[Footnote 1: Glossary.--_Tot_, a mug; _yeal_, ale; _leased_, gleaned; _lather_, ladder; _thack_, thatch.]
Besides Grimm's version, we meet with a somewhat similar fable in Ireland. Vide Gerald Griffin's _Collegians_, p. 139.
Another pretty numerous class of our popular stories consists of those in which animals are made the actors. One of the most common of these relates to the strife between the fox and the hedgehog, who, according to the good people of Northamptonshire, are the two most astute animals in creation. How a couple of these worthies once fell out as to which was the swifter animal; and how, when they had put their speed to the trial, the cunning urchin contrived to defeat Reynard by placing his consort in the furrow which was to form the goal: so that when her mate had made a pretence of starting, she might jump out and feign to be himself just arrived. And how, after three desperate runs, the broken-winded fox fell a victim to the deceit, and was compelled to yield to his adversary; who, ever since that day, has been his most inveterate enemy. This myth is curious on many accounts, for the hedgehog has always been regarded as an emblem of subtlety. Grimm gives a tale precisely similar, with the exception that it is a hare and not a fox who is deceived by the ruse. Aldrovandus likewise tells us much on the score of his craft; and it was probably some mythic connexion between the animals which led Archilochus to class them together in the adage:
"Πολλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ, ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα."
Your readers will also call to mind the fable of Ælian, lib. IV. cap. xviii.
_Body and Soul._--The other day, in a village in Huntingdonshire, an unbaptized child was buried. A neighbour expressed great sorrow for the mother because "no bell had been rung over the corpse." On asking why this circumstance should be so peculiarly a cause of grief, she told me that it was "because when any one died, the soul never left the body until the church bell was rung." Is this superstition believed in elsewhere? And does it arise from mistaken notions regarding "the passing bell,"--the "one short peal" which the 67th canon orders to be rung "after the party's death?"
_Giving Cheese at a Birth._--In the county of Northumberland, not far from the Cheviots, I met with the following custom. When a woman's confinement is near, a cheese is made, which, when the child is born, is cut into pieces and distributed among all the houses (without exception) in the vicinity. If the child is a boy, the pieces of cheese are sent to the males; if a girl, to the females, each member of a family receiving a portion. Visitors also come in for their share. Whence did this custom arise?