019s house, the master\nwas in the barn, and two men a\u2013thrashing. Said Tom\u2014\n\n\u201cI am come for a bottle of straw.\u201d\n\n\u201cTom,\u201d said the master, \u201ctake as much as thou canst carry.\u201d\n\nHe laid down the cart\u2013rope and began to make his bottle. Said they\u2014\n\n\u201cTom, thy rope is too short,\u201d and jeered poor Tom, but he fitted the\nman well for it, for he made his bottle, and when he had finished it,\nthere was supposed to be a load of straw in it of two thousand pounds\nweight. Said they\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat a great fool art thou. Thou canst not carry the tenth of it.\u201d\n\nTom took the bottle, and flung it over his shoulder, and made no more\nof it than we would do of a hundredweight, to the great admiration of\nmaster and man.\n\nTom Hickathrift\u2019s strength being then known in the town they would no\nlonger let him lie baking by the fire in the chimney\u2013corner. Every one\nwould be hiring him for work. They seeing him to have so much strength\ntold him that it was a shame for him to live such a lazy course of\nlife, and to be idle day after day, as he did.\n\nTom seeing them bate him in such a manner as they did, went first to\none work and then to another, but at length came to a man who would\nhire him to go to the wood, for he had a tree to bring home, and he\nwould content him. Tom went with him, and took with him four men\nbesides; but when they came to the wood they set the cart to the tree,\nand began to draw it up with pulleys. Tom seeing them not able to stir\nit, said\u2014\n\n\u201cStand away, ye fools!\u201d then takes it up and sets it on one end and\nlays it in the cart.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d says he, \u201csee what a man can do!\u201d\n\n\u201cMarry, it is true,\u201d said they.\n\nWhen they had done, as they came through the wood, they met the\nwoodman. Tom asked him for a stick to make his mother a fire with.\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d says the woodman. \u201cTake one that thou canst carry.\u201d\n\nTom espied a tree bigger than that one that was in the cart, and lays\nit on his shoulder, and goes home with it as fast as the cart and the\nsix horses could draw it. This was the second time that Tom\u2019s strength\nwas known.\n\nWhen Tom began to know that he had more strength than twenty men, he\nthen began to be merry and very tractable, and would run or jump; took\ngreat delight to be amongst company, and to go to fairs and meetings,\nto see sports and pastimes.\n\nGoing to a feast, the young men were all met, some to cudgels, some to\nwrestling, some throwing the hammer, and the like. Tom stood a little\nto see the sport, and at last goes to them that were throwing the\nhammer. Standing a little to see their manlike sport, at last he takes\nthe hammer in his hand, to feel the weight of it, and bid them stand\nout of the way, for he would throw it as far as he could.\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d said the smith, and jeered poor Tom. \u201cYou\u2019ll throw it a great\nway, I\u2019ll warrant you.\u201d\n\nTom took the hammer in his hand and flung it. And there was a river\nabout five or six furlongs off, and he flung it into that. When he had\ndone, he bid the smith fetch the hammer, and laughed the smith to scorn.\n\nWhen Tom had done this exploit he would go to wrestling, though he had\nno more skill of it than an ass but what he did by strength, yet he\nflung all that came to oppose him, for if he once laid hold of them\nthey were gone. Some he would throw over his head, some he would lay\ndown slyly and how he pleased. He would not like to strike at their\nheels, but flung them two or three yards from him, ready to break their\nnecks asunder. So that none at last durst go into the ring to wrestle\nwith him, for they took him to be some devil that was come among them.\nSo Tom\u2019s fame spread more and more in the country.\n\nTom\u2019s fame being spread abroad both far and near, there was not a man\ndurst give him an angry word, for he was something fool\u2013hardy, and\ndid not care what he did unto them, so that all they that knew him\nwould not in the least displease him. At length there was a brewer at\nLynn that wanted a good lusty man to carry his beer to the Marsh and\nto Wisbeach, hearing of Tom, went to hire him, but Tom seemed coy,\nand would not be his man until his mother and friends persuaded him,\nand his master entreated him. He likewise promised him that he should\nhave a new suit of clothes and everything answerable from top to toe,\nbesides he should eat of the best. Tom at last yielded to be his man,\nand his master told him how far he must go, for you must understand\nthere was a monstrous giant kept some part of the Marsh, and none durst\ngo that way, for if they did he would keep them or kill them, or else\nhe would make bond slaves of them.\n\nBut to come to Tom and his master. He did more work in one day than\nall his men could do in three, so that his master, seeing him very\ntractable, and to look well after his business, made him his head man\nto go into the Marsh to carry beer by himself, for he needed no man\nwith him. Tom went every day in the week to Wisbeach, which was a very\ngood journey, and it was twenty miles the roadway.\n\nTom\u2014going so long that wearisome journey, and finding that way the\ngiant kept was nearer by half, and Tom having now got much more\nstrength than before by being so well kept and drinking so much strong\nale as he did\u2014one day as he was going to Wisbeach, and not saying\nanything to his master or to any of his fellow\u2013servants, he was\nresolved to make the nearest way to the wood or lose his life, to win\nthe horse or lose the saddle, to kill or be killed, if he met with the\ngiant. And with this resolution he goes the nearest way with his cart\nand horses to go to Wisbeach; but the giant, perceiving him, and seeing\nhim to be bold, thought to prevent him, and came, intending to take his\ncart for a prize, but he cared not a bit for him.\n\nThe giant met Tom like a lion, as though he would have swallowed him up\nat a mouthful.\n\n\u201cSirrah,\u201d said he, \u201cwho gave you authority to come this way? Do you not\nknow I make all stand in fear of my sight, and you, like an impudent\nrogue, must come and fling my gates open at your pleasure? How dare\nyou presume to do this? Are you so careless of your life? I will make\nthee an example for all rogues under the sun. Dost thou not care what\nthou dost? Do you see how many heads hang upon yonder tree that have\noffended my law? Thy head shall hang higher than all the rest for an\nexample!\u201d\n\nTom made him answer\u2014\n\n\u201cA fig for your news, for you shall not find me like one of them.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo?\u201d said the giant. \u201cWhy? Thou art but a fool if thou comest to fight\nwith such a one as I am, and bring no weapon to defend thyself withal.\u201d\n\nSaid Tom\u2014\n\n\u201cI have a weapon here will make you understand you are a traitorly\nrogue.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy, sirrah,\u201d said the giant; and took that word in high disdain that\nTom should call him a traitorly rogue, and with that he ran into his\ncave to fetch out his club, intending to dash out Tom\u2019s brains at the\nfirst blow.\n\nTom knew not what to do for a weapon, for he knew his whip would do\nbut little good against such a monstrous beast as he was, for he was\nin height about twelve feet, and six about the waist. While the giant\nwent for his club, Tom bethought himself of two very good weapons, for\nhe makes no more ado but takes his cart and turns it upside down, takes\nout the axle\u2013tree, and a wheel for his shield and buckler, and very\ngood weapons they were, especially in time of need. The giant, coming\nout again, began to stare at Tom, to see him take the wheel in one\nhand, and the axle\u2013tree in the other, to defend him with.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the giant, \u201cyou are like to do great service with these\nweapons. I have here a twig that will beat thee and thy wheel and\naxle\u2013tree to the ground.\u201d\n\nThat which the giant called a twig was as thick as some mill\u2013posts\nare, but Tom was not daunted for his big and threatening speech, for\nhe perfectly saw there was no way except one, which was to kill or be\nkilled. So the giant made at Tom with such a vehement force that he\nmade Tom\u2019s wheel crack again, and Tom lent the giant as good, for he\ntook him such a weighty blow on the side of his head, that he made the\ngiant reel again.\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d said Tom, \u201care you drunk with my strong beer already?\u201d\n\nThe giant, recovering, laid on Tom, but still as they came, Tom kept\nthem off with his wheel, so that he had no hurt at all. In short, Tom\nplied his work so well, and laid such huge blows on the giant that\nsweat and blood together ran down his face, and, being fat and foggy\nwith fighting so long, he was almost tired out, and he asked Tom to let\nhim drink a little water, and then he would fight him again.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Tom, \u201cmy mother did not teach me that wit. Who would be the\nfool then?\u201d\n\nTom, seeing the giant began to grow weary, and that he failed in his\nblows, thought it was best to make hay while the sun did shine, for he\nlaid on so fast as though he had been mad, till he brought the giant\ndown to the ground.\n\nThe giant seeing himself down, and Tom laying so hard on him, made him\nroar in a most lamentable manner, and prayed him not to take away his\nlife and he would do anything for him, and yield himself to him to be\nhis servant.\n\nBut Tom, having no more mercy on him than a dog or a bear, laid still\non the giant till he laid him for dead. When he had done, he cut off\nhis head, and went into his cave, where he found great store of gold\nand silver, which made his heart leap.\n\nNow, having done this action in killing the giant, he put his cart\ntogether again, loaded it, and drove it to Wisbeach and delivered his\nbeer, and, coming home to his master, he told it to him. His master\nwas so overjoyed at the news that he would not believe him till he had\nseen; and, getting up the next day, he and his master went to see if he\nspoke the truth or not, together with most of the town of Lynn. When\nthey came to the place and found the giant dead, he then showed the\nplace where the head was, and what silver and gold there was in the\ncave. All of them leaped for joy, for this monster was a great enemy to\nall the country.\n\nThis news was spread all up and down the country, how Tom Hickathrift\nhad killed the giant, and well was he that could run or go to see the\ngiant and his cave. Then all the folks made bonfires for joy, and Tom\nwas a better respected man than before.\n\nTom took possession of the giant\u2019s cave by consent of the whole\ncountry, and every one said he deserved twice as much more. Tom pulled\ndown the cave and built him a fine house where the cave stood, and in\nthe ground that the giant kept by force and strength, some of which he\ngave to the poor for their common, the rest he made pastures of, and\ndivided the most part into tillage to maintain him and his mother, Jane\nHickathrift.\n\nTom\u2019s fame was spread both far and near throughout the country, and it\nwas no longer Tom but Mr. Hickathrift, so that he was now the chiefest\nman among them, for the people feared Tom\u2019s anger as much as they\ndid the giant before. Tom kept men and maid servants, and lived most\nbravely. He made a park to keep deer in. Near to his house he built a\nchurch and gave it the name of St. James\u2019s Church, because he killed\nthe giant on that day, which is so called to this hour. He did many\ngood deeds, and became a public benefactor to all persons that lived\nnear him.\n\nTom having got so much money about him, and being not used to it, could\nhardly tell how to dispose of it, but yet he did use the means to do\nit, for he kept a pack of hounds and men to hunt with him, and who but\nTom then? So he took such delight in sports that he would go far and\nnear to any meetings, as cudgel\u2013play, bear baiting, football, and the\nlike.\n\nNow as Tom was riding one day, he alighted off his horse to see that\nsport, for they were playing for a wager. Tom was a stranger, and none\ndid know him there. But Tom spoiled their sport, for he, meeting the\nfootball, took it such a kick, that they never found their ball more.\nThey could see it fly, but whither none could tell. They all wondered\nat it, and began to quarrel with Tom, but some of them got nothing by\nit, for Tom gets a great spar which belonged to a house that was blown\ndown, and all that stood in his way he knocked down, so that all the\ncounty was up in arms to take Tom, but all in vain, for he manfully\nmade way wherever he came.\n\nWhen he was gone from them, and returning homewards, he chanced to be\nsomewhat late in the evening on the road. There met him four stout,\nlusty rogues that had been robbing passengers that way, and none could\nescape them, for they robbed all they met, both rich and poor. They\nthought when they met with Tom he would be a good prize for them, and,\nperceiving he was alone made cock\u2013sure of his money, but they were\nmistaken, for he got a prize by them. Whereupon, meeting him, they bid\nhim stand and deliver.\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d said Tom, \u201cshall I deliver?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour money, sirrah,\u201d said they.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Tom, \u201cyou will give me better words for it, and you must be\nbetter armed.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, come,\u201d said they, \u201cwe do not come here to parley, but we come\nfor money, and money we will have before we stir from this place.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy!\u201d said Tom. \u201cIs it so? Then get it and take it.\u201d\n\nSo then one of them made at him, but he presently unarmed him and took\naway his sword, which was made of good trusty steel, and smote so\nhard at the others that they began to put spurs to their horses and\nbe\u2013gone. But he soon stayed their journey, for one of them having a\nportmanteau behind him, Tom, supposing there was money in it, fought\nwith a great deal of more courage than before, till at last he killed\ntwo of the four, and the other two he wounded very sore so that they\ncried out for quarter. With much ado he gave them their lives, but\ntook all their money, which was about two hundred pounds, to bear his\nexpenses home. Now when Tom came home he told them how he had served\nthe football\u2013players and the four highwaymen, which caused a laughter\nfrom his old mother. Then, refreshing himself, he went to see how all\nthings were, and what his men had done since he went from home.\n\nThen going into his forest, he walked up and down, and at last met with\na lusty tinker that had a good staff on his shoulder, and a great dog\nto carry his leather bag and tools of work. Tom asked the tinker from\nwhence he came, and whither he was going, for that was no highway. The\ntinker, being a sturdy fellow, bid him go look, and what was that to\nhim, for fools would be meddling.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d says Tom, \u201cbut I\u2019ll make you know, before you and I part, it is\nme.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy!\u201d said the tinker, \u201cI have been this three long years, and have had\nno combat with any man, and none durst make me an answer. I think they\nbe all cowards in this country, except it be a man who is called Thomas\nHickathrift who killed a giant. Him I would fain see to have one combat\nwith him.\u201d\n\n\u201cAy!\u201d said Tom, \u201cbut, methinks, I might be master in your mouth. I am\nthe man: what have you to say to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said the tinker, \u201cverily, I am glad we have met so happily\ntogether, that we may have one single combat.\u201d\n\n\u201cSure,\u201d said Tom, \u201cyou do but jest?\u201d\n\n\u201cMarry,\u201d said the tinker, \u201cI am in earnest.\u201d\n\n\u201cA match,\u201d said Tom. \u201cWill you give me leave to get a twig?\u201d\n\n\u201cAy,\u201d says the tinker. \u201cHang him that will fight a man unarmed. I scorn\nthat.\u201d\n\nTom steps to the gate, and takes one of the rails for his staff. So\nthey fell to work. The tinker at Tom and Tom at the tinker, like unto\ntwo giants, they laid one at the other. The tinker had on a leathern\ncoat, and at every blow Tom gave the tinker his coat cracked again, yet\nthe tinker did not give way to Tom an inch, but Tom gave the tinker a\nblow on the side of the head which felled the tinker to the ground.\n\n\u201cNow, tinker, where are you?\u201d said Tom.\n\nBut the tinker, being a man of metal, leaped up again, and gave Tom a\nblow which made him reel again, and followed his blows, and then took\nTom on the other side, which made Tom\u2019s neck crack again. Tom flung\ndown the weapon, and yielded the tinker to be the best man, and took\nhim home to his house, where I shall leave Tom and the tinker to be\nrecovered of their many wounds and bruises, which relation is more\nenlarged as you may read in the second part of Thomas Hickathrift.\n\n\nII.\n\n [From a Chap\u2013book. The book bears no date or note as to where or by whom\n it was printed. It was probably printed at London about the year 1780.]