Turn again, Whittington,
Thrice and a half Lord Mayor of London.
For besides his three mayoralties of 1397, 1406, and 1419, he served as Lord Mayor in place of Adam Bamme, deceased, in the latter half of the mayoralty of 1396. It will be noticed that the chap-book puts the introduction of potatoes rather far back.
XXXII. THE STRANGE VISITOR
Source.—From Chambers, l.c., 64, much Anglicised. I have retained “Aih-late-wee-moul,” though I candidly confess I have not the slightest idea what it means; judging other children by myself, I do not think that makes the response less effective. The prosaic-minded may substitute “Up-late-and-little-food.”
Parallels.—The man made by instalments, occurs in the Grimms' No. 4, and something like it in an English folk-tale, The Golden Ball, ap. Henderson, l.c., p. 333.
XXXIII. THE LAIDLY WORM.
Source.—From an eighteenth-century ballad of the Rev. Mr. Lamb of Norham, as given in Prof. Child's Ballads; with a few touches and verses from the more ancient version “Kempion.” A florid prose version appeared in Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore for May 1890. I have made the obvious emendation of
O quit your sword, unbend your bow
for
O quit your sword, and bend your bow.