Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/173

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(65.) Market Weighton:—

A variant of (13) is

Mr. Andrews refers us to Robert Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 223, for yet another version of No. (1), a version ascribed to True Thomas:—

The story of the saddler of Bawtry, who was hanged for leaving his liquor (24) is thus told in Notes and Queries (6th S. vi. 335) from a MS. left by a native of Bawtry, who was born 1732:—

"A traveller, who had a good deal of cash in his saddle-bags, was robbed soon after leaving Bawtry on his way to Doncaster, viz. near the King's Wood in Bawtry Lane, a place at that time noted for robberies and even murders. He had had the saddler at Bawtry to stuff his saddle, which hurt his horse's back. Returning to Bawtry with his pitiable tale, he asked for the saddler; but lo! no saddler was to be found. The traveller had given him part of a tankard of ale, which was found untouched standing in a manger in the stable. Now the saddler being a well-known thirsty blade, it was thought surprising that he forsook the friendly draught, and the sagacity of the multitude immediately suspected him to be the guilty person, and on this circumstance the poor saddler was immediately taken into custody, detained, and sent to York Castle, where he lay till the following assizes, when he was tried and acquitted." Seeing that this saddler was acquitted and not hanged, it would hardly seem as if the old inhabitant of Bawtry had "put the saddle on the right horse."

E. G.