Remarks.—­All countries have their special crop of fools, Boeotians among the Greeks, the people of Hums among the Persians (how appropriate!), the Schildburgers in Germany, and so on.  Gotham is the English representative, and as witticisms call to mind well-known wits, so Gotham has had heaped on its head all the stupidities of the Indo-European world.  For there can be little doubt that these drolls have spread from East to West.  This “Not counting self” is in the Gooroo Paramastan, the cheeses “one after another” in M. Riviere’s collection of Kabyle tales, and so on.  It is indeed curious how little originality there is among mankind in the matter of stupidity.  Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerable difficulty in inventing a new “sell.”

LXXXVII.  PRINCESS OF CANTERBURY

Source.—­I have inserted into the old chap-book version of the Four Kings of Colchester, Canterbury, &c., an incident entitled by Halliwell “The Three Questions.”

Parallels.—­The “riddle bride wager” is a frequent incident of folk-tales (see my List of Incidents); the sleeping tabu of the latter part is not so common, though it occurs, e.g., in the Grimms’ Twelve Princesses, who wear out their shoes with dancing.