been practised with success, and the whole cycle may be based on some historical incidents. Closely connected with this Saga is that of the "Disguised Deserter," who maims himself, as Odysseus did, and makes his way into the enemy's camp.1 This also may be of historical origin. Herodotus tells the same tale of the Zopyrus, who feigned himself to be a deserter from the Persian army, and enabled Darius to capture Babylon; of Peisistratus, who by a similar device secured a bodyguard and became tyrant of Athens; the same plan was repeated to complete the ruin of the army of the Emperor Julian. We have a variant of these disguise stories in the return of Odysseus as a beggar, an incident which is constantly reproduced in the later folk-tales.3 I must bring this paper to a close with the final tragedy which ends the story of the siege of Troy. I have been able to discuss only a small portion of the folk-lore and archaic beliefs which are embedded in the epics. The result, I venture to think, is only to increase our admiration of the great writer who has wedded these incidents to the noblest verse. We honour him not only as the first of European folk-lorists, but as the first and noblest writer who devoted his genius to the record of beliefs and traditions which it is the task of this Society to collect and interpret. W. CROOKE. 1 Od. iv. 244 ff. 2 Herod. iii. 154, i. 59; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, iii. 206; Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 413. 3 Grimm, Household Tales, i. 406. COLLECTANEA. "THE BITTER WITHY" BALLAD. PROFESSOR CHILD'S magnificent collection of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads deals, as all ballad-students must be aware, with 305 separate items; and since the completion of his exhaustive work that number has been regarded as including every piece of traditional popular narrative, complete or fragmentary, that could be regarded as a ballad in the strict sense of the term.1 But in view of the fact that a ballad or carol variously known as The Bitter Withy, The Withies, or The Sally Twigs, printed by me in 1905 for the first time, has recently been accepted as genuine by one of Child's most distinguished pupils, it may now be considered, I think, that the 305 must be increased by one. Quite recently, another American scholar has investigated the claim of The Bitter Withy to consideration as a traditional ballad, and finds it genuine; Professor Gerould, moreover, traces the story to its sources with great elaboration. With the hallmark of Professor Gummere's approval, therefore, and with Professor Gerould's valuable and erudite exegesis, The Bitter Withy takes its place on the roll of honour; but seeing that the former had but one text on which to adjudicate, and the latter three and a fragment, I am glad to be able now to increase the number of variants. Except, of course, variants of Child's texts, which are discovered from time to time both in print and in tradition. 2 Prof. F. B. Gummere, The Popular Ballad (1907), 227-9. 3 Prof. G. H. Gerould, in Publications of the Modern Language Association It will be convenient in the first place to give a list of the texts known to me, distinguishing each in the style adopted by Child. Prof. Gerould in his study of the ballad has used the Roman numerals I. to IV., but I think it best to continue Child's method of capital and lower-case letters, leaving figures for the verses and lines. Texts of "The Bitter Withy." A. (=Gerould I.). The Withies. Taken down verbatim as sung by an old Herefordshire man of about seventy in 1888, as learnt from his grandmother, and communicated in a letter, Dec. 31, 1888, by Mr. Henry Ellershaw, Jun., of Rotherham, to Mr. A. H. Bullen (shortly after the publication of the latter's Songs and Carols). Printed by F. Sidgwick in Notes and Queries, 10th Ser., iv. 84 (1905); reprinted thence in More Ancient Carols (Shakespeare Head Press Booklets, No. V., 1906), in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii. 300 (1906), by Gummere, The Popular Ballad, 228 (1907), and by Gerould, Publications Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Amer., 142 (1908). Nine verses=36 lines. B. (Gerould II.). A fragment contributed by C. F. S. to Notes and Queries, 4th Ser., i. 53 (1868), with a request for the complete form. First and last verses (with prose description of the remainder) = 8 lines of verse. 1 C. (= Gerould III.). Our Saviour Tarried Out. Communicated by Dr. R. Vaughan-Williams, as noted in 1905 from the singing of Mr. Hunt, a native of Sussex (where he learnt it), at Wimbledon, to the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii. 205, with tune. Eight verses=32 lines. D. (Gerould IV.). The Sally Twigs, or The Bitter Withy. Noted in 1904 by Mrs. Leather in Herefordshire. The last three verses communicated by her to the Journ. F.