\n\nIn and about the Isle of Ely many disaffected persons, to the number of\nten thousand and upwards, drew themselves up in a body, presuming to\ncontend for their pretended ancient rights and liberties, insomuch that\nthe gentry and civil magistrates of the country were in great danger,\nat which time the sheriff, by night, privately got into the house of\nThomas Hickathrift as a secure place of refuge in so imminent a time\nof danger, where before Thomas Hickathrift he laid open the villainous\nintent of this headstrong, giddy\u2013brained multitude.\n\n\u201cMr. Sheriff,\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cwhat service my brother\u201d (meaning the\ntinker) \u201cand I can perform shall not be wanting.\u201d\n\nThis said, in the morning by daybreak, with trusty clubs, they both\nwent forth, desiring the Sheriff to be their guide in conducting them\nto the place of the rebels\u2019 rendezvous. When they came there, Tom and\nthe tinker marched up to the head of the multitude, and demanded\nof them the reason why they disturbed the government, to which they\nanswered with a loud cry\u2014\n\n\u201cOur will\u2019s our law, and by that alone we will be governed.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cif it be so, these trusty clubs are our weapons, and\nby them you shall be chastised,\u201d which words were no sooner out of his\nmouth than the tinker and he put themselves both together in the midst\nof the throng, and with their clubs beat the multitude down, trampling\nthem under their feet. Every blow which they struck laid twenty or\nthirty before them, nay\u2014remarkable it was, the tinker struck a tall\nman, just upon the nape of the neck, with that force that his head\nflew off and was carried violently fourteen feet from him, where it\nknocked down one of their chief ring\u2013leaders,\u2014Tom, on the other hand,\nstill pressing forward, till by an unfortunate blow he broke his club.\nYet he was not in the least dismayed, for he presently seized upon\na lusty, stout, raw\u2013boned miller, and made use of him for a weapon,\ntill at length they cleared the field, so that there was not found one\nthat dare lift up a hand against them, having run to holes and corners\nto hide themselves. Shortly after some of their heads were taken and\nmade public examples of justice, the rest being pardoned at the humble\nrequest of Thomas Hickathrift and the tinker.\n\nThe king, being truly informed of the faithful services performed by\nthese his loving subjects, Thomas Hickathrift and the tinker, he was\npleased to send for them to his palace, where a royal banquet was\nprepared for their entertainment, most of the nobility being present.\nNow after the banquet was over, the king said unto all that were there\u2014\n\n\u201cThese are my trusty and well\u2013beloved subjects, men of approved courage\nand valour. They are the men that overcame and conquered ten thousand,\nwhich were got together to disturb the peace of my realm. According\nto the character that hath been given to Thomas Hickathrift and Henry\nNonsuch, persons here present, they cannot be matched in any other\nkingdom in the world. Were it possible to have an army of twenty\nthousand such as these, I dare venture to act the part of Alexander\nthe Great over again, yet, in the meanwhile, as a proof of my royal\nfavour, kneel down and receive the ancient order of knighthood, Mr.\nHickathrift,\u201d which was instantly performed.\n\n\u201cAnd as for Henry Nonsuch, I will settle upon him, as a reward for his\ngreat service, the sum of forty shillings a year, during life,\u201d which\nsaid, the king withdrew, and Sir Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonsuch,\nthe tinker, returned home, attended by many persons of quality some\nmiles from the court. But, to the great grief of Sir Thomas, at his\nreturn from the court, he found his aged mother drawing to her end,\nwho, in a few days after, died, and was buried in the Isle of Ely.\n\nTom\u2019s mother being dead, and he left alone in a large and spacious\nhouse, he found himself strange and uncouth, therefore he began to\nconsider with himself that it would not be amiss to seek out for a\nwife. Hearing of a young rich widow, not far from Cambridge, to her he\nwent and made his addresses, and, at the first coming, she seemed to\nshow him much favour and countenance, but between this and his coming\nagain she had given some entertainment to a more genteel and airy\nspark, who happened likewise to come while honest Tom was there the\nsecond time. He looked wistfully at Tom, and he stared as wistfully\nat him again. At last the young spark began with abuseful language to\naffront Tom, telling him that he was a great lubberly whelp, adding\nthat such a one as he should not pretend to make love to a lady, as he\nwas but a brewer\u2019s servant.\n\n\u201cScoundrel!\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cbetter words should become you, and if you do\nnot mend your manners you shall not fail to feel my sharp correction.\u201d\n\nAt which the young spark challenged him forth into the back\u2013yard, for,\nas he said, he did not question but to make a fool of Tom in a trice.\nInto the yard they both walk together, the young spark with a naked\nsword, and Tom with neither stick nor staff in his hand nor any other\nweapon.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d says the spark, \u201chave you nothing to defend yourself? Well, I\nshall the sooner despatch you.\u201d\n\nWhich said, he ran furiously forward, making a pass at Tom, which he\nput by, and then, wheeling round, Tom gave him such a swinging kick\nas sent the spark, like a crow, up into the air, from whence he fell\nupon the ridge of a thatched house, and then came down into a large\nfish\u2013pond, and had been certainly drowned if it had not been for a\npoor shepherd who was walking that way, and, seeing him float upon the\nwater, dragged him out with his hook, and home he ran, like a drowned\nrat, while Tom returned to the lady.\n\nThis young gallant being tormented in his mind to think how Tom had\nconquered and shamed him before his mistress, he was now resolved for\nspeedy revenge, and knowing that he was not able to cope with a man of\nTom\u2019s strength and activity, he, therefore, hired two lusty troopers to\nlie in ambush in a thicket which Tom was to pass through from his home\nto the young lady. Accordingly they attempted to set upon him.\n\n\u201cHow, now,\u201d quoth Tom, \u201crascals, what would you be at? Are you, indeed,\nweary of the world that you so unadvisedly set upon one who is able to\ncrush you in like a cucumber?\u201d\n\nThe troopers, laughing at him, said that they were not to be daunted at\nhis high words.\n\n\u201cHigh words,\u201d quoth Tom. \u201cNo, I will come to action,\u201d and with that he\nran in between these armed troopers, catching them under his arm, horse\nand men, with as much ease as if they had been but a couple of baker\u2019s\nbabbins, steering his course with them hastily towards his own home. As\nhe passed through a meadow, in which there were many haymakers at work,\nthe poor distressed troopers cried out\u2014\n\n\u201cStop him! stop him! He runs away with two of the king\u2019s troopers.\u201d\n\nThe haymakers laughed heartily to see how Tom hugged them along. Ever\nand anon he upbraided them for their baseness, and declared that he\nwould make minced meat of them to feed the crows and jackdaws about\nhis house and habitation. This was such a dreadful lecture to them\nthat the poor rogues begged that he would be merciful and spare their\nlives, and they would discover the whole plot, and who was the person\nthat employed them. This accordingly they did, and gained favour in the\nsight of Tom, who pardoned them upon promise that they would never be\nconcerned in such a villainous action for the time to come.\n\nIn regard Tom had been hindered by these troopers, he delayed his visit\nto his lady till the next day, and then, coming to her, gave her a\nfull account of what had happened. She was pleased at heart at this\nwonderful relation, knowing it was safe for a woman to marry with a\nman who was able to defend her against all assaults whatsoever, and\nsuch a one she found Tom to be. The day of marriage was accordingly\nappointed, and friends and relations invited, yet secret malice, which\nis never satisfied without sweet revenge, had like to have prevented\nthe solemnity, for, having three miles to go to church, where they\nwere to be married, the aforesaid gentleman had provided a second time\nRussians in armour, to the number of twenty\u2013one, he himself being\nthen present, either to destroy the life of Tom, or put them into\nstrange consternation. However, thus it happened. In a lonesome place\nthey rolled out upon them, making their first assault upon Tom, and,\nwith a spear, gave him a slight wound, at which his love and the rest\nof the women shrieked and cried like persons out of their wits. Tom\nendeavoured all that he could to pacify them, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cStand you still and I will show you pleasant sport.\u201d\n\nWith that he caught a back\u2013sword from the side of a gentleman in his\nown company, with which he so bravely behaved himself that at every\nstroke he cut off a joint. Loath he was to touch the life of any, but,\naiming at their legs and arms, he lopped them off so fast that, in less\nthan a quarter of an hour, there was not one in the company but what\nhad lost a limb, the green grass being stained with their purple gore,\nand the ground strewn with legs and arms, as \u2019tis with tiles from the\ntops of the houses after a dreadful storm\u2014his love and the rest of the\ncompany standing all the while as joyful spectators, laughing one at\nanother, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat a company of cripples has he made, as it were in the twinkling of\nan eye!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cI believe that for every drop of blood that I lost,\nI have made the rascals pay me a limb as a just tribute.\u201d\n\nThis done, he stept to a farmer\u2019s hard by, and hired there a servant,\ngiving him twenty shillings to carry these cripples home to their\nrespective habitations in his cart. Then did he hasten with his love\nto the church to be married, and then returned home, where they were\nheartily merry with their friends, after their fierce and dreadful\nencounter.\n\nNow, Tom being married, he made a plentiful feast, to which he invited\nall the poor widows in four or five parishes, for the sake of his\nmother, whom he had lately buried. This feast was kept in his own\nhouse, with all manner of varieties that the country could afford,\nfor the space of four days, in honour likewise of the four victories\nwhich he had lately obtained. Now, when the time of feasting was ended,\na silver cup was missing, and, being asked about it, they every one\ndenied they knew anything about it. At length it was agreed that they\nshould all stand the search, which they did, and the cup was found\non a certain old woman, named the widow Stumbelow. Then were all the\nrest in a rage. Some were for hanging her, others were for chopping\nthe old woman in pieces for her ingratitude to such a generous soul as\nSir Thomas Hickathrift, but he entreated them all to be quiet, saying\nthey should not murder the old woman, for he would appoint a punishment\nfor her himself, which was this\u2014he bored a hole through her nose, and,\ntying a string therein, then ordered her to be led by the nose through\nall the streets and lanes in Cambridge.\n\nThe tidings of Tom\u2019s wedding were soon noised in the court, so that\nthe king sent them a royal invitation to the end that he might see his\nlady. They immediately went, and were received with all demonstrations\nof joy and triumph, but while they were in their mirth a dreadful cry\napproached the court, which proved to be the commons of Kent who were\ncome thither to complain of a dreadful giant that was landed in one of\nthe islands, and brought with him abundance of bears and young lions,\nlikewise a dreadful dragon, on which he himself rode, which monster and\nravenous beasts had frightened all the inhabitants out of the island.\nMoreover, they said, if speedy course was not taken to suppress them\nin time, they might overrun the whole island. The king, hearing this\ndreadful relation, was a little startled, yet he persuaded them to\nreturn home and make the best defence they could for themselves at\npresent, assuring them that he should not forget them, and so they\ndeparted.\n\nThe king, hearing the aforesaid dreadful tidings, immediately sat\nin council to consider what was to be done for the overcoming this\nmonstrous giant, and barbarous savage lions and beasts, that with him\nhad invaded his princely territories. At length it was agreed upon\nthat Thomas Hickathrift was the most likely man in the whole kingdom\nfor undertaking of so dangerous an enterprise, he being not only\na fortunate man of great strength, but likewise a true and trusty\nsubject, one that was always ready and willing to do his king and\ncountry service. For which reason it was thought necessary to make him\ngovernor of the aforesaid island, which place of trust and honour he\nreadily received, and accordingly he forthwith went down with his wife\nand family, attended by a hundred knights and gentlemen, who conducted\nhim to the entrance of the island which he was to govern. A castle in\nthose days there was, in which he was to take up his head\u2013quarters,\nthe same being situated with that advantage that he could view the\nisland for several miles upon occasion. The knights and gentlemen,\nat last taking their leave of him, wished him all happy success and\nprosperity. Many days he had not been there when it was his fortune to\nbehold this monstrous giant, mounted upon a dreadful dragon, bearing\nupon his shoulder a club of iron, having but one eye, the which was\nplaced in his forehead, and larger in compass than a barber\u2019s basin,\nand seemed to appear like a flaming fire. His visage was dreadful, grim\nand tawny; the hair of his head hanging down his back and shoulders\nlike snakes of a prodigious length; the bristles of his beard being\nlike rusty wire. Lifting up his blare eye, he happened to discover Sir\nThomas Hickathrift, who was looking upon him from one of his windows\nof the castle. The giant then began to knit his brow and breathe forth\nthreatening words to the governor, who, indeed, was a little surprised\nat the approach of so monstrous a brute. The giant, finding that Tom\ndid not make much haste down to meet him, alighted from the back of the\ndragon, and chained the same to an oak\u2013tree. Then, marching furiously\nto the castle, he set his broad shoulder against a corner of the stone\nwalls, as if he intended to overthrow the whole building at once, which\nTom perceiving, said\u2014\n\n\u201cIs this the game you would be at? Faith, I shall spoil your sport, for\nI have a delicate tool to pick your teeth withal.\u201d\n\nThen, taking his two\u2013handed sword of five foot long, a weapon which\nthe king had given him to govern with,\u2014taking this, I say, down he\nwent, and flinging open the gates, he there found the giant, who, by an\nunfortunate slip in his thrusting, was fallen all along, where he lay\nand could not help himself.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cdo you come here to take up your lodging? This is\nnot to be suffered.\u201d\n\nWith that he ran his long broad\u2013sword into the giant\u2019s body, which\nmade the monstrous brute give such a terrible groan that it seemed\nlike roaring thunder, making the very neighbouring trees to tremble.\nThen Tom, pulling out his sword again, at six or seven blows separated\nhis head from his unconscionable trunk, which head, when it was off,\nseemed like the root of a mighty oak. Then turning to the dragon, which\nwas all this while chained to a tree, without any further discourse,\nwith four blows with his two\u2013handed sword, he cut off his head also.\nThis fortunate adventure being over, he sent immediately for a team of\nhorses and a wagon, which he loaded with these heads. Then, summoning\nall the constables in the country for a guard, he sent them to the\ncourt, with a promise to his majesty that he would rid the whole island\nlikewise of bears and lions before he left it. Tom\u2019s victories rang so\nlong that they reached the ears of his old acquaintance the tinker,\nwho, desirous of honour, resolved to go down and visit Tom in his new\ngovernment. Coming there, he met with kind and loving entertainment,\nfor they were very joyful to see one another. Now, after three or four\ndays\u2019 enjoyment of one another\u2019s company, Tom told the tinker that he\nmust needs go forth in search after wild bears and lions, in order to\nrout them out of the island.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d quoth the tinker, \u201cI would gladly take my fortune with you,\nhoping that I may be serviceable to you upon occasion.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d quoth Tom, \u201cwith all my heart, for I must needs acknowledge I\nshall be right glad of your company.