XI. CAP O' RUSHES.
Source.—Discovered by Mr. E. Clodd, in “Suffolk Notes and Queries” of the Ipswich Journal, published by Mr. Lang in Longinan's Magazine, vol. xiii, also in Folk-Lore, Sept. 1890.
Parallels.—The beginning recalls “King Lear.” For “loving like salt,” see the parallels collected by Cosquin, i. 288. The whole story is a version of the numerous class of Cinderella stories, the particular variety being the Catskin sub-species analogous to Perrault's Peau d'Ane. “Catskin” was told by Mr. Burchell to the young Primroses in “The Vicar of Wakefield,'” and has been elaborately studied by the late H. C. Coote, in Folk-Lore Record, iii. 1-25. It is only now extant in ballad form, of which “Cap o' Rushes” may be regarded as a prose version.