Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/610

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. n. DEC. 24, 1904,

Dunlop, in the translations of Poggio by Isidore Lisieux and Pierre des Brandes, and in Mr. Jacobs's edition of ^Espp.

The story, then, is both Oriental and Occi- dental, but the West, it would appear, may claim the oldest literary form. Abdallah ben Mahmoud ben Othman ben Ali, surnamed Lamai, should be gratefully remembered by the lovers of the humorous, for he wrote a book in which, by the example of the Prophet and the great men of old, he vindicated the rights of innocent jesting and story - telling. He died in the year of Hegira 958 (A.D. 1551), and one of his anecdotes is of a faithful dog, whose death was greatly regretted. The sorrowing master buried him in the garden, and gathered his friends to a funeral banquet, at which he pronounced many deserved praises on the defunct. But some of the guests were scandalized, and reported the matter, with malevolent exaggerations, to the Cadi, who thereupon summoned the master to explain why he had bestowed upon the unclean dog the obsequies which belonged of right only to the faithful disciples of the Prophet. "Such honours," said the Cadi, " had not been rendered to the dog of the Seven Sleepers, nor to the ass of Ozair," who is Esdras. The accused alleged the great intelligence of the deceased, and, as a proof thereof, mentioned that the dog had made a will, and amongst other legacies had left 200 aspers to the Cadi. " See," said that worthy magistrate to his assistants, "how the good are exposed to envy and what things they have said of this honest man." Then, turning to him, he said, "Since you have not said prayers for the soul of the deceased, let us begin them together." This phrase is an untranslatable pun, meaning at

the sixteenth century the story was known in the East cannot be said. The story of the donkey that made a testament was known in the West in the thirteenth century. Rute- beuf's is the oldest European form. A few lines may suffice to show his mettle :

Sire, ci n'afiert plus lone conte,

Mes asnes at lone tans vescu,

Mout avoie en li boen escu ;

II m'at servi et volpntiers,

Moult loiaumont vingt ans entiers,

Si je soie de Dieu assoux,

Chascun an gaaing noit vingt sols,

Tant qu'il ot espargnie vingt livres.

Pour ce qu'il soit d'enfer delivres,

Les vo laisse en son testament.

Et dit 1'Esvesques, Diex 1'ament, Et si li pardoint ses meffais, Et toz les peschiez qu'il at fais.

This is given in Meon's 'Fabliaux' (Paris, 1808, iii. 70).

A folio might be written on the longevity of jests, and the story of the dog who made a will would form an appropriate chapter of such a treatise. WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

Manchester.

"AN OLD WOMAN WENT TO MARKET."

WE have all, in our childhood's days, heard the story of a certain old woman who went to market to buy a pig, and how on her return journey she could not induce the said pig to get over a stile, that she might get home in time to prepare her old man's supper.

It is surprising to find in a service book of the Jewish synagogue what looks very like the origin of this delightful story. I here present the two accounts for comparison.

The main facts of the nursery tale are these : that as the old woman could not make the pig get over the stile, she addressed a dog who happened to be near with these words, " Dog, dog, bite pig ; pig won't get over the stile, and I shan't get home to-night, to get my old man's supper." But the dog refuses, and so she asks a stick to beat the dog, the fire to burn the stick, the water to quench the fire, the ox to drink the water, the butcher to kill the ox, the rope to hang the butcher, the rat to gnaw the rope ; and all these severally refusing, she appeals to the cat to eat the rat, and the cat consents upon being given, or promised, a saucer of milk. " Then the cat began to eat the rat, the rat began to

gnaw the rope, <fcc and the pig leapt over

the stile," and the old lady was in time to cook her goodman's supper.

In a book entitled * Service for the First Nights of Passover, according to the Cus- tom of the German and Polish Jews,' with an English translation by the Rev. A. P. Mendes, on pp. 50, 51, occurs the following poem, which is to be said on the second night of the festival :

"One only kid, one only kid, which my father bought for two zuzim ; one only kid, one only kid.

"And a cat came and devoured the kid which my father bought for two zuzim ; one only kid, one only kid.

"And a dog came and bit the cat which had devoured the kid which my father, &c.

" Then a staff came and smote the dog which, &c.

" Then a fire came and burnt the staff which, &c.

" Then water came and extinguished the fire which, &c.

" Then the ox came and drank the water which,. fcc.

" Then the slaughterer came and slaughtered th& ox which, &c.

"Then the Angel of Death came and slew the slaughterer who, &c.