\u201d\n\nThis said, they both went forward, Tom with his two\u2013handed sword, and\nthe tinker with his long pike\u2013staff. Now, after they had travelled\nabout four or five hours, it was their fortune to light on the whole\nknot of wild beasts together, of which six of them were bears, the\nother eight young lions. Now, when they had fastened their eyes on Tom\nand the tinker, these ravenous beasts began to roar and run furiously,\nas if they would have devoured them at a mouthful. Tom and the tinker\nstood, side by side, with their backs against an oak, and as the lions\nand bears came within their reach, Tom, with his long sword, clove\ntheir heads asunder till they were all destroyed, saving one lion who,\nseeing the rest of his fellows slain, was endeavouring to escape. Now\nthe tinker, being somewhat too venturous, ran too hastily after him,\nand, having given the lion one blow, he turned upon him again, seizing\nhim by the throat with that violence that the poor tinker fell dead to\nthe ground. Tom Hickathrift, seeing this, gave the lion such a blow\nthat it ended his life.\n\nNow was his joy mingled with sorrow, for though he had cleared the\nisland of those ravenous savage beasts, yet his grief was intolerable\nfor the loss of his old friend. Home he returned to his lady, where, in\ntoken of joy for the wonderful success which he had in his dangerous\nenterprises, he made a very noble and splendid feast, to which he\ninvited most of his best friends and acquaintances, to whom he made the\nfollowing promise\u2014\n\n  \u201cMy friends, while I have strength to stand,\n    Most manfully I will pursue\n  All dangers, till I clear this land\n    Of lions, bears, and tigers too.\n  This you\u2019ll find true, or I\u2019m to blame,\n    Let it remain upon record,\n  Tom Hickathrift\u2019s most glorious fame,\n    Who never yet has broke his word.\n\n  The man who does his country bless\n    Shall merit much from this fair land;\n  He who relieved them in distress\n    His fame upon record shall stand.\n  And you, my friends, who hear me now,\n    Let honest Tom for ever dwell\n  Within your minds and thoughts, I trow,\n    Since he has pleased you all so well.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE SPECTRE COACH.\n\n\nCobblers are a thoughtful race of men, and Tom Shanks was one of their\nnumber. He lived in the little village of Acton, in Suffolk, and it\nwas there that an adventure befell him, which, as I am informed by a\ngrandson of his, \u201chad an effect on him from that day to this\u201d\u2014though\nthe \u201cthis\u201d in the present case is of a somewhat vague meaning, seeing\nthat Tom has unfortunately been dead some twenty years at least. The\nterrible adventure that befell him was so much the subject of Tom\u2019s\ntalk, that if ever tale could be handed down by means of oral tradition\nsure Tom\u2019s story should be intact in every detail.\n\nIt seems that one day Tom left Acton on a journey\u2014quite a remarkable\nevent for him, for he was a quiet\u2013going fellow, not given to running\naway from his last, but sitting contentedly in his little shop, busily\nemployed in providing his neighbours with good foot\u2013gear. On this day,\nhowever, Tom was called away by the intelligence that a sister of his,\nwho was in service in a town some little distance away, was ill and\nwished to see him. The little cobbler was a man with a warm heart,\nand as soon as he received this ill news he laid aside a pair of shoes\nhe was on for the parson, and which he was very anxious to finish, for\nthe sooner he touched the money the better for him and his; put on his\nbest coat, took his stick in his hand, and, having bid farewell to his\nwife and three little ones, went on his way, looking back now and then\nto shake his stick to them, till he came to the turn in the road by the\nside of the high trees when he could see them no more.\n\nWell, he walked on, and being a stout\u2013hearted little fellow without\nmuch flesh to carry, for cobbling did not even in those days bring in\na fortune, and Tom and his folk often had hard times of it; he, in\nthe course of the morning, with a slice out of the afternoon, arrived\nat his destination. There, thank God, he found his sister much better\nthan he might have expected, judging from the account he had heard of\nher, and having stayed an hour or two to rest his legs, and recruit\nhis stomach with some beef and a pint of ale, he set out on his way\nhomeward.\n\nThe way back seemed much longer than it ought to have been, and Tom\ncleared the ground very slowly. Before he had gone far the night closed\nin; but what was that to him, for he knew every inch of the road; and\nas to thieves, why, he had little enough in his pocket to tempt them,\nand if need be\u2014and Tom was not for his size deficient in courage\u2014he\nhad a good stout stick to defend himself with. Still it was dismal\nwork that tramp through lonely lanes, with the trees standing on each\nside\u2014not bright and lively as they had been in the day\u2013time, with the\nsun shining on their leaves, and the wind rustling amongst them, but\ndrawn up, still and dark, like sentinels watching in big cloaks. The\nday had closed in with clouds, which threatened to make the cobbler\u2019s\njourney more miserable with a down\u2013pour of rain. But this fortunately\nkept off, and the moon, having risen, looked out now and then between\nthe clouds, and a star or two winked in a style which brought comfort\nto Tom\u2019s heart\u2014they seemed so companionable.\n\nSo he went on and on, till at length he came to the neighbourhood\nof Acton again; and glad enough he was once more to find himself in\nquarters where the very trees and gates and stiles seemed, as it were,\nto be old friends\u2014Tom having been used to the sight of them daily for\nas many years as had passed since he was born, and those were not a\nfew, for he was not exactly a chicken.\n\nWell, he came at length to the park gates, and was hurrying past them,\nfor the spot had no particularly good name, and he remembered that he\nhad heard some queer tales concerning sights folk had chanced to see\nthere which they would very much sooner have escaped, when on a sudden\nhis legs seemed, as it were, to refuse to stir, and with his heart\nthumping against his ribs, as if it would beat a way out for itself,\nTom came to a dead stand. What was it that he heard? It seemed like\na rushing and grinding of stones, with a cracking like a body of men\nwalking over dry sticks. It could not be the wind, for there was not a\nbreath stirring, and the leaves on the trees lay perfectly still. The\nnoise came nearer and nearer, and the next thought of Tom was that he\nwould like to hide himself in some of the dark shadows around him. But\nhis legs would not stir, and it was as much as he could do, with the\naid of his stick, to hold himself up on them. To make matters worse,\nthe moon now, just as the cobbler was wishing for darkness, broke out\nfrom a cloud, and cast its light all about him, as if with the very\nobject of showing him up. It is true the light enabled him to have a\ngood look about him, but that was not a thing Tom very much cared about\njust then.\n\nHe stood there a few moments, with the sound coming louder and louder,\ntill it seemed to be just at hand. It was evidently in the park itself.\nNow it was at the gate. Then, all of a sudden, the gates swung back\nwith a terrible clang, and there issued as strange a procession as\nTom\u2019s, or indeed mortal\u2019s, eyes ever set on. First there came two\ngrooms on horses, and then a carriage drawn by four large steeds, while\ntwo men rode behind. They were all goodly looking men enough, and the\nhorses were, as Tom saw at a glance, as pretty pieces of flesh as any\nman might wish to throw leg across, but one thing struck horror to the\ncobbler\u2019s heart as he looked, for he saw that none of the horsemen had\na head on him. On they dashed at a break\u2013neck speed, their horses\u2019\nhoofs seeming to dash fire from the stones on the road, while the\nwheels of the coach looked like four bright circles, so fast was it\ndrawn over the ground. Cracking their whips, as if to urge the steeds\non to even greater speed, the men rode on, nor did Tom hear them utter\na word as they swept past him.\n\nAs the coach went by him, and his eyes were glued upon it, the interior\nof the carriage seemed to him to be lighted up in some mysterious\nmanner, and inside, Tom said, he clearly saw a gentleman and a lady,\nfor such they evidently were by their dress, sitting side by side, but\nwithout heads like their attendants.\n\nAnother minute and all was gone. Tom rubbed his eyes and wondered if\nhe had not been asleep, but who ever heard of a man falling asleep\nstanding up with no better prop than a stick in his hand? He looked\nat the gates. They were closed and fast. He looked down the road, but\ncould distinguish nothing. In the distance, however, he could hear the\nsound of, as it were, a big gust of wind gradually travelling away,\nwhile all around him was still.\n\nIt did not take him long to get home after that, you may be sure, and\nwhen he told his story, though there were some that laughed and hinted\nthat Tom was trying to make a hero of himself by pretending that he had\nseen what no one else of those he told the story to had set eyes on,\nyet the old folk remembered that they themselves had spoken with folk\nwho had seen the very same sight for themselves, so I think that Tom\nShanks has the very best claim to be considered the last man in the\nplace who ever witnessed the progress of the spectre coach.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BAKER\u2019S DAUGHTER.\n\n\nA very long time ago, I cannot tell you when, it is so long since,\nthere lived in a town in Herefordshire a baker who used to sell bread\nto all the folk around. He was a mean, greedy man, who sought in every\nway to put money by, and who did not scruple to cheat such people as he\nwas able when they came to his shop.\n\nHe had a daughter who helped him in his business, being unmarried and\nliving with him, and seeing how her father treated the people, and how\nhe succeeded in getting money by his bad practices, she, too, in time\ncame to do the like.\n\nOne day when her father was away, and the girl remained alone in the\nshop, an old woman came in\u2014\n\n\u201cMy pretty girl,\u201d said she, \u201cgive me a bit of dough I beg of you, for I\nam old and hungry.\u201d\n\nThe girl at first told her to be off, but as the old woman would not\ngo, and begged harder than before for a piece of bread, at last the\nbaker\u2019s daughter took up a piece of dough, and giving it to her, says\u2014\n\n\u201cThere now, be off, and do not trouble me any more.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear,\u201d says the woman, \u201cyou have given me a piece of dough, let me\nbake it in your oven, for I have no place of my own to bake it in.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d replied the girl, and, taking the dough, she placed it in\nthe oven, while the old woman sat down to wait till it was baked.\n\nWhen the girl thought the bread should be ready she looked in the oven\nexpecting to find there a small cake, and was very much amazed to find\ninstead a very large loaf of bread. She pretended to look about the\noven as if in search of something.\n\n\u201cI cannot find the cake,\u201d said she. \u201cIt must have tumbled into the fire\nand got burnt.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cgive me another piece of dough\ninstead and I will wait while it bakes.\u201d\n\nSo the girl took another piece of dough, smaller than the first piece,\nand having put it in the oven, shut to the door. At the end of a few\nminutes or so she looked in again, and found there another loaf, larger\nthan the last.\n\n\u201cDear me,\u201d said she, pretending to look about her, \u201cI have surely lost\nthe dough again. There\u2019s no cake here.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Tis a pity,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cbut never mind. I will wait while\nyou bake me another piece.\u201d\n\nSo the baker\u2019s daughter took a piece of dough as small as one of her\nfingers and put it in the oven, while the old woman sat near. When she\nthought it ought to be baked, she looked into the oven and there saw a\nloaf, larger than either of the others.\n\n\u201cThat is mine,\u201d said the old woman.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied the girl. \u201cHow could such a large loaf have grown out of\na little piece of dough?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is mine, it is sure,\u201d said the woman.\n\n\u201cIt is not,\u201d said the girl, \u201cand you shall not have it.\u201d\n\nWell, when the old woman saw that the girl would not give her the loaf,\nand saw how she had tried to cheat her, for she was a fairy, and knew\nall the tricks that the baker\u2019s daughter had put upon her, she draws\nout from under her cloak a stick, and just touches the girl with it.\nThen a wonderful thing occurred, for the girl became all of a sudden\nchanged into an owl, and flying about the room, at last, made for the\ndoor, and, finding it open, she flew out and was never seen again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY CHILDREN.\n\n\n\u201cAnother wonderful thing,\u201d says Ralph of Coggeshall, \u201chappened in\nSuffolk, at St. Mary\u2019s of the Wolf\u2013pits.\n\nA boy and his sister were found by the inhabitants of that place near\nthe mouth of a pit which is there, who had the form of all their limbs\nlike to those of other men, but they were different in the colour of\ntheir skin from all the people of our habitable world, for the whole\nsurface of their skin was tinged of a green colour. No one could\nunderstand their speech.\n\nWhen they were brought as curiosities to the house of a certain knight,\nSir Richard de Calne, at Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and victuals\nwere set before them, but they would touch none of them, though they\nwere tormented by great hunger, as the girl afterwards acknowledged.\nAt length when some beans, just cut, with their stalks, were brought\ninto the house, they made signs, with great avidity, that they should\nbe given to them. When they were brought they opened the stalks\ninstead of the pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of them.\nBut not finding them there, they began to weep anew. When those who\nwere present saw this, they opened the pods, and showed them the naked\nbeans. They fed on these with great delight, and for a long time tasted\nno other food. The boy, however, was always languid and depressed, and\nhe died within a short time.\n\nThe girl enjoyed continual good health, and, becoming accustomed to\nvarious kinds of food, lost completely that green colour, and gradually\nrecovered the sanguine habit of her entire body. She was afterwards\nregenerated by the laver of holy baptism, and lived for many years in\nthe service of that knight, as I have frequently heard from him and his\nfamily.\n\nBeing frequently asked about the people of her country, she asserted\nthat the inhabitants, and all they had in that country, were of a green\ncolour, and that they saw no sun, but enjoyed a degree of light like\nwhat is after sunset. Being asked how she came into this country with\nthe aforesaid boy, she replied, that, as they were following their\nflocks, they came to a certain cavern, on entering which they heard a\ndelightful sound of bells, ravished by whose sweetness they went on\nfor a long time wandering on through the cavern, until they came to\nits mouth. When they came out of it, they were struck senseless by the\nexcessive light of the sun, and the unusual temperature of the air,\nand they thus lay for a long time. Being terrified by the noise of\nthose who came on them, they wished to fly, but they could not find the\nentrance of the cavern before they were caught.\u201d\n\nThis story is also told by William of Newbury, who places it in the\nreign of King Stephen. He says he long hesitated to believe it, but was\nat length overcome by the weight of evidence. According to him, the\nplace where the children appeared, was about four or five miles from\nBury\u2013St.\u2013Edmund\u2019s. They came in harvest\u2013time out of the Wolf\u2013pits. They\nboth lost their green hue, and were baptized, and learned English. The\nboy, who was the younger, died, but the girl married a man at Lenna,\nand lived many years. They said their country was called St. Martin\u2019s\nLand, as that saint was chiefly worshipped there; that the people were\nChristians, and had churches; that the sun did not rise there, but\nthat there was a bright country which could be seen from theirs, being\ndivided from it by a very broad river.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK.\n\n [From a Chap\u2013book printed at Paisley, by G. Caldwell, bookseller.\n Probable date, 1810]\n\n\nIn the days of King Alfred there lived a poor woman whose cottage was\nsituated in a remote country village, a great many miles from London.\n\nShe had been a widow some years, and had an only child named Jack, whom\nshe indulged to a fault. The consequence of her blind partiality was,\nthat Jack did not pay the least attention to anything she said, but was\nindolent, careless, and extravagant. His follies were not owing to a\nbad disposition, but that his mother had never checked him. By degrees\nshe disposed of all she possessed\u2014scarcely anything remained but a cow.\n\nThe poor woman one day met Jack with tears in her eyes. Her distress\nwas great, and, for the first time in her life, she could not help\nreproaching him, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cO you wicked child! by your ungrateful course of life you have at\nlast brought me to beggary and ruin. Cruel, cruel boy! I have not\nmoney enough to purchase even a bit of bread for another day. Nothing\nnow remains to sell but my poor cow. I am sorry to part with her. It\ngrieves me sadly, but we must not starve.