aIAACK AND THE BEAN STALK.—
This is probably a genuine old
English folk-tale. A trace of it is to
be found in the Sage of Olaf Tryg-
vason. In dream he is said to have
climbed a tree and got into a land of
marvels above the clouds. The tree
is Ygdrasil, the World Tree that supports the
firmament above.

The giant who lives above the cloud floor is Odin
or Wuotan with his single eye, and with his wife
Freya.

Wuotan is possessed of the red hen that lays the
golden egg every morn, that is the red dawn of
which the sun is born; the harp that plays of itself,
which is the wind; and the money and jewel bags,
which are the clouds that drop fertilising showers.

PUSS IN BOOTS.—This story was taken by
Perrault from the first of the 11th Night of
Straparola, whose collection of Tales was printed
at Venice in 1550 and 1554. Straparola himself
borrowed from earlier writers.

CINDERELLA.—This story is given by Perrault ;

its counterparts are to be found in every European

follr-store of tales. An exhaustive notice of all the

analogues has been published by the Folklore

Society. The English form of the tale, ‘Catskin,’

has been displaced by the French ‘Cinderella.’
237

NOTES