INTRODUCTION.--The law of England regards marriage as a contract, a status and an institution. As a contract it is in its essence an expressed consent on the part of a man and woma...
From the German of Grimm. A poor woodcutter lived with his wife and three daughters in a little hut on the borders of a great forest. One morning as he was going to his work, he sa...
Old Wang lived in a village near Nanking. He cared for nothing in the world but to eat good food and plenty of it. Now, though this Wang was by no means a poor man, it made him ver...
THE STORY OF A PRINCE WHO CLIMBED THE GLASS HILL Once upon a time there was an aged king who had an only son. One day he called the prince to him and said: "My son, you see that my...
On the third day of October, 1910, King Manuel II. of Portugal was dethroned and a Republic was proclaimed throughout the country. At the present time the affairs of the Republic a...
Our collection of vernacular scraps, which, like the "brave beggars of Coudingham fair," have been gathered from the lanes and by-ways, is now brought to a conclusion. They are, it...
I. This happened not long ago, in the reign of Alexander II., in our days of civilization, progress, questions, regeneration of Russia, and so forth, and so forth; at a time when t...
Boys have a very curious saying respecting the reflection of the sun's beams from the surface of water upon a ceiling, which they call "Jack-a-dandy beating his wife with a stick o...
An inferior version of the following, which was obtained from Essex, is printed in Mr. Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland, ed. 1847, p. 190. A Swedish version, or rather a varia...
The three swam slowly along, quite enjoying the cool depths of the water. Every little while they met with some strange creature--or one that seemed strange to the earth people--fo...
Once upon a time there were Three Bears, who lived together in a house of their own in a wood. One of them was a Little, Small, Wee Bear; and one was a Middle-sized Bear, and the o...
Collop Monday, Pancake Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Bludee Thursday, Friday's lang, but will be dune, And hey for Saturday afternune! Verses for Shrove-tide, Collop-Monday being a North...
THE Boots at the Holly Tree Inn was the young man named Cobbs, who blacked the shoes, and ran errands, and waited on the people at the inn; and this is the story that he told, one...
When with panniers astride A pack-horse can ride Through St. Levan's stone, The world will be done. St. Levan's stone is a great rock in the churchyard of St. Levan, co. Cornwall.
Once upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a Brahman who had two twin sons. While they were still quite young, the twins' parents died, and their relatives s...
Children stand round in a circle, leaving a space between each. One walks round the outside, and carries a glove in her hand, saying, I've a glove in my hand, Hittity Hot! Another...
Eccleshall version, played as a game by the schoolgirls. See the Nursery Rhymes of England, p. 114. Suitors. Here come two dukes all out of Spain, A courting to your daughter Jane....
A pie sat on a pear tree, A pie sat on a pear tree, A pie sat on a pear tree, Heigh ho! heigh ho! heigh ho! These lines are sung by a person at the table after dinner. His next nei...
Cook a ball, cherry-tree; Good ball, tell me How many years I shall be Before my true love I do see? One and two, and that makes three; Thank'ee, good ball for telling of me. Cook...
At the Westgate came Thornton in With a hap, a halfpenny, and a lambskin. A Newcastle distich relating to Roger Thornton, a wealthy merchant, and a great benefactor to that town. A...
"I say, Jack, what do you think; I am going to join the Boy Scouts." "What is that, Tom? I don't know anything about Boy Scouts. Is it something new? You are always starting some n...
This division, like the last, might be greatly extended by references to Ray and Grose.
BY CROFTON CROKER There lived not long since, on the borders of the county Tipperary, a decent honest couple, whose names were Mick Flannigan and Judy Muldoon. These poor people we...
AROUND a lordly old mansion was a beautiful, well-kept garden, full of all kinds of rare trees and flowers. Guests always expressed their delight and admiration at the sight of its...
Trot dreamed that she was at home in her own bed, but the night seemed chilly and she wanted to draw the coverlet up to her chin. She was not wide awake, but realized that she was...
Jofuku was the Wise Man of China. Many books he read, and he never forgot what was in them. All the characters he knew as he knew the lines in the palm of his hand. He learned secr...
The most obvious method of arranging the rhymes employed in the amusements of children is to commence with the simple lines used by the nurse in the infantine toe, finger, and face...
An old custom, formerly in vogue at Wenlock, in Shropshire, thus described by Mr. Collins: "I am old enough to remember an old custom, and the last time it took place was about six...
It is a custom in some parts of England for boys to go round the village on Easter eve begging for eggs or money, and a sort of dramatic song is sometimes used on the occasion. The...
Once upon a time there lived a man who dwelt with his wife in a little hut, far away from any neighbours. But they did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it...