\u201d\n\nFor a few minutes Jack felt a degree of remorse, but it was soon over,\nand he began teasing his mother to let him sell the cow at the next\nvillage so much, that she at last consented.\n\nAs he was going along he met a butcher, who inquired why he was\ndriving the cow from home. Jack replied he was going to sell it.\nThe butcher held some curious beans in his hat that were of various\ncolours and attracted Jack\u2019s notice. This did not pass unnoticed by\nthe butcher, who, knowing Jack\u2019s easy temper, thought now was the time\nto take advantage of it, and, determined not to let slip so good an\nopportunity, asked what was the price of the cow, offering at the same\ntime all the beans in his hat for her. The silly boy could not conceal\nthe pleasure he felt at what he supposed so great an offer. The bargain\nwas struck instantly, and the cow exchanged for a few paltry beans.\nJack made the best of his way home, calling aloud to his mother before\nhe reached the house, thinking to surprise her.\n\nWhen she saw the beans and heard Jack\u2019s account, her patience quite\nforsook her. She kicked the beans away in a passion\u2014they flew in all\ndirections\u2014some were scattered in the garden. Not having anything to\neat, they both went supperless to bed.\n\nJack awoke very early in the morning, and seeing something uncommon\nfrom the window of his bed\u2013chamber, ran downstairs into the garden,\nwhere he soon discovered that some of the beans had taken root and\nsprung up surprisingly. The stalks were of an immense thickness, and\nhad so entwined that they formed a ladder nearly like a chain in\nappearance.\n\nLooking upwards, he could not discern the top. It appeared to be lost\nin the clouds. He tried the stalk, found it firm, and not to be shaken.\nHe quickly formed the resolution of endeavouring to climb up to the top\nin order to seek his fortune, and ran to communicate his intention to\nhis mother, not doubting but she would be equally pleased with himself.\nShe declared he should not go; said it would break her heart if he did;\nentreated and threatened, but all in vain.\n\nJack set out, and, after climbing for some hours, reached the top of\nthe beanstalk, fatigued and quite exhausted. Looking around, he found\nhimself in a strange country. It appeared to be a desert, quite barren,\nnot a tree, shrub, house, or living creature to be seen. Here and there\nwere scattered fragments of stone, and at unequal distances small heaps\nof earth were loosely thrown together.\n\nJack seated himself, pensively, upon a block of stone, and thought of\nhis mother. He reflected with sorrow on his disobedience in climbing\nthe beanstalk against her will, and concluded that he must die of\nhunger.\n\nHowever, he walked on, hoping to see a house where he might beg\nsomething to eat and drink. Presently a handsome young woman appeared\nat a distance. As she approached Jack could not help admiring how\nbeautiful and lively she looked. She was dressed in the most elegant\nmanner, and had a small white wand in her hand, on the top of which was\na peacock of pure gold.\n\nWhile Jack was looking, with the greatest surprise, at this charming\nfemale, she came up to him, and, with a smile of the most bewitching\nsweetness, inquired how he came there. Jack related the circumstance of\nthe beanstalk. She asked him if he recollected his father. He replied\nhe did not, and added there must be some mystery relating to him,\nbecause if he asked his mother who his father was she always burst\ninto tears and appeared to be violently agitated, nor did she recover\nherself for some days after. One thing, however, he could not avoid\nobserving on these occasions, which was, that she always carefully\navoided answering him, and even seemed afraid of speaking, as if there\nwere some secret connected with his father\u2019s history which she must not\ndisclose.\n\nThe young woman replied\u2014\n\n\u201cI will reveal the whole story. Your mother must not do so. But before\nI begin I require a solemn promise on your part to do what I command. I\nam a fairy, and, if you do not perform exactly what I desire, you will\nbe destroyed.\u201d\n\nJack was frightened at her menaces, and promised to fulfil her\ninjunctions exactly, and the fairy thus addressed him\u2014\n\n\u201cYour father was a rich man. His disposition was very benevolent. He\nwas very good to the poor, and constantly relieved them. He made it a\nrule never to let a day pass without doing good to some person. On one\nparticular day in the week he kept open house, and invited only those\nwho were reduced and had lived well. He always presided himself, and\ndid all in his power to render his guests comfortable. The rich and\nthe great were next invited. The servants were all happy and greatly\nattached to their master and mistress. Your father, though only a\nprivate gentleman, was as rich as a prince, and he deserved all he\npossessed, for he only lived to do good. Such a man was soon known\nand talked of. A giant lived a great many miles off. This man was\naltogether as wicked as your father was good. He was, in his heart,\nenvious, covetous, and cruel, but he had the art of concealing those\nvices. He was poor, and wished to enrich himself at any rate.\n\n\u201cHearing your father spoken of, he formed the design of becoming\nacquainted with him, hoping to ingratiate himself into your father\u2019s\nfavour. He removed quickly into your neighbourhood, and caused it to be\nreported that he was a gentleman who had just lost all he possessed by\nan earthquake and had found it difficult to escape with his life. His\nwife was with him. Your father gave credit to his story and pitied him.\nHe gave him handsome apartments in his own house, and caused him and\nhis wife to be treated like visitors of consequence, little imagining\nthat the giant was undertaking a horrid return for all his favours.\n\n\u201cThings went on this way for some time, the giant becoming daily\nmore impatient to put his plan in execution. At last a favourable\nopportunity presented itself. Your father\u2019s house was at some\ndistance from the sea\u2013shore, but with a glass the coast could be seen\ndistinctly. The giant was one day using the telescope; the wind was\nvery high, and he saw a fleet of ships in distress off the rocks.\nHe hastened to your father, mentioned the circumstance, and eagerly\nrequested he would send all the servants he could spare to relieve the\nsufferers.\n\n\u201cEvery one was instantly despatched, except the porter and your nurse.\nThe giant then joined your father in the study, and appeared to be\ndelighted. He really was so. Your father recommended a favourite book,\nand was handing it down, when the giant, taking the opportunity,\nstabbed him, and he instantly fell down dead. The giant left the\nbody, found the porter and nurse, and presently despatched them, being\ndetermined to have no living witnesses of his crimes.\n\n\u201cYou were then only three months old. Your mother had you in her arms\nin a remote part of the house, and was ignorant of what was going\non. She went into the study, but how was she shocked on discovering\nyour father dead. She was stupefied with horror and grief, and was\nmotionless. The giant, who was seeking her, found her in that state,\nand hastened to serve her and you as he had done your father, but she\nfell at his feet, and, in a pathetic manner, besought him to spare her\nlife and yours.\n\n\u201cRemorse, for a moment, seemed to touch the barbarian\u2019s heart. He\ngranted your lives, but first he made her take a most solemn oath\nnever to inform you who your father was, or to answer any questions\nconcerning him, assuring her that if she did he would certainly\ndiscover her and put both of you to death in the most cruel manner.\nYour mother took you in her arms and fled as quickly as possible.\nShe was scarcely gone when the giant repented he had suffered her to\nescape. He would have pursued her instantly, but he had to provide\nfor his own safety, as it was necessary he should be gone before the\nservants returned. Having gained your father\u2019s confidence he knew where\nto find all his treasure. He soon loaded himself and his wife, set the\nhouse on fire in several places, and, when the servants returned, the\nhouse was burnt quite down to the ground.\n\n\u201cYour poor mother, forlorn, abandoned, and forsaken, wandered with you\na great many miles from this scene of desolation. Fear added to her\nhaste. She settled in the cottage where you were brought up, and it was\nentirely owing to her fear of the giant that she never mentioned your\nfather to you.\n\n\u201cI became your father\u2019s guardian at his birth, but fairies have laws\nto which they are subject as well as mortals. A short time before\nthe giant went to your father\u2019s I transgressed. My punishment was a\nsuspension of power for a limited time\u2014an unfortunate circumstance\u2014for\nit totally prevented my succouring your father.\n\n\u201cThe day on which you met the butcher, as you went to sell your\nmother\u2019s cow, my power was restored. It was I who secretly prompted you\nto take the beans in exchange for the cow.\n\n\u201cBy my power the beanstalk grew to so great a height and formed a\nladder. I need not add I inspired you with a strong desire to ascend\nthe ladder.\n\n\u201cThe giant lives in this country, and you are the person appointed\nto punish him for all his wickedness. You will have dangers and\ndifficulties to encounter, but you must persevere in avenging the death\nof your father, or you will not prosper in any of your undertakings,\nbut be always miserable.\n\n\u201cAs to the giant\u2019s possessions, you may seize on all you can, for\neverything he has is yours though now you are unjustly deprived of it.\nOne thing I desire. Do not let your mother know you are acquainted with\nyour father\u2019s history till you see me again.\n\n\u201cGo along the direct road, and you will soon see the house where your\ncruel enemy lives. While you do as I order you I will protect and guard\nyou, but, remember, if you dare disobey my commands, a most dreadful\npunishment awaits you.\u201d\n\nWhen the fairy had concluded, she disappeared leaving Jack to pursue\nhis journey. He walked on till after sunset when, to his great joy,\nhe espied a large mansion. This agreeable sight revived his drooping\nspirits, and he redoubled his speed, and soon reached the house. A\nplain\u2013looking woman was at the door, and Jack accosted her, begging she\nwould give him a morsel of bread and a night\u2019s lodging.\n\nShe expressed the greatest surprise at seeing him, and said it was\nquite uncommon to see a human being near their house, for it was well\nknown her husband was a large and very powerful giant, and that he\nwould never eat anything but human flesh, if he could possibly get it;\nthat he did not think anything of walking fifty miles to procure it,\nusually being out the whole day for that purpose.\n\nThis account greatly terrified Jack, but still he hoped to elude\nthe giant, and therefore he again entreated the woman to take him in\nfor one night only, and hide him where she thought proper. The good\nwoman at last suffered herself to be persuaded, for she was of a\ncompassionate and generous disposition, and took him into the house.\n\nFirst they entered a fine large hall, magnificently furnished. They\nthen passed through several spacious rooms, all in the same style of\ngrandeur, but they appeared to be quite forsaken and desolate.\n\nA long gallery was next. It was very dark, with just light enough to\nshow that, instead of a wall, on one side there was a grating of iron\nwhich parted off a dismal dungeon, from whence issued the groans of\nthose poor victims whom the cruel giant reserved in confinement for his\nown voracious appetite.\n\nPoor Jack was half dead with fear, and would have given the world\nto have been with his mother again, for he now began to fear that\nhe should never see her more, and gave himself up for lost. He even\nmistrusted the good woman, and thought she had let him into the house\nfor no other purpose than to lock him up among the unfortunate people\nin the dungeon.\n\nAt the further end of the gallery there was a spacious kitchen, and\na very excellent fire was burning in the grate. The good woman bade\nJack sit down, and gave him plenty to eat and drink. Jack, not seeing\nanything here to make him uncomfortable, soon forgot his fear, and was\njust beginning to enjoy himself when he was aroused by a loud knocking\nat the street\u2013door, which made the whole house shake. The giant\u2019s wife\nran to secure Jack in the oven and then went to let her husband in.\n\nJack heard him accost her in a voice like thunder, saying\u2014\n\n\u201cWife, I smell fresh meat.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my dear,\u201d replied she, \u201cit is nothing but the people in the\ndungeon.\u201d\n\nThe giant appeared to believe her, and walked into the very kitchen\nwhere poor Jack was concealed, who shook, trembled, and was more\nterrified than he had yet been.\n\nAt last the monster seated himself quietly by the fireside, whilst his\nwife prepared supper. By degrees Jack recovered himself sufficiently to\nlook at the giant through a small crevice. He was quite astonished to\nsee what an amazing quantity he devoured, and thought he would never\nhave done eating and drinking. When supper was ended the giant desired\nhis wife to bring him his hen. A very beautiful hen was brought and\nplaced on the table before him. Jack\u2019s curiosity was very great to see\nwhat would happen. He observed that every time the giant said \u201cLay,\u201d\nthe hen laid an egg of solid gold.\n\nThe giant amused himself a long while with his hen, and meanwhile his\nwife went to bed. At length the giant fell asleep by the fireside and\nsnored like the roaring of a cannon. At daybreak Jack, finding the\ngiant still asleep, and not likely to awaken soon, crept softly out of\nhis hiding\u2013place, seized the hen, and ran off with her.\n\nHe met with some difficulty in finding his way out of the house, but,\nat last, he reached the road in safety. He easily found his way to the\nbeanstalk and descended it better and quicker than he had expected.\nHis mother was overjoyed to see him. He found her crying bitterly, and\nlamenting his hard fate, for she concluded he had come to some shocking\nend through his rashness.\n\nJack was impatient to show his hen, and inform his mother how valuable\nit was.\n\n\u201cAnd now, mother,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI have brought home that which will\nmake us rich, and I hope to make some amends for the affliction I have\ncaused you through my idleness, extravagance, and folly.\u201d\n\nThe hen produced as many golden eggs as they desired, which Jack and\nhis mother sold, and so in a little time became possessed of as much\nriches as they wanted.\n\nFor some months Jack and his mother lived very happily together,\nbut he, being very desirous of travelling, recollecting the fairy\u2019s\ncommands, and fearing that if he delayed she would put her threats into\nexecution, longed to climb the beanstalk and pay the giant another\nvisit, in order to carry away some more of his treasure, for, during\nthe time that Jack was in the giant\u2019s mansion, while he lay concealed\nin the oven, he learned, from the conversation that took place between\nthe giant and his wife, that he possessed some wonderful curiosities.\nJack thought of his journey again and again, but still he could not\nsummon resolution enough to break it to his mother, being well assured\nshe would endeavour to prevent his going. However, one day he told\nher boldly that he must take a journey up the beanstalk. His mother\nbegged and prayed him not to think of it, and tried all in her power to\ndissuade him. She told him that the giant\u2019s wife would certainly know\nhim again, and the giant would desire nothing better than to get him\ninto his power, that he might put him to a cruel death in order to be\nrevenged for the loss of his hen.\n\nJack, finding that all his arguments were useless, pretended to give up\nthe point, though he was resolved to go at all events. He had a dress\nprepared which would disguise him, and something to colour his skin,\nand he thought it impossible for any one to recollect him in this dress.\n\nIn a few mornings after this, he rose very early, changed his\ncomplexion, and, unperceived by any one, climbed the beanstalk a second\ntime. He was greatly fatigued when he reached the top, and very hungry.\n\nHaving rested some time on one of the stones, he pursued his journey\nto the giant\u2019s mansion. He reached it late in the evening, and found\nthe woman at the door as before. Jack addressed her, at the same time\ntelling her a pitiful tale, and requesting she would give him some\nvictuals and drink, and also a night\u2019s lodging.\n\nShe told him (what he knew very well before) about her husband\u2019s being\na powerful and cruel giant and also how she one night admitted a poor,\nhungry, friendless boy, who was half dead with travelling, and that\nthe ungrateful fellow had stolen one of the giant\u2019s treasures, ever\nsince which her husband had been worse than before, had used her very\ncruelly, and continually upbraided her with being the cause of his loss.