Page:English Fairy Tales.djvu/292

 266 rivers are named. I may add that "Burd" is etymologically the same as "bride," and is frequently used in the early romances for "Lady."

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 folktales (Cosquin, i., 46-7), and finally winds up with the "out of sack" trick, for which see Cosquin, i., 113; ii., 209; and Köhler, in Occident und Orient, ii., 489-506, on Campbell, No. xvii., Maol Chlioban, which was undoubtedly the source of our story. Kennedy's Fireside Stories, No. 1, "Hairy Rouchy, " is exactly similar, showing the story to be originally Celtic.

XXIII. RED ETTIN

Source.—"The Red Etin," in Chambers's ''Pop. Rhymes of Scotland'', p. 89. I have reduced the adventures from three to two, and cut down the herds and their answers. I have substituted 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 passage 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. It is the "Jōtunn" of the Eddas (Dasent, Norse Tales, p. cxxvii.).

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