460 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 133. 



den, he thought a thought. He thought, "If John 

 should have Mary, and Mary should have a child, 

 and the child was to go tittle-tottle by the well, 

 and to fall in, what a thing that would be ;" so he 

 sat down and cried. A little while after the old 

 woman came into the garden and saw him, and 

 asked him why he cried. And he told her he had 

 thought, " If John should have Mary, and Mary 

 should have a child, and the child should go tittle- 

 tottle by the well, and fall in, what a thing that 

 would be." " So it would," said the old woman ; 

 and she sat down and cried. 



Mary arrives, hears the thought, and sits down 

 and cries. John finds them crying, and says he 

 will put on a new pair of shoes, and if, by the time 

 they are worn out, he has not found three such big 

 fools, he will save the child's life by not marrying 

 Mary. He puts on the shoes, and sets out early 

 the next morning. 



Before he had gone far he came to a barn with 

 the two doors wide open, and saw a man hard at 

 work with a shovel, as if he was a shovelling some- 

 thing into the barn ; but there was nothing in the 

 shovel. " What be ye doing of, Measter ? " says 

 John. " I be a shovelling the sunshine in to dry 

 the wheat as was carried in the wet." " What a 

 fool ye be ! " says John ; " why don't you take out 

 the sheaves, and lay 'em in the sun ? " " Oh, God 

 bless ye. Sir," says the man ; " I wish ye'd come 

 this way afore. Many a hard day's work ye'd a 

 saved me." So John cut a notch in his stick for 

 one fool, and went on. 



He went a little further, and came to where a 

 man was cutting at pebbles with a knife. " What 

 be ye at, Measter ? " says John. " I be a cutting 

 of the pebbles to get at the kernels," says the man. 

 " What a fool ye be ! " says John ; " why don't ye 

 get a masonter's hammer and split 'em, and then 

 ye'll see whether there be any kernels or no." " Ah, 

 God bless you. Sir," says the man ; " many a good 

 knife ye'd a saved me if ye'd come this way afore." 

 So John made another notch for the second fool. 



The third is drawing a cow up the ladder, to 

 eat the tussock of grass that grows every year in 

 the thatch, and is equally thankful on being ad- 

 rised to cut it down and give it to the cow ; for 

 "many a good cow ye'd a saved me that I've 

 throttled, if ye'd come this way afore." So John 

 cut the third notch ; and finding that folly was 

 not peculiar to the family, went back and mar- 

 ried Mary while his shoes were new. And they 

 lived very happy, and she put a rail round the 

 well, and the child was not drowned. 



In this department of history, old women are the 

 highest authorities ; and it is desirable to fix their 

 localities as nearly as we can. I heard the story 

 from my nurse, a native of Souldern, Oxon., a vil- 

 lage on the borders of Northamptonshire, and 

 from another of Bucknel, fourteen miles north of 

 Oxford. 



A version of the Froschskonig is, or was, current 

 in the same neighbourhood. 



There was a farmer that had an only daughter ; 

 and she was very handsome, but proud. One day, 

 when the servants were all afield, her mother sent 

 her to the well for a pitcher of water. When she 

 had let down the bucket, it was so heavy that she 

 could hardly draw it up again ; and she was going 

 to let loose of it, when a voice in the well said» 

 " Hold tight and pull hard, and good luck will 

 come of it at last." So she held tight and pulled 

 hard ; and when the bucket came up there was 

 nothing in it but a frog, and the frog said, " Thank 

 you, my dear ; I've been a long while in the well, 

 and I'll make a lady of you for getting me out.'* 

 So when she saw it was only a frog, she took no 

 notice, but filled her pitcher and went home. 



Now, when they were at supper, there came a 

 knock at the door, and somebody outside said, — 



" Open the door, my dearest sweet one, 

 And think of the well in the wood; 

 Where you and I were together, love a keeping, 

 And think of the well in the wood." 



So she looked out of the window, and there was 

 the frog in boots and spurs. So says she, " I sha'n't 

 open the door for a frog." Then says her father^ 

 " Open the door to the gentleman. Who knows 

 what it may come to at last ?" So she opened the 

 door, and the frog came in. Then says the frog, — 



" Set me a chair, my dearest sweet one, 

 And think," &c. 



" I'm sure I sha'n't set a chair ; the floor's good 

 enough for a frog." The frog makes many re- 

 quests, to all of which the lady returns uncivil 

 answers. He asks for beer, and is told " Water is 

 good enough for a frog ;" to be put to bed, but 

 " The cistern is good enough for a frog to sleep 

 in." The father, however, insists on her compli- 

 ance ; and even when the frog says, " Cuddle my 

 back, my dearest sweet one," orders her to do so, 

 " For who knows what it may come to at last ?" 

 And in the morning, when she woke, she saw by 

 her side the handsomest gentleman that ever was 

 seen, in a scarlet coat and top-boots, with a sword 

 by his side and a gold chain round his neck, and 

 gold rings on his fingers ; and he married her and 

 made her a lady, and they lived very happy to- 

 gether. 



I suspect the scarlet coat and top-boots to be a 

 modern interpolation, the natural product of a 

 sporting neighbourhood. It destroys the unity of 

 costume, as I believe Alderman Sawbridge is the 

 only person recorded as having gone hunting in a 

 gold chain, and with a sword by his side. 



Grimm's frog sings, — 



" Konigstochter, jilngste, mach mir auf, 

 Wei?st du nicht wie gestern du zu mir gesagt 

 Bei dem kuhlen Brunnenwasser? 

 Konigstochter, jlingste, mach mir auf." 