\n\nJack was at no loss to discover that he was attending to the account\nof a story in which he was the principal actor. He did his best to\npersuade the old woman to admit him, but found it a very hard task.\n\nAt last she consented, and as she led the way Jack observed that\neverything was just as he had found it before. She took him into the\nkitchen, and after he had done eating and drinking, she hid him in an\nold lumber closet. The giant returned at the usual time, and walked\nin so heavily that the house was shaken to the foundation. He seated\nhimself by the fire, and, soon after, exclaimed\u2014\n\n\u201cWife, I smell fresh meat.\u201d\n\nThe wife replied it was the crows, which had brought a piece of raw\nmeat and left it on the top of the house.\n\nWhilst supper was preparing, the giant was very ill\u2013tempered and\nimpatient, frequently lifting up his hand to strike his wife for not\nbeing quick enough, but she was always so fortunate as to elude the\nblow. The giant was also continually upbraiding her with the loss of\nhis wonderful hen.\n\nThe giant\u2019s wife, having set supper on the table, went to another\napartment and brought from it a huge pie which she also placed before\nhim.\n\nWhen he had ended his plentiful supper and eaten till he was quite\nsatisfied, he said to his wife\u2014\n\n\u201cI must have something to amuse me, either my bags of money or my harp.\u201d\n\nAfter a good deal of ill\u2013humour, and after having teased his wife for\nsome time, he commanded her to bring down his bags of gold and silver.\nJack, as before, peeped out of his hiding place, and presently the wife\nbrought two bags into the room. They were of a very large size. One\nwas filled with new guineas, and the other with new shillings. They\nwere placed before the giant, who began reprimanding his poor wife\nmost severely for staying so long. She replied, trembling with fear,\nthat they were so heavy she could scarcely lift them, and concluded by\nsaying she would never again bring them downstairs, adding that she\nhad nearly fainted owing to their weight.\n\nThis so exasperated the giant that he raised his hand to strike her,\nbut she escaped and went to bed, leaving him to count over his treasure\nby way of amusement.\n\nThe giant took his bags, and after turning them over and over to see\nthey were in the same state he had left them, began to count their\ncontents. First the bag which contained the silver was emptied, and the\ncontents placed upon the table. Jack viewed the glittering heaps with\ndelight, and most heartily wished them in his own possession. The giant\n(little thinking he was so narrowly watched) reckoned the silver over\nseveral times, and then, having satisfied himself that all was safe,\nput it into the bags again, which he made very secure.\n\nThe other bag was opened next, and the guineas placed upon the table.\nIf Jack was pleased at the sight of the silver, how much more delighted\nmust he have felt when he saw such a heap of glittering gold? He\neven had the boldness to think of gaining both bags, but, suddenly\nrecollecting himself, he began to fear that the giant would sham sleep,\nthe better to entrap any one who might be concealed.\n\nWhen the giant had counted over the gold till he was tired, he put it\nup, if possible more secure than he had put up the silver before, and\nhe then fell back on his chair by the fireside and fell asleep. He\nsnored so loud that Jack compared his noise to the roaring of the sea\nin a high wind, when the tide is coming in. At last Jack concluded him\nto be asleep and therefore secure. He stole out of his hiding\u2013place and\napproached the giant, in order to carry off the two bags of money. Just\nas he laid his hand upon one of the bags a little dog, which he had not\nobserved before, started from under the giant\u2019s chair and barked at\nJack most furiously, who now gave himself up for lost. Fear rivetted\nhim to the spot, and instead of endeavouring to escape he stood still,\nthough expecting his enemy to awake every instant. Contrary, however,\nto his expectation the giant continued in a sound sleep, and the dog\ngrew weary of barking. Jack now began to recollect himself, and, on\nlooking around, saw a large piece of meat. This he threw to the dog,\nwho instantly seized it, and took it into the lumber\u2013closet which Jack\nhad just left.\n\nFinding himself delivered from a noisy and troublesome enemy, and\nseeing the giant did not awake, Jack boldly seized the bags, and,\nthrowing them over his shoulders, ran out of the kitchen. He reached\nthe street\u2013door in safety, and found it quite daylight. On his way to\nthe top of the beanstalk he found himself greatly incommoded with the\nweight of the money bags, and, really, they were so heavy he could\nscarcely carry them.\n\nJack was overjoyed when he found himself near the beanstalk. He soon\nreached the bottom and ran to meet his mother. To his great surprise\nthe cottage was deserted. He ran from one room to another without being\nable to find any one. He then hastened into the village, hoping to see\nsome of his neighbours, who could inform him where he could find her.\n\nAn old woman at last directed him to a neighbouring house, where his\nmother was ill of a fever. He was greatly shocked on finding her\napparently dying, and could scarcely bear his own reflections on\nknowing himself to be the cause of it.\n\nOn being informed of our hero\u2019s safe return, his mother, by degrees,\nrevived, and gradually recovered. Jack presented her his two valuable\nbags, and they lived happy and comfortably. The cottage was rebuilt and\nwell furnished.\n\nFor three years Jack heard no more of the beanstalk, but he could not\nforget it, though he feared making his mother unhappy. She would not\nmention the hated beanstalk, lest her doing so should remind him of\ntaking another journey.\n\nNotwithstanding the comforts Jack enjoyed at home, his mind continually\ndwelt upon the beanstalk, for the fairy\u2019s menaces in case of his\ndisobedience were ever present to his mind and prevented him from being\nhappy. He could think of nothing else. It was in vain he endeavoured to\namuse himself. He became thoughtful, would arise at the first dawn of\nday, and would view the beanstalk for hours together.\n\nHis mother discovered that something preyed heavily upon his mind, and\nendeavoured to discover the cause, but Jack knew too well what the\nconsequence would be should he discover the cause of his melancholy\nto her. He did his utmost, therefore, to conquer the great desire\nhe had for another journey up the beanstalk. Finding, however, that\nhis inclination grew too powerful for him, he began to make secret\npreparations for his journey, and, on the longest day, arose as soon\nas it was light, ascended the beanstalk, and reached the top with\nsome little trouble. He found the road, journey, etc., much as it was\non the two former times. He arrived at the giant\u2019s mansion in the\nevening, and found his wife standing, as usual, at the door. Jack had\ndisguised himself so completely that she did not appear to have the\nleast recollection of him. However, when he pleaded hunger and poverty\nin order to gain admittance, he found it very difficult, indeed, to\npersuade her. At last he prevailed, and was concealed in the copper.\n\nWhen the giant returned, he said\u2014\n\n\u201cI smell fresh meat,\u201d but Jack felt composed, for the giant had said\nso before, and had been soon satisfied; however, the giant started\nup suddenly and searched all round the room. Whilst this was going\nforward Jack was exceedingly terrified, and ready to die with fear,\nwishing himself at home a thousand times, but when the giant approached\nthe copper, and put his hand upon the lid, Jack thought his death was\ncertain. The giant ended his search there without moving the lid, and\nseated himself quietly by the fireside.\n\nThe giant at last ate a hearty supper, and when he had finished, he\ncommanded his wife to fetch down his harp. Jack peeped under the copper\nlid and soon saw the most beautiful harp that could be imagined. It was\nplaced by the giant on the table, who said\u2014\n\n\u201cPlay,\u201d and it instantly played of its own accord, without being\ntouched. The music was uncommonly fine. Jack was delighted, and felt\nmore anxious to get the harp into his possession than either of the\nformer treasures.\n\nThe giant\u2019s soul was not attuned to harmony, and the music soon lulled\nhim into a sound sleep. Now, therefore, was the time to carry off the\nharp. As the giant appeared to be in a more profound sleep than usual,\nJack, soon determined, got out of the copper and seized the harp. The\nharp, however, was enchanted by a fairy, and it called out loudly\u2014\n\n\u201cMaster, master!\u201d\n\nThe giant awoke, stood up, and tried to pursue Jack, but he had drunk\nso much that he could hardly stand. Poor Jack ran as fast as he could,\nand, in a little time, the giant recovered sufficiently to walk\nslowly, or rather, to reel after him. Had he been sober he must have\novertaken Jack instantly, but as he then was, Jack contrived to be\nfirst at the top of the beanstalk. The giant called after him in a\nvoice like thunder, and sometimes was very near him.\n\nThe moment Jack got down the beanstalk he called out for a hatchet,\nand one was brought him directly. Just at that instant the giant was\nbeginning to descend, but Jack with his hatchet cut the beanstalk close\noff at the root, which made the giant fall headlong into the garden.\nThe fall killed him, thereby releasing the world from a barbarous enemy.\n\nJack\u2019s mother was delighted when she saw the beanstalk destroyed. At\nthis instant the fairy appeared. She first addressed Jack\u2019s mother, and\nexplained every circumstance relating to the journeys up the beanstalk.\nThe fairy then charged Jack to be dutiful to his mother, and to follow\nhis father\u2019s good example, which was the only way to be happy. She\nthen disappeared. Jack heartily begged his mother\u2019s pardon for all the\nsorrow and affliction he had caused her, promising most faithfully to\nbe very dutiful and obedient to her for the future.\n\n\n\n\nJOHNNY REED\u2019S CAT.\n\n\n\u201cYes, cats are queer folk, sure enough, and often know more than a\nsimple beast ought to by knowledge that\u2019s rightly come by. There\u2019s that\ncat there, you\u2019ve been looking at, will stand at a door on its hind\nlegs with its front paws on the handle trying like a Christian to open\nthe door, and mewling in a manner that\u2019s almost like talking. He\u2019s a\nLondon cat, he is, being brought me by a cousin who lives there, and is\ncalled Gilpin, after, I\u2019m told, a mayor who was christened the same.\nHe\u2019s a knowing cat, sure enough; but it\u2019s not the London cats that are\ncleverer than the country ones. Who knows, he may be a relative of\nJohnny Reed\u2019s own tom\u2013cat himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd who was Johnny Reed? and what was there remarkable about his cat?\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you never heard tell of Johnny Reed\u2019s cat? It\u2019s an old tale they\nhave in the north country, and it\u2019s true enough, though folk may not\nbelieve it in these days when the Bible\u2019s not gospel enough for some\nof them. I\u2019ve heard my father often tell the story, and he came from\nNewcastle way, which is the very part where Johnny Reed used to live,\nbeing a parish sexton in a village not far away.\n\n\u201cWell, Johnny Reed was the sexton, as I\u2019ve already said, and he and\nhis wife kept a cat, a well enough behaved creature, sure enough,\nand a beast as he had no fault to set on, saving a few of the tricks\nwhich all cats play at times, and which seem born in the blood of the\ncreatures. It was all black except one white paw, and seemed as honest\nand decent a beast as could be, and Tom would as soon have suspected it\nof being any more than it really seemed to be as he would one of his\nown children themselves, like many other folk, perhaps, who, may be,\nhave cats of the same kind, little thinking it.\n\n\u201cWell, the cat had been with him some years when a strange thing\noccurred.\n\n\u201cOne night Johnny was going home late from the churchyard, where he had\nbeen digging a grave for a person who had died on a sudden, throwing\nthe grave on Johnny\u2019s hands unexpectedly, so that he had to stop\nworking at it by the light of a lantern to have it ready for the next\nday\u2019s burying. Well, having finished his work, and having put his tools\nin the shed in a corner of the yard, and having locked them up safe, he\nbegan to walk home pretty brisk, thinking would his wife be up and have\na bit of fire for him, for the night was cold, a keen wind blowing over\nthe fields.\n\n\u201cHe hadn\u2019t gone far before he comes to a gate at the roadside, and\nthere seemed to be a strange shadow about it, in which Johnny saw,\nas it might be, a lot of little gleaming fires dancing about, while\nsome stood steady, just like flashes of light from little windows in\nbuildings all on fire inside. Says Johnny to himself, for he was not a\nman to be easily frightened, being accustomed by his calling to face\nthings which might upset other folk\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Hullo! What\u2019s here? Here\u2019s a thing I never saw before,\u2019 and with that\nhe walks straight up to the gate, while the shadow got deeper and the\nfires brighter the nearer he came to it.\n\n\u201cWell, when he came right up to the gate he finds that the shadow was\njust none at all, but nine black cats, some sitting and some dancing\nabout, and the lights were the flashes from their eyes. When he came\nnearer he thought to scare them off, and he calls out\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Sh\u2014sh\u2014sh,\u2019 but never a cat stirs for all of it.\n\n\u201c\u2018I\u2019ll soon scatter you, you ugly varmin,\u2019 says Johnny, looking about\nhim for a stone, which was not to be found, the night being dark and\npreventing him seeing one. Just then he hears a voice calling\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Johnny Reed!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Hullo!\u2019 says he, \u2018who\u2019s that wants me?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Johnny Reed,\u2019 says the voice again.\n\n\u201c\u2018Well,\u2019 says Johnny, \u2018I\u2019m here,\u2019 and looking round and seeing no one,\nfor no one was about \u2019tis true. \u2018Was it one of you,\u2019 says he, joking\nlike, to the cats, \u2018as was calling me?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Yes, of course,\u2019 answers one of them, as plain as ever Christian\nspoke. \u2018It\u2019s me as has called you these three times.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, with that, you may be sure, Johnny begins to feel curious, for\n\u2019twas the first time he had ever been spoken to by a cat, and he didn\u2019t\nknow what it might lead to exactly. So he takes off his hat to the cat,\nthinking that it was, perhaps, best to show it respect, and, seeing\nthat he was unable to guess with whom he was dealing, hoping to come\noff all the better for a little civility.\n\n\u201c\u2018Well, sir,\u2019 says he, \u2018what can I do for you?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018It\u2019s not much as I want with you,\u2019 says the cat, \u2018but it\u2019s better\nit\u2019ll be with you if you do what I tell you. Tell Dan Ratcliffe that\nPeggy Poyson\u2019s dead.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I will, sir,\u2019 says Johnny, wondering at the same time how he was to\ndo it, for who Dan Ratcliffe was he knew no more than the dead. Well,\nwith that all the cats vanished, and Johnny, running the rest of the\nway home, rushes into his house, smoking hot from the fright and the\ndistance he had to go over.\n\n\u201c\u2018Nan,\u2019 says he to his wife, the first words he spoke, \u2018who\u2019s Dan\nRatcliffe?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Dan Ratcliffe,\u2019 says she. \u2018I never heard of him, and don\u2019t know\nthere\u2019s any one such living about here.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018No more do I,\u2019 says he, \u2018but I must find him wherever he is.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen he tells his wife all about how he had met the cats, and how they\nhad stopped him and given him the message. Well, his cat sits there\nin front of the fire looking as snug and comfortable as a cat could\nbe, and nearly half\u2013asleep, but when Johnny comes to telling his wife\nthe message the cats had given him, then it jumped up on its feet, and\nlooks at Johnny, and says\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018What! is Peggy Poyson dead? Then it\u2019s no time for me to be here;\u2019 and\nwith that it springs through the door and vanishes, nor was ever seen\nagain from that day to this.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd did the sexton ever find Dan Ratcliffe,\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cNever. He searched high and low for him about, but no one could tell\nhim of such a person, though Johnny looked long enough, thinking it\nmight be the worse for him if he didn\u2019t do his best to please the cats.\nAt last, however, he gave the matter up.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, what was the meaning of the cat\u2019s message?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell; but many folk thought, and I\u2019m inclined to agree\nwith them, that Dan Ratcliffe was Johnny\u2019s own cat, and no one else,\nlooking at the way he acted, and no other of the name being known.