Parallels.—­This is clearly a variant of Johnny-cake = journey-cake, No. xxviii., where see Notes.

Remarks.—­But here the interest is with the pursuers rather than with the pursued.  The subtle characterisation of the various occupations reaches a high level of artistic merit.  Mr. Barrie himself could scarcely have succeeded better in a very difficult task.

LVIII.  JOHNNY GLOKE

Source.—­Contributed by Mr. W. Gregor to Folk-Lore Journal, vii.  I have rechristened “Johnny Glaik” for the sake of the rhyme, and anglicised the few Scotticisms.

Parallels.—­This is clearly The Valiant Tailor of the Grimms:  “x at a blow” has been bibliographised. (See my List of Incidents in Trans.  Folk-Lore Congress, 1892, sub voce.)

Remarks.—­How The Valiant Tailor got to Aberdeen one cannot tell, though the resemblance is close enough to suggest a direct “lifting” from some English version of Grimm’s Goblins.  At the same time it must be remembered that Jack the Giant Killer (see Notes on No. xix.) contains some of the incidents of The Valiant Tailor.

LIX.  COAT O CLAY

Source.—­Contributed by Mrs. Balfour originally to Longman’s Magazine, and thence to Folk-Lore, Sept., 1890.

Remarks.—­A rustic apologue, which is scarcely more than a prolonged pun on “Coat o’ Clay.”  Mrs. Balfour’s telling redeems it from the usual dulness of folk-tales with a moral or a double meaning.

LX.  THE THREE COWS

Source.—­Contributed to Henderson, l.c., pp. 321-2, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.

Parallels.—­The incident “Bones together” occurs in Rushen Coatie (infra, No. lxx.), and has been discussed by the Grimms, i., 399, and by Prof.  Koehler, Or. und Occ., ii., 680.

LXI.  THE BLINDED GIANT

Source.—­Henderson’s Folk-Lore of Northern Counties.  See also Folk-Lore.

Parallels.—­Polyphemus in the Odyssey and the Celtic parallels in Celtic Fairy Tales, No. v., “Conall Yellowclaw.”  The same incident occurs in one of Sindbad’s voyages.

Remarks.—­Here we have another instance of the localisation of a well-known myth.  There can be little doubt that the version is ultimately to be traced back to the Odyssey.  The one-eyed giant, the barred door, the escape through the blinded giant’s legs in the skin of a slaughtered animal, are a series of incidents that could not have arisen independently and casually.  Yet till lately the mill stood to prove if the narrator lied, and every circumstance of local particularity seemed to vouch for the autochthonous character of the myth.  The incident is an instructive one, and I have therefore included it in this volume, though it is little more than an anecdote in its present shape.