t. M. Bedier, in his recent work on _Les Fabliaux_, pp. 411-13,
denies the Eastern origin of the _fabliau_, but in his Indiaphobia M.
Bedier is _capable de tout_. In the Indian version the various
messengers are sent by the king to test the chastity of a peerless wife
of whom he has heard. The incident occurs in some versions of the
"Battle of the Birds" story (_Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxiv.), and
considering the wide spread of this in the British Isles, it was
possibly from this source that it came to Deptford.

LI. SIR GAMMER VANS

_Source._--Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes and Tales._

_Parallels._--There is a Yorkshire Lying Tale in Henderson's
_Folk-Lore_, first edition, p. 337, a Suffolk one, "Happy Borz'l," in
_Suffolk Notes and Queries_, while a similar jingle of inconsequent
absurdities, commencing "So he died, and she unluckily married the
barber, and a great bear coming up the street popped his head into the
window, saying, 'Do you sell any soap'?" is said to have been invented
by Charles James Fox to test Sheridan's memory, who repeated it after
one hearing. (Others attribute it to Foote.) Similar _Lugenmaerchen_ are
given by the Grimms, and discussed by them in their Notes, Mrs. Hunt's
translation, ii., pp. 424, 435, 442, 450, 452, _cf._ Crane, _Ital. Pop.
Tales_, p. 263.

_Remarks._--The reference to venison warrants, and bows and arrows seems
to argue considerable antiquity for this piece of nonsense. The
honorific prefix "Sir" may in that case refer to clerkly qualities
rather than to knighthood.

LII. TOM HICKATHRIFT

_Source._--From the Chap-book, _c._ 1660, in the Pepysian Library,
edited for the Villon Society by Mr. G.L. Gomme. Mr. Nutt, who kindly
abridged it for me, writes, "Nothing in the shape of incident has been
omitted, and there has been no rewriting beyond a phrase here and there
rendered necessary by the process of abridgment. But I have in one case
altered the sequence of events putting the fight with the giant last."

_Parallels._--There are similar adventures of giants in Hunt's Cornish
_Drolls_. Sir Francis Palgrave (_Quart. Rev._, vol. xxi.), and after
him, Mr. Gomme, have drawn attention to certain similarities with the
Grettir Saga, but they do not extend beyond general resemblances of
great strength. Mr. Gomme, however, adds that the cartwheel "plays a not
unimportant part in English folk-lore as a representative of old runic
faith" (Villon Soc. edition, p. xv.).

_Remar