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[(1)] This story is the nursery favorite, “The House that Jack Built,” which has its counterpart in the Folk Lore of many countries. In Germany a similar rigmarole runs as follows: The pears having refused to fall from a certain tree, the owner sent successively for a boy, dog, stick, fire, water, calf, butcher and hangman. All refuse to do his bidding, so he calls the Devil. He is ready enough to carry off the hangman, who prepares to hang the butcher. The latter volunteers to kill the calf, which is now ready to lap the water. The water is willing to put out the fire, the fire to burn the stick, the stick to beat the dog, the dog to bite the boy, the boy to shake the tree, so the pears consent to fall.

[(2)] This is one of the German Legends, which Karl Simrock, the folk-lorist of the Rhine, has placed in his collection of poems, where it is written in the popular dialect of the inhabitants of Bonn. Similar stories are told of sundry localities, and these sleepers are merely the counterpart of the Sleepers of Ephesus.

[(3)] This peculiar old story is of Swedish or Norwegian origin. It forms part of Asbjörnsen's Norse Tales, and has been translated into English by Dasent in his volume “Tales of the Fjeld,” where it is entitled: “The Father of the Family.”

[(4)] Dasent, the translator of Asbjörnsen's Norse Fairy Tales, has given this story in his collection entitled Tales from the Fjeld, where it is quoted as an example of the rigmaroles which are common to all nations, and which correspond to the English “The House that Jack Built.”

[(5)] This story is based upon one of the myths of northern literature, and will be found related at length in Simrock's “Deutsche Mythologie,” or in the author's “Myths of Northern Lands,” in the chapter on Loki.

[(6)] The Pied Piper of Hamelin, so charmingly rendered in verse by Browning, is one of the most popular folk-tales in Germany. Its connection with the early superstitions of the northern races is explained in the author's “Myths of Northern Lands,” in the chapter on Odin.

[(7)] This is the Swedish version of a fragment of the Animal Epic of “Reynard the Fox,” which crossed the Rhine with the Franks, and became well known in France, whence it gradually spread all over Europe. It forms part of the Folk Lore, of all the European nations. Dasent has given an English translation of this particular version in his “Tales of the Fjeld.”

[(8)] This version of the well-known fairy-story is taken from Dasent's Collection of Norse Tales. Similar stories are found in Grimm, “The Golden Goose,” and in Wratislaw's “George with the Goat.” Dasent's story is entitled Taper Tom, and can be found related at length in his “Tales from the Fjeld.”

[(9)] One of the stories in the popular collection of Canon Christopher Schmid, the German writer, who was born in 1768 and died in 1854. These stories were so well liked by all children, that they were translated into French for the royal children in 1842. Only a mere outline of the story is given here, as the worthy Canon was very discursive, and used these stories mainly as a vehicle for his religious instructions.

[(10)] Düsseldorf, a town on the Rhine not very far from the Dutch frontier, is the center of an Art School founded by the Elector John William. The equestrian statue of this prince was cast by Grupello in 1711. The poet Smets has versified this legend. For English version see the author's “Legends of the Rhine.”

[(11)] The city of Andernach on the Rhine was founded by the Romans under Drusus. The Watch Tower of the legend was erected in the middle of the 15th century, and restored in 1880. Linz, also on the Rhine, is one of the fortified electoral towns. The legend here related has been versified by Karl Simrock, the poet of the Rhine.

[(12)] The old fortress of Philippsburg on the Rhine was besieged by the French on sundry occasions, and finally surprised by them in 1800. Karl Simrock has written an amusing poem about the occurrence related in this tale.

[(13)] Zürich, a city in Switzerland, is situated at the point where the Limmat flows out of the lake of Zürich. The Limmat is a tributary of the Aar, which flows into the Rhine. The poet Langbein has versified the legend related here, and the kettle is still preserved as a curiosity in Strasburg.

[(14)] This is one of the Western Slavonian myths, belonging in Bozena Nuncova's collection. It is very popular in Bohemia, and has been translated into English by Wratislaw, in his “Sixty Folk Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources.” The belief in wood nymphs, who took an interest in, and helped industrious mortals, was very common among all the nations of Northern and Central Europe, where they were known as Wood and Moss Maidens or as Huldra-folk.

[(15)] This is a Moravian tale, forming part of their collection of National Stories. It has been related by Kulda, and by Mr. Wratislaw in his collection of Folk-Tales. Grimm has also a similar story in his collection, where it is known as “The Four Accomplished Brothers.”

[Transcriber's Note:]

The entries “bitten” and “sich setzen” are missing from the vocabulary; they are referenced from the entries “bat” and “setzte sich”, respectively.

The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first passage is the original passage, the second the corrected one.