\nWho Peggy Poyson was no one could tell, but likely enough it was some\nrelative of the cat, or may be some one it was interested in, for it\u2019s\nlittle we know concerning the creatures and their ways, and with whom\nand what they\u2019re mixed up.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nLAME MOLLY.\n\n\nTwo Devonshire serving\u2013maids declared, as an excuse perhaps for\nspending more money than they ought upon finery, that the pixies were\nvery kind to them, and would often drop silver for their pleasure\ninto a bucket of fair water, which they placed for the accommodation\nof those little beings every night in the chimney\u2013corner before they\nwent to bed. Once, however, it was forgotten; and the pixies, finding\nthemselves disappointed by an empty bucket, whisked upstairs to the\nmaids\u2019 bedroom, popped through the keyhole, and began, in a very\naudible tone, to exclaim against the laziness and neglect of the\ndamsels.\n\nOne of them, who lay awake and heard all this, jogged her\nfellow\u2013servant, and proposed getting up immediately to repair the\nfault of omission; but the lazy girl, who liked not being disturbed\nout of a comfortable nap, pettishly declared \u201cThat, for her part, she\nwould not stir out of bed to please all the pixies in Devonshire.\u201d\nThe good\u2013humoured damsel, however, got up, filled the bucket, and\nwas rewarded by a handful of silver pennies found in it the next\nmorning. But, ere that time had arrived, what was her alarm, as she\ncrept towards the bed, to hear all the elves in high and stern debate\nconsulting as to what punishment should be inflicted on the lazy lass\nwho would not stir for their pleasure.\n\nSome proposed \u201cpinches, nips, and bobs,\u201d others to spoil her new\ncherry\u2013coloured bonnet and ribands. One talked of sending her the\ntoothache, another of giving her a red nose, but this last was voted\ntoo severe and vindictive a punishment for a pretty young woman. So,\ntempering mercy with justice, the pixies were kind enough to let her\noff with a lame leg, which was so to continue only for seven years, and\nwas alone to be cured by a certain herb, growing on Dartmoor, whose\nlong and learned and very difficult name the elfin judge pronounced in\na high and audible voice. It was a name of seven syllables, seven being\nalso the number of years decreed for the chastisement.\n\nThe good\u2013natured maid, wishing to save her fellow\u2013damsel so long a\nsuffering, tried with might and main to bear in mind the name of this\npotent herb. She said it over and over again, tied a knot in her garter\nat every syllable, in order to assist her memory, and thought she had\nthe word as sure as her own name, and very possibly felt much more\nanxious about retaining the one than the other. At length she dropped\nasleep, and did not wake till the morning. Now, whether her head might\nbe like a sieve, that lets out as fast as it takes in, or whether the\nover\u2013exertion to remember caused her to forget, cannot be determined,\nbut certain it is when she opened her eyes, she knew nothing at all\nabout the matter, excepting that Molly was to go lame on her right leg\nfor seven long years, unless a herb with a strange name could be got to\ncure her. And lame she went for nearly the whole of that period.\n\nAt length (it was about the end of the time) a merry, squint\u2013eyed,\nqueer\u2013looking boy started up one fine summer day, just as she went to\npluck a mushroom, and came tumbling, head over heels, towards her. He\ninsisted on striking her leg with a plant which he held in his hand.\nFrom that moment she got well, and lame Molly, as a reward for her\npatience in suffering, became the best dancer in the whole town at the\ncelebrated festivities of May\u2013day on the green.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWN MAN OF THE MOORS.\n\n\nIn the year before the great rebellion two young men from Newcastle\nwere sporting on the high moors above Elsdon, and, after pursuing\ntheir game several hours, sat down to dine in a green glen, near one\nof the mountain streams. After their repast, the younger lad ran to\nthe brook for water, and, after stooping to drink, was surprised, on\nlifting his head again, by the appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood\non a crag covered with brackens across the burn. This extraordinary\npersonage did not appear to be above half the stature of a common man,\nbut was uncommonly stout and broad\u2013built, having the appearance of vast\nstrength. His dress was entirely brown, the colour of the brackens, and\nhis head covered with frizzled red hair. His countenance was expressive\nof the most savage ferocity, and his eyes glared like those of a bull.\n\nIt seems he addressed the young man, first threatening him with his\nvengeance for having trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he\nknew in whose presence he stood. The youth replied that he supposed him\nto be the lord of the moors; that he had offended through ignorance;\nand offered to bring him the game he had killed. The dwarf was a little\nmollified by this submission, but remarked that nothing could be more\noffensive to him than such an offer, as he considered the wild animals\nas his subjects, and never failed to avenge their destruction. He\ncondescended further to inform the young man that he was, like himself,\nmortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of common humanity, and\nthat he hoped for salvation. He never, he added, fed on anything that\nhad life, but lived in the summer on whortle berries, and in winter on\nnuts and apples, of which he had great store in the woods. Finally,\nhe invited his new acquaintance to accompany him home and partake his\nhospitality, an offer which the youth was on the point of accepting,\nand was just going to spring across the brook (which if he had done,\nthe dwarf would certainly have torn him to pieces) when his foot was\narrested by the voice of his companion, who thought he had tarried\nlong. On his looking round again \u201cthe wee brown man was fled.\u201d\n\nThe story adds that the young man was imprudent enough to slight the\nadmonition, and to sport over the moors on his way homewards, but soon\nafter his return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died within a\nyear.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE COBBLER CHEATED THE DEVIL.\n\n\nIt chanced that once upon a time long years ago, in the days when\nstrange things used to happen in the world, and the devil himself\nused sometimes to walk about in it in a bare\u2013faced fashion, to the\ndistraction of all good and bad folk alike, he came to a very small\ntown where he resolved to stay a while to play some of his tricks. How\nit was, whether the people were better or were worse than he expected\nto find them, whether they would not give way to him, or whether they\nwent beyond him and outwitted him, I don\u2019t know, and so cannot say;\nbut sure it is that in a short while he became terribly angry with\nthe folk, and at length was so disgusted that he threatened he would\nmake them repent their treatment of him, for he would punish them in\na manner which should show them his power. With that he flew off in a\nfury, and the folk, knowing with whom they had to deal, were very sad\nthinking what terrible thing would overtake them, and at their wits\u2019\nend to imagine how they might manage to escape the claws of the Evil\nOne.\n\nAccordingly it was decided to call a meeting of the townsfolk, to which\nall, old and young, should come to deliver their opinion as to the best\ncourse to be pursued, only those too old to walk, the sick, and the\nfoolish, being not called to the council.\n\nVery many different courses were proposed, and while these were being\ndebated a man rushed into the hall where the council was held, and\ninformed them that their enemy was coming, for he had himself seen him\nmaking his way to the town, bearing on his shoulder a stone almost big\nenough to bury the place under it. He reported that the devil was yet a\nlong way off, for his load hampered him sadly and he could not travel\nfast.\n\nWhat to do the councillors did not know, when suddenly there came\namongst them a poor cobbler, whom they had forgot to call to the\nmeeting, for he was, indeed, looked upon as only half\u2013witted.\n\n\u201cI will go and meet him,\u201d said he, \u201cand stop him coming here.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou stop him!\u201d cried they all; \u201cit\u2019s mad you must be to think of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go all the same,\u201d said the cobbler, and without saying a word\nmore he goes out and begins to make ready for his journey.\n\nFirst of all he collected together as many old boots and shoes as he\ncould find, and when he had got them all in a bundle, he finds out the\nman who had seen the devil coming on, and inquired of him the way\nhe should go to meet him. The man told him the road, and the cobbler\nset out. He walked, and walked, and walked, till at last he came to\nthe devil, who was sitting by the roadside resting himself and trying\nto get cool, for the day was warm, and he was nearly worn out with\ncarrying the big rock which lay beside him.\n\n\u201cDo you know such\u2013and\u2013such a place?\u201d asks he of the man, naming the\ntown he would be at.\n\n\u201cI do, indeed,\u201d says the man, \u201cfor I ought to, seeing I have lived in\nits neighbourhood these many years, and have only left there to travel\nhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how many days have you been getting here?\u201d asked the devil\nanxiously, for he had hoped he was near the end of his journey.\n\n\u201cOh, days and days,\u201d replies the man. \u201cSee here,\u201d and he opens his\nbundle of old boots that he had ready,\u2014\u201csee here,\u201d says he, \u201cthese are\nthe boots I\u2019ve worn out on the hard road in coming from the place here.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Have you, indeed!\u2019 says the devil, looking at them amazed, little\nthinking that the man was lying as he showed him pair after pair, all\nin holes and shreds. \u201cWell, indeed, it must be a long way off,\u201d and he\nlooks around him, and then at the rock, and thinks what a terrible long\nway he has had to bring it, and begins to doubt whether, after all,\nsince he\u2019s still got so far to go, it\u2019s worth all the trouble.\n\n\u201cIf it had been near,\u201d says he, \u201cit would have been a different thing,\nand I would have shown them what it is to treat me as they did, but as\nit\u2019s so far off it\u2019s another matter, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth the\ntrouble.\u201d\n\nSo he just takes up the rock and flings it aside in a field, and goes\noff back again. So the cobbler came home, and told all the townsfolk\nwhat he had done, and how he had cheated the devil, and I can assure\nyou that they all admired his cleverness, and the joke of tricking\nthe devil as he had, nor did they allow him to lose in consequence of\nmissing his day\u2019s work.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TAVISTOCK WITCH.\n\n\nAn old witch in days of yore lived in the neighbourhood of Tavistock,\nand whenever she wanted money she would assume the shape of a hare,\nand would send out her grandson to tell a certain huntsman, who lived\nhard by, that he had seen a hare sitting at such a particular spot, for\nwhich he always received the reward of sixpence. After this deception\nhad been practised many times, the dogs turned out the hare pursued,\noften seen but never caught, a sportsman of the party began to suspect\n\u201cthat the devil was in the dance,\u201d and there would be no end to it. The\nmatter was discussed, a justice consulted, and a clergyman to boot, and\nit was thought that however clever the devil might be, law and church\ncombined would be more than a match for him. It was therefore agreed\nthat, as the boy was singularly regular in the hour at which he came to\nannounce the sight of the hare, all should be in readiness for a start\nthe instant such information was given, and a neighbour of the witch,\nnothing friendly to her, promised to let the parties know directly that\nthe old woman and her grandson left the cottage and went off together,\nthe one to be hunted, and the other to set on the hunt.\n\nThe news came, the hounds were unkennelled, and huntsmen and sportsmen\nset off with surprising speed. The witch, now a hare, and her little\ncolleague in iniquity, did not expect so very speedy a turn out, so\nthat the game was pursued at a desperate rate, and the boy, forgetting\nhimself in a moment of alarm, was heard to exclaim\u2014\n\n\u201cRun, granny, run; run for your life!\u201d\n\nAt last the pursuers lost the hare, and she once more got safe into\nthe cottage by a little hole in the bottom of the door, but not large\nenough to admit a hound in chase. The huntsman and the squires, with\ntheir train, lent a hand to break open the door, but could not do it\ntill the parson and the justice came up, but as law and church were\ncertainly designed to break through iniquity, even so did they now\nsucceed in bursting the magic bonds that opposed them. Up\u2013stairs they\nall went. There they found the old hag, bleeding and covered with\nwounds, and still out of breath. She denied she was a hare, and railed\nat the whole party.\n\n\u201cCall up the hounds,\u201d said the huntsman, \u201cand let us see what they take\nher to be. Maybe we may yet have another hunt.\u201d\n\nOn hearing this, the old woman cried quarter. The boy dropped on his\nknees and begged hard for mercy. Mercy was granted on condition of its\nbeing received with a good whipping, and the huntsman, having long\npractised amongst the hounds, now tried his hand on their game. Thus\nthe old woman escaped a worse fate for the time being, but on being\nafterwards put on trial for bewitching a young woman, and making her\nspit pins, the above was given as evidence against her, and the old\nwoman finished her days, like a martyr, at the stake.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WORM OF LAMBTON.\n\n\nThe young heir of Lambton led a dissolute and evil course of life,\nequally regardless of the obligations of his high estate, and the\nsacred duties of religion. According to his profane custom, he was\nfishing on a Sunday, and threw his line into the river to catch fish,\nat a time when all good men should have been engaged in the solemn\nobservance of the day. After having toiled in vain for some time, he\nvented his disappointment at his ill success, in curses loud and deep,\nto the great scandal of all who heard him, on their way to Holy Mass,\nand to the manifest peril of his own soul.\n\nAt length he felt something extraordinary tugging at his line, and, in\nthe hope of catching a large fish, he drew it up with the utmost skill\nand care, yet it required all his strength to bring the expected fish\nto land.\n\nWhat was his surprise and mortification, when, instead of a fish, he\nfound that he had only caught a worm of most unseemly and disgusting\nappearance. He hastily tore it from his hook and threw it into a well\nhard by.\n\nHe again threw in his line, and continued to fish, when a stranger of\nvenerable appearance, passing by, asked him\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat sport?\u201d\n\nTo which he replied\u2014\n\n\u201cI think I\u2019ve caught the devil;\u201d and directed the inquirer to look into\nthe well.\n\nThe stranger saw the worm, and remarked that he had never seen the like\nof it before\u2014that it was like an eft, but that it had nine holes on\neach side of its mouth, and tokened no good.\n\nThe worm remained neglected in the well, but soon grew so large that it\nbecame necessary to seek another abode. It usually lay in the day\u2013time\ncoiled round a rock in the middle of the river, and at night frequented\na neighbouring hill, twining itself around the base; and it continued\nto increase in length until it could lap itself three times around the\nhill.\n\nIt now became the terror of the neighbourhood, devouring lambs, sucking\nthe cow\u2019s milk, and committing every species of injury on the cattle of\nthe affrighted peasantry.\n\nThe immediate neighbourhood was soon laid waste, and the worm, finding\nno further support on the north side of the river, crossed the stream\ntowards Lambton Hall, where the old lord was then living in grief and\nsorrow, the young heir of Lambton having repented him of his former\nsins, and gone to the wars in a far distant land.\n\nThe terrified household assembled in council, and it was proposed by\nthe stewart, a man far advanced in years and of great experience, that\nthe large trough which stood in the courtyard should be filled with\nmilk. The monster approached and, eagerly drinking the milk, returned\nwithout inflicting further injury, to repose around its favourite hill.\n\nThe worm returned the next morning, crossing the stream at the same\nhour, and directing its way to the hall. The quantity of milk to be\nprovided was soon found to be the product of nine cows, and if any\nportion short of this quantity was neglected or forgotten the worm\nshowed the most violent signs of rage, by lashing its tail around the\ntrees in the park, and tearing them up by the roots.