) No. 18. From one of these I am in the fortunate position of
giving the names of the _dramatis personae_ of this domestic tragedy.
Androgus was the wicked uncle, Pisaurus his brother who married Eugenia,
and their children in the wood were Cassander and little Kate. The
ruffians were appropriately named Rawbones and Woudkill. According to a
writer in _3 Notes and Queries_, ix., 144, the traditional burial-place
of the children is pointed out in Norfolk. The ballad was known before
Percy, as it is mentioned in the _Spectator_, Nos. 80 and 179.
_Remarks_.--The only "fairy" touch--but what a touch!--the pall of
leaves collected by the robins.
LXIX. THE HOBYAHS
_Source._--_American Folk-Lore Journal_, iii., 173, contributed by Mr.
S.V. Proudfit as current in a family deriving from Perth.
_Remarks._--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no
more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they
were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus.
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