-S. Soc., ii. 302, incorporated in Miss Broadwood's note on texts A and C. The whole version first printed by Gerould. Seven verses (with prose description of one forgotten verse) = 28 lines. Before proceeding, the correspondence of the verses in the above four texts may conveniently be noted: B first A1; B last = A 9. = C 1, 2 = A 1, 2 ; C 3, 4 A 3; C5 A6; C7, 8 = A 8, 9. = A 8, 9. 1 Prof. Gerould is wrong in attributing the recording of the words to Miss Broadwood, who tells me that Dr. Vaughan-Williams noted them. She however wrote the notes in the Journal, ii. 300-4, incorporating the I may also mention at this point that upon the publication of A in Notes and Queries as above, I received a letter from Mr. Hubert Smith of Leamington, informing me that he had taken down "some years since" a version of The Bitter Withy from a fisherman, who learnt it from his grandmother; she lived in Corvedale, Shropshire, but probably learnt the carol in Herefordshire. I should also mention here another text, referred to by Prof. Gerould in a footnote (p. 144). This was sent me in a private letter from Stratford-on-Avon, as copied from tradition at Bidford, a village near Stratford. As it was only roughly noted, I applied for a full and correct copy, but this has not yet arrived. The draft corresponds closely to the known Herefordshire versions. I have lately obtained several new texts as follows. On Dec. 21, 1907, the Hereford Times printed a letter of mine asking for versions of the carol. I chose Herefordshire, as it will be seen that A and D (and perhaps Mr. Smith's version) came from that county. I gave only a prose narration of the story, and the usual instructions for securing faithful record; the result was most gratifying. Within a week or two I received fifteen communications, including ten texts. Six of these are clearly the normal form of the modern Hereford "Bitter Withy," and closely resemble A. The other four show confusion with the similar (but, I think, separate) carol of The Holy Well; one of these four must be ruled out, as it is obviously not genuine-it begins, "The dew had fallen one lovely morn, And bright came on the day." I proceed to give particulars of these E texts. E. Six normal "Bitter Withy" Texts, recorded 1907-8. a. Written down by G. J. Brimfield, Winforton; Dec. 23, 1907; learnt from his grandfather thirty years ago: "I have the same tune in my head as he used to sing. I never saw it in print." b. Written down by W. Holder, Withington; Dec. 23, 1907; "being 62 years of age, at the age of 10 I learnt this carol from my mother" in Herefordshire; "I can sing the carol in the old tune." c. Written down by Pattie Leaper, Grafton; "my brother sent me this bowl carried round on old Xmas Eve. You will see the word tender (82) was omitted, but I remember quite well it was in the carol."-Jan. 15, 1908. d. Written down by James Layton, King's Pyon, Weobley; Jan. 8, 1908; he also had the tune noted by the local organist. "It has always gone, too, about this part." e. Written down by Arthur James Brookes, Withington, from the singing of his father Charles Brookes, aged 75; Dec. 26, 1907; "he used to sing it as a lad; he learnt it about 60 years ago; I am sending the exact words he tells me whether correct or not." f. Written down by James Hill, King's Thorne; Dec. 23, 1907; “I have wrote it out as I had it wrote out for me about 25 years ago. The last two lines of the verse to be sung over the second time." All these were entitled The Bitter Withy except d, The Bitter Withies. The confusion with the carol of The Holy Well is due to the fact that both this and The Bitter Withy begin with two similar verses. For the present purpose I shall only say that I regard any version of The Bitter Withy1 which mentions the "Holy Well" as contaminated by the other carol.2 The three genuine mixed texts I call: x. Written down by Richard Innes, Hentland, near Ross; Dec. 23, 1907; "age 55 years, learnt when a boy by my mother, her age is now in her 97 or 98 year, and she learnt it when she was a girl." y. Written down by S. Brooks from the singing of his father James Brooks, aged 55, Swainshill; Dec. 24, 1907. Mr. Brooks learnt it in Herefordshire when he was young. 2. Written down by Jessie Preece, Withington, from the singing of her mother; Dec. 25, 1907; “my mother learned it about 40 years ago; it was all the go then at Cowarne, Herefordshire. . . . We were singing it at home last week." Taking Sandys' text (Christmas Carols, 149) of The Holy Well as standard, I allot the verses in these three texts thus: x. 1, 2 belong to both; 3, 4 to H. W.; 5-10 to B. W. y. 1, 2 belong to both; 3-5 to H.W.; 6 to B. W.; 7 (first four lines) to H. W.; 7 (last four lines)-11 to B. W. [6 has six lines, 7 has eight.] z. 1, 2 belong to both; 3 to H. W.; 4-9 to B. W. 1 Except Ed33, where it seems to be quite accidental. 2 When I first printed The Bitter Withy in Notes and Queries, I mentioned that "the first part of the story is well-known in the carol commonly called 'The Holy Well.'" Miss Broadwood in her notes in F.S.S. Journal, ii. 303, prints as a B. W. variant a version of H. W. from Howitt's Rural |