LII. TOM HICKATHRIFT
_Source._--From the Chap-book, _c._ 1660, in the Pepysian Library,
edited for the Villon Society by Mr. G.L. Gomme. Mr. Nutt, who kindly
abridged it for me, writes, "Nothing in the shape of incident has been
omitted, and there has been no rewriting beyond a phrase here and there
rendered necessary by the process of abridgment. But I have in one case
altered the sequence of events putting the fight with the giant last."
_Parallels._--There are similar adventures of giants in Hunt's Cornish
_Drolls_. Sir Francis Palgrave (_Quart. Rev._, vol. xxi.), and after
him, Mr. Gomme, have drawn attention to certain similarities with the
Grettir Saga, but they do not extend beyond general resemblances of
great strength. Mr. Gomme, however, adds that the cartwheel "plays a not
unimportant part in English folk-lore as a representative of old runic
faith" (Villon Soc. edition, p. xv.).
_Remarks._--Mr. Gomme, in his interesting Introduction, points out
several indications of considerable antiquity for the legend, various
expressions in the Pepysian Chap-book ("in the marsh of the Isle of
Ely," "good ground"), indicating that it could trace back to the
sixteenth century.
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