Page:English Fairy Tales.djvu/291

 Rh on them. At the same time it must not be thought that Mr. MacRitchie's views explain all fairy tales, or that his identifications of Finns = Fenians = Fairies = Sidhe = "Pechs" = Picts, will necessarily be accepted. His interesting book, so far as it goes, seems to throw light on tales about mermaids (Finnish women in their "kayaks") and trolls, but not necessarily on fairy tales in general. Thus, in the present volume, besides "Childe Rowland," there is only "Tom Tit Tot" in his hollow, the green hill in "Kate Crackernuts," "The Cauld Lad of Hilton," and perhaps the "Fairy Ointment," that are affected by his views.

Though Childe Rowland may contain traces of primitive custom, it is clear that in its present state it is of tolerably late date. We can, indeed, separate in it successive strata of social conditions. The extreme unction is Roman Catholic, and yet the latest indication of the story, which must therefore date before 1530. The reference to the Childe, if meant to indicate the heir, is feudal in character, while the heirship of the younger son carries us back to "Borough English" and Anglo-Saxon times. The good brand that never struck in vain is at least of the Iron Age, while the Dark Tower, the terraces on the hills, and the Elfin King recall neolithic man with his cannibalism implied in the "Fee-fi-fo-fum." The story thus carries us through all the stages of civilisation up to the verge of modern times.

Finally, there are a couple of words in the narrative that deserve a few words of explanation: "Widershins" is probably, as Mr. Batten suggests, analogous to the German "wider Schein," against the appearance of the sun, "counter-clockwise" as the mathematicians say—i.e., W., S., E., N., instead of with the sun and the hands of a clock; Mr. Gollancz, in the Academy, suggests "Wider Sinn," i.e., in an opposite direction. "Bogle" is a provincial word for "spectre," and is analogous to the Welsh bwg, "goblin," and to the English insect of similar name, and still more curiously to the Russian "Bog"—God, after which so many Russian