\n\nMany a gallant knight of undoubted fame and prowess sought to slay\nthis monster which was the terror of the whole country side, and it\nis related that in these mortal combats, although the worm had been\nfrequently cut asunder, yet the several parts had immediately reunited,\nand the valiant assailant never escaped without the loss of life or\nlimb, so that, after many fruitless and fatal attempts to destroy the\nworm, it remained, at length, in tranquil possession of its favourite\nhill\u2014all men fearing to encounter so deadly an enemy.\n\nAt length, after seven long years, the gallant heir of Lambton\nreturned from the wars of Christendom, and found the broad lands of\nhis ancestors laid waste and desolate. He heard the wailings of the\npeople, for their hearts were filled with terror and alarm. He hastened\nto the hall of his ancestors, and received the embraces of his aged\nfather, worn out with sorrow and grief, both for the absence of his\nson, whom he had considered dead, and for the dreadful waste inflicted\non his fair domain by the devastations of the worm.\n\nHe took no rest until he crossed the river to examine the worm, as it\nlay coiled around the base of the hill, and being a knight of tried\nvalour and sound discretion, and hearing the fate of all those who had\nfallen in the strife, he consulted a Sibyl on the best means to be\npursued to slay the monster.\n\nHe was told that he himself had been the cause of all the misery which\nhad been brought upon the country, which increased his grief and\nstrengthened his resolution. He was also told that he must have his\nbest suit of mail studded with spear\u2013blades, and, taking his stand on\nthe rock in the middle of the river, commend himself to Providence\nand the might of his sword, first making a solemn vow, if successful,\nto slay the first living thing he met, or, if he failed to do so, the\nLords of Lambton for nine generations would never die in their beds.\n\nHe made the solemn vow in the chapel of his forefathers, and had his\ncoat studded with the blades of the sharpest spears. He took his stand\non the rock in the middle of the river, and unsheathing his trusty\nsword, which had never failed him in time of need, he commended himself\nto the will of Providence.\n\nAt the accustomed hour the worm uncoiled its lengthened folds, and,\nleaving the hill, took its usual course towards Lambton Hall, and\napproached the rock where it sometimes reposed. The knight, nothing\ndismayed, struck the monster on the head with all his might and main,\nbut without producing any other visible effect than irritating and\nvexing the worm, which, closing on the knight, clasped its frightful\ncoils around him, and endeavoured to strangle him in its poisonous\nembrace.\n\nThe knight was, however, provided against this dangerous extremity,\nfor, the more closely he was pressed by the worm, the more deadly were\nthe wounds inflicted by his coat of spear\u2013blades, until the river ran\nwith gore.\n\nThe strength of the worm diminished as its efforts increased to destroy\nthe knight, who, seizing a favourable opportunity, made such a good\nuse of his sword that he cut the monster in two. The severed part was\nimmediately carried away by the current, and the worm, being thus\nunable to reunite itself, was, after a long and desperate conflict,\ndestroyed by the gallantry and courage of the knight of Lambton.\n\nThe afflicted household were devoutly engaged in prayer during the\ncombat, but on the fortunate issue, the knight, according to promise,\nblew a blast on his bugle to assure his father of his safety, and\nthat he might let loose his favourite hound which was destined to be\nthe sacrifice. The aged father, forgetting everything but his parental\nfeelings, rushed forward to embrace his son.\n\nWhen the knight beheld his father he was overwhelmed with grief. He\ncould not raise his arm against his parent, but, hoping that his vow\nmight be accomplished, and the curse averted by destroying the next\nliving thing he met, he blew another blast on his bugle.\n\nHis favourite hound broke loose and bounded to receive his caresses,\nwhen the gallant knight, with grief and reluctance, once more drew\nhis sword, still reeking with the gore of the monster, and plunged it\ninto the heart of his faithful companion. But in vain\u2014the prediction\nwas fulfilled, and the Sibyl\u2019s curse pressed heavily on the house of\nLambton for nine generations.\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD WOMAN AND THE CROOKED SIXPENCE.\n\n\nAn old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a crooked sixpence.\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d says she, \u201cshall I do with this sixpence? I will go to the\nmarket and buy a pig with it.\u201d\n\nShe went; and as she was coming home she came to a stile. Now the pig\nwould not go over the stile. The woman went on a little further and met\na dog\u2014\n\n\u201cDog,\u201d said she, \u201cbite pig. Piggy won\u2019t go over the stile, and I shan\u2019t\nget home to\u2013night.\u201d\n\nBut the dog would not bite the pig. The woman went on a little further,\nand she met a stick.\n\n\u201cStick,\u201d said she, \u201cbeat dog. Dog won\u2019t bite pig, piggy won\u2019t go over\nstile, and I shan\u2019t get home to\u2013night.\u201d\n\nBut the stick would not. The woman went on a little further, and she\nmet a fire.\n\n\u201cFire,\u201d said she, \u201cburn stick. Stick won\u2019t beat dog, dog won\u2019t bite\npig, piggy won\u2019t go over the stile, and I shan\u2019t get home to\u2013night.\u201d\n\nBut the fire would not. The woman went on a little further and she met\nsome water.\n\n\u201cWater,\u201d said she, \u201cquench fire. Fire won\u2019t burn stick, stick won\u2019t\nbeat dog,\u201d etc.\n\nBut the water would not. The woman went on a little further, and she\nmet an ox.\n\n\u201cOx,\u201d said she, \u201cdrink water. Water won\u2019t quench fire,\u201d etc.\n\nBut the ox would not. The woman went on again, and she met a butcher.\n\n\u201cButcher,\u201d said she, \u201ckill ox. Ox won\u2019t drink water,\u201d etc.\n\nBut the butcher would not. The woman went on a little further, and met\na rope.\n\n\u201cRope,\u201d said she, \u201chang butcher. Butcher won\u2019t kill ox,\u201d etc.\n\nBut the rope would not. Again the woman went on, and she met a rat.\n\n\u201cRat,\u201d said she, \u201cgnaw rope. Rope won\u2019t hang butcher,\u201d etc.\n\nBut the rat would not. The woman went on a little further, and met a\ncat.\n\n\u201cCat,\u201d said she, \u201ckill rat. Rat won\u2019t gnaw rope,\u201d etc.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the cat, \u201cI will kill the rat if you will fetch me a basin\nof milk from the cow over there.\u201d\n\nThe old woman went to the cow and asked her to let her have some milk\nfor the cat.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the cow; \u201cI will let you have no milk unless you bring me a\nmouthful of hay from yonder stack.\u201d\n\nAway went the old woman to the stack and fetched the hay and gave it to\nthe cow. Then the cow gave her some milk, and the old woman took it to\nthe cat.\n\nWhen the cat had lapped the milk, the cat began to kill the rat, the\nrat began to gnaw the rope, the rope began to hang the butcher, the\nbutcher began to kill the ox, the ox began to drink the water, the\nwater began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn the stick, the\nstick began to beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig, and piggy,\nin a fright, jumped over the stile, and so, after all, the old woman\ngot safe home that night.\n\n\n\n\nTHE YORKSHIRE BOGGART.\n\n\nA boggart intruded himself, upon what pretext or by what authority\nis unknown, into the house of a quiet, inoffensive, and laborious\nfarmer; and, when once it had taken possession, it disputed the right\nof domicile with the legal mortal tenant, in a very unneighbourly and\narbitrary manner. In particular, it seemed to have a great aversion to\nchildren. As there is no point on which a parent feels more acutely\nthan that of the maltreatment of his offspring, the feelings of the\nfather, and more particularly of his good dame, were daily, ay, and\nnightly, harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and invisible\nboggart (a boggart is seldom visible to the human eye, though it is\nfrequently seen by cattle, particularly by horses, and then they are\nsaid to \u201ctake the _boggle_,\u201d a Yorkshireism for a shying horse). The\nchildren\u2019s bread and butter would be snatched away, or their porringers\nof bread and milk would be dashed down by an invisible hand; or if they\nwere left alone for a few minutes, they were sure to be found screaming\nwith terror on the return of the parents, like the farmer\u2019s children in\nthe tale of the _Field of Terror_, whom the \u201cdrudging goblin\u201d used to\ntorment and frighten when he was left alone with them.\n\nThe stairs led up from the kitchen; a partition of boards covered\nthe ends of the steps, and formed a closet beneath the staircase; a\nlarge round knot was accidentally displaced from one of the boards of\nthis partition. One day the farmer\u2019s youngest boy was playing with\nthe shoe\u2013horn, and, as children will do, he stuck the horn into this\nknot\u2013hole. Whether the aperture had been found by the boggart as a\npeep\u2013hole to watch the motions of the family, or whether he wished\nto amuse himself, is uncertain, but sure it is the horn was thrown\nback with surprising precision at the head of the child. It was found\nthat as often as the horn was replaced in the hole, so surely it was\nejected with a straight aim at the offender\u2019s head. Time at length\nmade familiar this wonderful occurrence, and that which at the first\nwas regarded with terror, became at length a kind of amusement with\nthe more thoughtless and daring of the family. Often was the horn\nslipped slyly into the hole, and the boggart never failed to dart it\nout at the head of one or the other, but most commonly he or she who\nplaced it there was the mark at which the invisible foe launched the\noffending horn. They used to call this, in their provincial dialect,\n\u201claking wit boggart,\u201d _i.e._, playing with the boggart. As if enraged\nat these liberties taken with his boggartship, the goblin commenced\na series of night disturbances. Heavy steps, as of a person in wooden\nclogs, were often heard clattering down the stairs in the dead hour of\ndarkness, and the pewter and earthen dishes appeared to be dashed on\nthe kitchen floor, though, in the morning, all were found uninjured on\ntheir respective shelves.\n\nThe children were chiefly marked out as objects of dislike by their\nunearthly tormenter. The curtains of their beds would be violently\npulled backward and forward. Anon, a heavy weight, as of a human being,\nwould press them nearly to suffocation. They would then scream out for\ntheir \u201cdaddy\u201d and \u201cmammy,\u201d who occupied the adjoining room, and thus\nthe whole family was disturbed night after night. Things could not long\ngo on after this fashion. The farmer and his good dame resolved to\nleave a place where they had not the least shadow of rest or comfort.\n\nThe farmer, whose name was George Gilbertson, was following, with\nhis wife and family, the last load of furniture, when they met a\nneighbouring farmer, whose name was John Marshall, between whom and the\nunhappy tenant the following colloquy took place\u2014\n\n\u201cWell, George, and soa you\u2019re leaving t\u2019ould hoose at last?\u201d\n\n\u201cHeigh, Johnny, ma lad, I\u2019m forc\u2019d till it, for that boggart torments\nus soa we can neither rest neet nor day for\u2019t. It seems loike to have\nsuch a malice again\u2019t poor bairns. It ommost kills my poor dame here at\nthoughts on\u2019t, and soa, ye see, we\u2019re forc\u2019d to flitt like.\u201d\n\nHe had got thus far in his complaint when, behold! a shrill voice, from\na deep upright churn, called out\u2014\n\n\u201cAy, ay, George, we \u2019re flitting, you see.\u201d\n\n\u201cConfound thee,\u201d says the poor farmer, \u201cif I\u2019d known thou\u2019d been there\nI wadn\u2019t ha stirrid a peg. Nay, nay, it\u2019s to na use, Mally,\u201d turning\nto his wife, \u201cwe may as weel turn back again to t\u2019ould hoose, as be\ntormented in another that\u2019s not sa convenient.\u201d\n\nThey are said to have turned back, but the boggart and they afterwards\ncame to a better understanding, though it long continued its trick of\nshooting the horn from the knot\u2013hole.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DUERGAR.\n\n\nThe following encounters with the _duergar_, a species of mischievous\nelves, are said to have taken place on Simonside Hills, a mountainous\ndistrict between Rothbury and Elsdon in Northumberland.\n\nA person well acquainted with the locality went out one night to\namuse himself with the pranks of these mysterious beings. When he had\nwandered a considerable time, he shouted loudly\u2014\n\n\u201cTint! tint!\u201d and a light appeared before him, like a burning candle\nin the window of a shepherd\u2019s cottage. Thither, with great caution,\nhe bent his steps, and speedily approached a deep slough, from whence\na quantity of moss or peat had been excavated, and which was now\nfilled with mud and water. Into this he threw a piece of turf which he\nraised at his feet, and when the sound of the splash echoed throughout\nthe surrounding stillness, the decoying light was extinguished. The\nadventurer retraced his steps, overjoyed at his dexterity in outwitting\nthe fiendish imps, and in a moment of exultation, as if he held all the\npowers of darkness in defiance, he again cried to the full extent of\nhis voice\u2014\n\n\u201cTint! tint!\u201d\n\nHis egotism subsided, however, more quickly than it arose, when he\nobserved three of the little demons, with hideous visages, approach\nhim, carrying torches in their diminutive hands, as if they wished to\ninspect the figure of their enemy. He now betook himself to the speed\nof his heels for safety, but found that an innumerable multitude of\nthe same species were gathering round him, each with a torch in one\nhand and a short club in the other, which they brandished with such\ngestures, as if they were resolved to oppose his flight, and drive him\nback into the morass. Like a knight of romance he charged with his\noaken staff the foremost of his foes, striking them, as it seemed, to\nthe earth, for they disappeared, but his offensive weapon encountered\nin its descent no substance of flesh or bone, and beyond its sweep the\ndemons appeared to augment both in size and number. On witnessing so\nmuch of the unearthly, his heart failed him. He sank down in a state\nof stupor, nor was he himself again till the gray light of the morning\ndispersed his unhallowed opponents, and revealed before him the direct\nway to his own dwelling.\n\nAnother time, a traveller, wandering over these mountain solitudes, had\nthe misfortune to be benighted, and, perceiving near him a glimmering\nlight, he hastened thither and found what appeared to be a hut, on the\nfloor of which, between two rough, gray stones, the embers of a fire,\nwhich had been supplied with wood, were still glowing and unconsumed.\nHe entered, and the impression on his mind was that the place had been\ndeserted an hour or two previously by gipsies, for on one side lay a\ncouple of old gate\u2013posts ready to be split up for fuel, and a quantity\nof refuse brush\u2013wood, such as is left from besom making, was strewn\nupon the floor. With this material he trimmed the fire, and had just\nseated himself on one of the stones, when a diminutive figure in human\nshape, not higher than his knee, came waddling in at the door, and\ntook possession of the other. The traveller, being acquainted with\nthe manner in which things of this description ought to be regarded,\nretained his self\u2013possession, kept his seat, and remained silent,\nknowing that if he rose up or spoke, his danger would be redoubled,\nand as the flame blazed up he examined minutely the hollow eyes, the\nstern vindictive features, and the short, strong limbs of the visitor\nbefore him. By degrees he perceived that the hut afforded little or\nno shelter from the cold night air, and as the energy of the fire\nsubsided he lifted from the floor a piece of wood, broke it over his\nknee, and laid the fragments upon the red\u2013hot embers. Whether this\noperation was regarded by his strange neighbour as a species of insult\nwe cannot say, but the demon seized, as if in bitter mockery, one of\nthe gate\u2013posts, broke it likewise over its knee, and laid the pieces\non the embers in the same manner. The other having no wish to witness\na further display of such marvellous agency, thenceforth permitted the\nfire to die away, and kept his position in darkness and silence, till\nthe fair dawn of returning day made him aware of the extreme danger to\nwhich he was exposed. He saw a quantity of white ashes before him, but\nthe grim dwarfish intruder, with the roof and walls of the hut, were\ngone, and he himself, sat upon a stone, sure enough, but it formed one\nof the points of a deep, rugged precipice, over which the slightest\ninadvertent movement had been the means of dashing him to pieces.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BARN ELVES.\n\n\nAn honest Hampshire farmer was sore distressed by the nightly\nunsettling of his barn. However straightly, over night, he laid his\nsheaves on the threshing floor, for the application of the morning\u2019s\nflail, when morning came all was topsy\u2013turvy, higgledy\u2013piggledy, though\nthe door remained locked, and there was no sign whatever of irregular\nentry.