Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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English Fairy Tales

VII. Nix Nought Nothing

Source.—From a Scotch tale, “Nicht Nought Nothing,” collected by Mr. Andrew Lang in Morayshire, published by him first in Revue Celtique, t. iii; then in his Custom and Myth, p. 89; and again in Folk−Lore, Sept. 1890. I have changed the name so as to retain the equivoque of the giant's reply to the King. I have also inserted the incidents of the flight, the usual ones in tales of this type, and expanded the conclusion, which is very curtailed and confused in the original. The usual ending of tales of this class contains the “sale of bed” incident, for which see Child, i. 391.

Parallels.—Mr. Lang, in the essay “A Far−travelled Tale” in which he gives the story, mentions several variants of it, including the classical myth of Jason and Medea. A fuller study in Cosquin, l.c., ii. 12−28. For the finger ladder, see Kohler, in Orient and Occident, ii. III.