_Source_.--Henderson, _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, first edition, p. 343, communicated by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould. The rhymes on the open book have been supplied by Mr. Batten, in whose family, if I understand him rightly, they have been long used for raising the----; something similar occurs in Halliwell, p. 243, as a riddle rhyme. The mystic signs in Greek are a familiar “counting-out rhyme”: these have been studied in a monograph by Mr. H. C. Bolton; he thinks they are “survivals” of incantations. Under the circumstances, it would be perhaps as well if the reader did not read the lines out when alone. One never knows what may happen. _Parallels_.--Sorcerers' pupils seem to be generally selected for their stupidity--in folk-tales. Friar Bacon was defrauded of his labour in producing the Brazen Head in a similar way. In one of the legends about Virgil he summoned a number of demons, who would have torn him to pieces if he had not set them at work (J. S. Tunison, _Master Virgil_, Cincinnati, 1888, p. 30). XVI. TATTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE. _Source_.--Halliwell, p. 115. _Parallels_.--This curious droll is extremely widespread; references are given in Cosquin, i. 204 _seq._, and Crane, _Italian Popular Tales_, 375-6. As a specimen I may indicate what is implied throughout these notes by such bibliographical references by drawing up a list of the variants of this tale noticed by these two authorities, adding one or two lately printed. Various versions have been discovered in: ENGLAND: Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 115. SCOTLAND: K. Blind, in _Arch. Rev_. iii. (“Fleakin and Lousikin,” in the Shetlands). FRANCE: _Mélusine_, 1877, col. 424; Sebillot, _Contes pop. de la Haute Bretagne_, No. 55, _Litterature orale_, p. 232; _Magasin picturesque_, 1869, p. 82; Cosquin, _Contes pop. de Lorraine_, Nos. 18 and 74. ITALY: Pitrè, _Novelline popolari siciliane_, No. 134 (translated in Crane, _Ital. Pop. Tales_, p. 257); Imbriani, _La novellaja Fiorentina_, p. 244; Bernoni, _Tradizione popolari veneziane_, punt. iii. p. 81; Gianandrea, _Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari marchigiane_, p.,11; Papanti, _Novelline popolari livornesi_, p. 19 (“Vezzino e Madonna Salciccia”); Finamore, _Trad. pop. abruzzesi_, p. 244; Morosi, _Studi sui Dialetti Greci della Terra d'Otranto_, p. 75; _Giamb. Basile_, 1884, p. 37. GERMANY: Grimm, _Kinder-und Hausmärchen_, No. 30; Kuhn and Schwarz, _Norddeutsche Sagen_, No. 16. NORWAY: Asbjornsen, No. 103 (translated in Sir G. Dasent's _Tales from the Field_, p. 30, “Death of Chanticleer”). SPAIN: Maspons, _Cuentos populars catalans_, p. 12; Fernan Caballero, _Cuentos y sefrañes populares_, p. 3 (“La Hormiguita”). PORTUGAL: Coelho, _Contes popolares portuguezes_, No. 1. ROUMANIA: Kremnitz, _Rumänische Mährchen_, No. 15. ASIA MINOR: Von Hahn, _Griechische und Albanesische Märchen_, No. 56. INDIA: Steel and Temple, _Wide-awake Stories_, p. 157 (“The Death and Burial of Poor Hen-Sparrow”).