\n\nResolved to find out who played him these mischievous pranks, Hodge\ncouched himself one night deeply among the sheaves, and watched for\nthe enemy. At length midnight arrived. The barn was illuminated as if\nby moonbeams of wonderful brightness, and through the keyhole came\nthousands of elves, the most diminutive that could be imagined. They\nimmediately began their gambols among the straw, which was soon in the\nmost admired disorder. Hodge wondered, but interfered not, but at last\nthe supernatural thieves began to busy themselves in a way still less\nto his taste, for each elf set about conveying the crop away, a straw\nat a time, with astonishing activity and perseverance. The keyhole was\nstill their port of egress and regress, and it resembled the aperture\nof a beehive, on a sunny day in June. The farmer was rather annoyed at\nseeing his grain vanish in this fashion, when one of the fairies, while\nhard at work, said to another, in the tiniest voice that ever was heard\u2014\n\n\u201cI weat; you weat?\u201d (I sweat; do you sweat?)\n\nHodge could contain himself no longer. He leapt out, crying\u2014\n\n\u201cThe deuce sweat ye! Let me get among ye.\u201d\n\nThe fairies all flew away so frightened that they never disturbed the\nbarn any more.\n\n\n\n\nLEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR.\n\n\nImmemorial tradition has asserted that King Arthur, his queen\nGuinevere, court of lords and ladies, and his hounds, were enchanted in\nsome cave of the crags, or in a hall below the castle of Sewingshields,\nand would continue entranced there till some one should first blow a\nbugle\u2013horn that lay on a table near the entrance into the hall, and\nthen \u201cwith the sword of stone\u201d cut a garter, also placed there beside\nit. But none had ever heard where the entrance to this enchanted hall\nwas, till a farmer at Sewingshields, about fifty years since, was\nsitting knitting on the ruins of the castle, and his clew fell and ran\ndownwards through a bush of briars and nettles, as he supposed, into\na deep subterranean passage. Full in the faith that the entrance into\nKing Arthur\u2019s hall was now discovered, he cleared the briary portal of\nits weeds and rubbish, and entering a vaulted passage, followed, in his\ndarkling way, the web of his clew. The floor was infested with toads\nand lizards, and the dark wings of bats, disturbed by his unhallowed\nintrusion, flitted fearfully around him. At length his sinking faith\nwas strengthened by a dim, distant light, which, as he advanced, grew\ngradually lighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast and vaulted\nhall, in the centre of which a fire without fuel, from a broad crevice\nin the floor, blazed with a high and lambent flame, that showed all the\ncarved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and his queen and court\nreposing around in a theatre of thrones and costly couches. On the\nfloor, beyond the fire, lay the faithful and deep\u2013toned pack of thirty\ncouple of hounds, and on the table, before it, the spell\u2013dissolving\nhorn, sword, and garter. The farmer reverently but firmly grasped the\nsword, and as he drew it leisurely from its rusty scabbard, the eyes of\nthe monarch and his courtiers began to open, and they rose till they\nsat upright. He cut the garter, and, as the sword was being slowly\nsheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and they all gradually\nsank to rest, but not before the monarch lifted up his eyes and hands,\nand exclaimed\u2014\n\n  \u201cO woe betide that evil day\n    On which this witless wight was born\n  Who drew the sword\u2014the garter cut,\n    But never blew the bugle\u2013horn.\u201d\n\nOf this favourite tradition, the most remarkable variation is\nrespecting the place where the farmer descended. Some say that after\nthe king\u2019s denunciation, terror brought on loss of memory, and the\nfarmer was unable to give any correct account of his adventure, or\nthe place where it occurred. All agree that Mrs. Spearman, the wife\nof another and more recent occupier of the estate, had a dream in\nwhich she saw a rich hoard of treasure among the ruins of the castle,\nand that for many days together she stood over workmen employed in\nsearching for it, but without success.\n\nAnother version of the story has less of \u201cthe pomp of sceptred state\u201d\nthan the preceding, and has evidently sprung from a baser original, but\nits verity is not the less to be depended upon.\n\nA shepherd one day, in quest of a strayed sheep on the crags, had his\nattention aroused by the scene around him assuming an appearance he\nhad never before witnessed. There seemed to be about it a more than\nwonted vividness, and such a deep solemnity hung over its aspect, that\nits features became, as it were, palpably impressed upon his mind.\nWhile he was musing upon this unexpected occurrence, his steps were\narrested by a ball of thread. This he laid hold of, and, pursuing the\npath it pointed out, found it led into a cavern, in the recesses of\nwhich, as the guiding line used by miners in their explorations of\ndevious passages, it appeared to lose itself. As he approached, he\nfelt perforce constrained to follow the strange conductor, that had\nso marvellously come into his hands. After passing through a long and\ndreary vestibule, he entered into an apartment in the interior. An\nimmense fire blazed on the hearth, and cast its broad flashes with\na wild, unearthly glare, to the remotest corner of the chamber. Over\nit was placed a huge caldron, as if preparations were being made for\na feast on an extensive scale. Two hounds lay couchant on either side\nof the fire\u2013place, in the stillness of unbroken slumber. The only\nremarkable piece of furniture in the apartment was a table covered\nwith green cloth. At the head of the table, a being, considerably\nadvanced in years, of a dignified mien, and clad in the habiliments\nof war, sat, as it were, fast asleep, in an arm\u2013chair. At the other\nend of the table lay a horn and a sword. Notwithstanding these signs\nof life, there prevailed a dead silence throughout the chamber, the\nvery feeling of which made the shepherd reflect that he had advanced\nfar beyond the limits of human experience, and that he was now in the\npresence of objects that belonged more to death than to life. The very\nidea made his flesh creep. He, however, had sufficient fortitude to\nadvance to the table and lift the horn. The hounds pricked up their\nears most fearfully, and the grisly veteran started up on his elbow,\nand raising his half\u2013unwilling eyes, told the staggered hind that if he\nwould blow the horn and draw the sword, he would confer upon him the\nhonours of knighthood to last through time. Such unheard\u2013of dignities,\nfrom a source so ghastly, either met with no appreciation from the\nawe\u2013stricken swain, or the terror of finding himself alone in the\ncompany, it might be of malignant phantoms, who were only tempting\nhim to his ruin, became too urgent to be resisted, and, therefore,\nproposing to divide the peril with a comrade, he groped his darkling\nway, as best his quaking limbs could support him, back to the blessed\ndaylight. On his return, with a reinforcement of strength and courage,\nall traces of the former scene had disappeared. The crags presented\ntheir usual cheerful and quiet aspect, and every vestige of the opening\nof a cavern was obliterated. Thus failed another of the repeated\nopportunities for releasing the spell\u2013bound king of Britain from the\n\u201ccharmed sleep of ages.\u201d Within his rocky chamber he still sleeps on,\nas tradition tells, till the appointed hour; or if invited by his\nenchantress to participate in the illusions of the fairy festival,\nit has charms for him no longer. \u201cWasted with care,\u201d he sits beside\nher\u2014the banquet untasted\u2014the pageantry unmasked\u2014\n\n                    \u201c... By constraint\n  Her guest, and from his native land withheld\n  By sad necessity.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nSILKY.\n\n\nAbout the commencement of the present century the inhabitants of the\nquiet village of Black Heddon, near Stamfordham, and of its vicinity,\nwho lived, as most other villagers do, with all possible harmony\namongst themselves, and relishing no more external disturbance than was\nconsistent with their gentle and sequestered mode of existence, were\ndreadfully annoyed by the pranks of a preternatural being called Silky.\nThis name it had obtained from its manifesting a marked predilection\nto make itself visible in the semblance of a female dressed in silk.\nMany a time, when one of the more timorous of the community had a night\njourney to perform, have they unawares and invisibly been dogged and\nwatched by this spectral tormentor, who, at the dreariest part of the\nroad\u2014the most suitable for thrilling surprises\u2014would suddenly break\nforth in dazzling splendour. If the person happened to be on horseback,\na sort of exercise for which she evinced a strong partiality, she would\nunexpectedly seat herself behind, \u201crattling in her silks.\u201d There,\nafter enjoying a comfortable ride, with instantaneous abruptness she\nwould, like a thing destitute of continuity, dissolve away and become\nincorporate with the nocturnal shades, leaving the bewildered horseman\nin blank amazement.\n\nAt Belsay, some two or three miles from Black Heddon, she had a\nfavourite resort. This was a romantic crag finely studded with trees,\nunder the gloomy umbrage of which, \u201clike one forlorn,\u201d she loved to\nwander all the live\u2013long night. Here often has the belated peasant,\nwith awe\u2013stricken vision, beheld her dimly through the sombre twilight\nas if engaged in splitting great stones, or hewing with many a repeated\nstroke some stately \u201cmonarch of the grove.\u201d While he thus stood and\ngazed, and listened to intimations, impossible to be misapprehended, of\nthe dread reality of that mysterious being, concerning whom so various\nconjectures were awake, all at once, excited by that wondrous agency,\nhe would hear the howling of a resistless tempest rushing through the\nwoodland\u2014the branches creaking in violent concussion, or rent into\npieces by the impetuous fury of the blast\u2014while, to the eye, not a leaf\nwas seen to quiver, or a pensile spray to bend. The bottom of this crag\nis washed by a picturesque lake or fish\u2013pond, at whose outlet is a\nwaterfall, over which a venerable tree, sweeping its leafy arms, adds\nimpressiveness to the scene. Amid the complicated and contorted limbs\nof this tree, Silky possessed a rude chair, where she was wont, in her\nmoody moments, to sit\u2014wind\u2013rocked\u2014enjoying the rustling of the storm in\nthe dark woods, or the gush of the cascade. The tree, so consecrated\nin the sympathies and terrors of the people of the vicinity, has been\npreserved. Though now (1842) no longer tenanted by its aerial visitant,\nit yet spreads majestically its time\u2013hallowed canopy over the spot,\nawakening in the love\u2013versed rustic, when the winter\u2019s wind waves\ngusty and sonorous through its leafless boughs, the soul\u2013harrowing\nrecollection of the exploits of the ancient fay,\u2014but in the springtime,\nbeautiful with the full\u2013flushed verdure of that exuberant season,\nrecipient of the kindling emotions of reverence and affection. It still\nbears the name of \u201cSilky\u2019s seat,\u201d in memory of its once wonderful\noccupant.\n\nSilky exercised a marvellous influence over the brute creation. Horses,\nwhich indisputably possess a discernment of spirits superior to that of\nman, and are more sharp\u2013sighted in the dark, were in an extraordinary\ndegree sensitive of her presence and control. Having once perceived\nthe effects of her power she seems to have had a perverse pleasure\nin meddling with and arresting those poor defenceless animals, while\nengaged in the most exemplary performance of their labours. When this\nmisfortune occurred there was no remedy that brute\u2013force could devise.\nExpostulation, soothing, whipping, and kicking, were all exerted\nin vain to make the restive beast resume the proper and intended\ndirection. The ultimate resource, unless it might be the whim of Silky\nto revoke the spell, was the magic dispelling witchwood, which, it is\nsatisfactory to learn, was of unfailing efficacy. One poor wight, a\nfarm\u2013servant, was once the selected victim of her mischievous frolics.\nHe had to go to a colliery at some distance for coals, and it was\nlate in the evening before he could return. Silky, with spirit\u2013like\nprescience, having intimation of the circumstance, waylaid him at a\nbridge\u2014a \u201cghastly, ghost\u2013alluring edifice,\u201d since called \u201cSilky\u2019s\nBrig,\u201d lying a little to the south of Black Heddon, on the road between\nthat place and Stamfordham. Just as he had arrived at \u201cthe height\nof that bad eminence,\u201d the keystone, horses and cart became fixed\nand immovable as fate. In that melancholy plight might both man and\nhorses have continued\u2014quaking, and sweating, and paralysed\u2014till the\nmorning light had thrown around them its mantle of protection\u2014had not\na neighbour\u2019s servant come to the rescue, who opportunely carried some\nof the potent witchwood (mountain\u2013ash) about his person. On the arrival\nof this seasonable aid, the perplexed driver rallied his scattered\nsenses, and the helpless animals, being duly seasoned after the fashion\nprescribed on such occasions, he had the heart\u2013felt satisfaction of\nseeing them apply themselves, with the customary alacrity, to the\ndraught. The charm was effectually overcome, and in a short time\nboth the man and the coals reached home in safety. Ever afterwards,\nhowever, as long as he lived, he took the precaution of rendering\nhimself spell\u2013proof, by being furnished with a sufficient quantity of\nwitchwood, being by no means disposed that Silky should a second time\namuse herself at his expense and that of his team.\n\nShe was wayward and capricious. Sometimes she installed herself in\nthe office of that old familiar Lar\u2014Brownie, but, with characteristic\nmisdirection, in a manner exactly the reverse of that useful species\nof hobgoblin. Here it may be remarked that, throughout her disembodied\ncareer, she can scarcely be said to have performed one benevolent\naction for the sake of its moral qualities. She had, from first\nto last, a perpetual latent hankering for mischief, and gloried\nin withering surprises and unforeseen movements. As is customary\nwith that \u201csturdy fairy,\u201d as she is designated by the great English\nLexicographer, her works were performed at night, or between the\nhours of sunset and day\u2013dawn. If the good old dames had thoroughly\ncleaned their houses, which country people make a practice of doing,\nespecially on Saturdays, so that they may have a comfortable and decent\nappearance on the Sabbath\u2013day, after they had retired to rest, Silky\nwould silently turn everything topsy\u2013turvy, and the morning presented\na scene of indescribable confusion. On the contrary, if the house had\nbeen left in a disorderly state, a plan which the folk generally found\nit best to adopt, everything would have been arranged with the greatest\nnicety.\n\nAt length a term had arrived to her erratic course, and both she and\nthe peaceably disposed inhabitants whom she disquieted obtained the\nrepose so long mutually desired. She abruptly disappeared. It had long\nbeen surmised, by those who paid attention to those dark matters,\nthat she was the troubled phantom of some person, who had died very\nmiserable, in consequence of having great treasure, which, before\nbeing taken by her mortal agony, had not been disclosed, and on that\naccount Silky could not rest in her grave. About the period referred to\na domestic female servant being alone in one of the rooms of a house\nin Black Heddon, was frightfully alarmed by the ceiling above suddenly\ngiving way, and from it there dropped, with a prodigious clash,\nsomething quite black, shapeless, and uncouth. The servant did not\nstop to scrutinise an object so hideous and startling, but fled to her\nmistress, screaming at the pitch of her voice\u2014\n\n\u201cThe deevil\u2019s in the house! The deevil\u2019s in the house! He\u2019s come\nthrough the ceiling!\u201d\n\nWith this terrible announcement the whole family were speedily\nconvoked, and great was the consternation at the idea of the foe\nof mankind being amongst them in visible form. In this appalling\nextremity, a considerable time elapsed before any one could brace up\ncourage to face the enemy, or be prevailed on to go and inspect the\ncause of their alarm. At last the mistress, who chanced to be the most\nstout\u2013hearted, ventured into the room when, instead of the personage,\non account of whom such awful apprehensions were entertained, a great\ndog or calf\u2013skin lay on the floor, sufficiently black and uncomely, but\nfilled with gold.\n\nAfter this Silky was never more heard or seen. Her destiny was\naccomplished, her spirit laid, and she now sleeps with her ancestors.\n\n\n  Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty,\n  _at the Edinburgh University Press_.\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTE:\n\n\u2014Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.","title":"Folk-Lore and Legends: English","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":44337}