145
Joseph Jacobs
VI. MR. VINEGAR.
Source.—Halliwell, p. 149.
Parallels.—This is the
Hans im Glück of Grimm (No. 83).
Cf. too, “Lazy Jack,”
infra, No. xxvii. Other variants are given
by M. Cosquin,
Contes pop. de Lorraine, i. 241. On surpris-
ing robbers, see preceding tale.
Remarks.—In some of the variants the door is carried, be-
cause Mr. Vinegar,
or his equivalent, has been told to “mind
the door,” or he acts on the principle “he that is master of
the door is master of the house.” In other stories he makes
the foolish exchanges to the entire satisfaction of his wife.
(
Cf. Cosquin, i. 156-7.)
VII. NIX NOUGHT NOTHING.
Source.—From a Scotch tale, “Nicht Nought Nothing,” col-
lected 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 équivoque 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 origi-
nal. 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, in-
cluding the classical myth of Jason and Medea. A fuller study
in Cosquin,
l.c., ii. 12-28.
For the finger ladder, see Köhler,
in
Orient and Occident, ii. III.
