English Fairy Tales

Joseph Jacobs

XXII. MOLLY WHUPPIE.

Source.—Folk-Lore Journal, ii. p. 68, forwarded by Rev. Walter
Gregor. I have modified the dialect and changed “Mally”
into “Molly.”

Parallels.—The first part is clearly the theme of “Hop o’ my
Thumb,” which Mr. Lang has studied in his “Perrault,” pp.
civ.-cxi. (cf. Köhler, Occident, ii. 301.) The change of night-
dresses occurs in Greek myths. The latter part wanders off
into “rob giant of three things,” a familiar incident in folk-
tales (Cosquin, i. 46-7), and finally winds up with the “out
of sack” trick, for which see Cosquin, i. 113; ii. 209; and
Köhler on Campbell, in Occident and Orient, ii. 489-506.

XXIII. RED ETTIN.

Source.—”The Red Etin” in Chambers’s Pop. Rhymes of Scot-
land, p. 89. I have reduced the adventurers from three to

two, and cut down the herds and their answers. I have sub-

stituted riddles from the first English collection of riddles,

The Demandes Joyous of Wynkyn de Worde, for the poor

ones of the original, which are besides not solved. “Ettin” is

the English spelling of the word, as it is thus spelt in a pas-

sage of Beaumont and Fletcher (Knight of Burning Pestle, i.

1), which may refer to this very story, which, as we shall see,

is quite as old as their time.

Parallels.—”The Red Etin” is referred to in The Complaynt of

Scotland, about 1548. It has some resemblance to “Childe

Rowland,” which see. The “death index,” as we may call

tokens that tell the state of health of a parted partner, is a

usual incident in the theme of the Two Brothers, and has

been studied by the Grimms, i. 421, 453; ii. 403; by Köhler

on Campbell, Occ. u. Or., ii. 119-20; on Gonzenbach, ii.

230; on Bladé, 248; by Cosquin, l.c., i. 70-2, 193; by Crane,

Ital. Pop. Tales, 326; and by Jones and Kropf, Magyar Tales,

329. Riddles generally come in the form of the “riddle-bride-
     wager” (cf. Child, Ballads, i. 415-9; ii. 519), when the hero
     or heroine wins a spouse by guessing a riddle or riddles.