But their very familiarity and colloquialism make them remarkably effective with English-speaking little ones. The rhythmical phrases stick in their memories; they can remember the exact phraseology of the English tales much better, I find, than that of the Grimms' tales, or even of the Celtic stories. They certainly have the quality of coming home to English children. Perhaps this may be partly due to the fact that a larger proportion of the tales are of native manufacture. If the researches contained in my Notes are to be trusted only i.-ix., xi., xvii., xxii., xxv., xxvi., xxvii., xliv., l., liv., lv., lviii., lxi., lxii., lxv., lxvii., lxxviii., lxxxiv., lxxxvii. were imported; nearly all the remaining sixty are home produce, and have their roots in the hearts of the English people which naturally respond to them. In the following Notes, I have continued my practice of giving (1) _Source_ where I obtained the various tales. (2) _Parallels_, so far as possible, in full for the British Isles, with bibliographical references when they can be found; for occurrences abroad I generally refer to the list of incidents contained in my paper read before the International Folk-Lore Congress of 1891 and republished in the _Transactions_, 1892, pp. 87-98. (3) _Remarks_ where the tale seems to need them. I have mainly been on the search for signs of diffusion rather than of "survivals" of antiquarian interest, though I trust it will be found I have not neglected these. XLIV. THE PIED PIPER _Source._--Abraham Elder, _Tales and Legends of the Isle of Wight_ (London, 1839), pp. 157-164. Mr. Nutt, who has abridged and partly rewritten the story from a copy of Elder's book in his possession, has introduced a couple of touches from Browning. _Parallels._--The well-known story of the Pied Piper of Hameln (Hamelin), immortalised by Browning, will at once recur to every reader's mind. Before Browning, it had been told in English in books as well known as Verstegan's _Restitution of Decayed Intelligence_, 1605; Howell's _Familiar Letters_ (see my edition, p. 357, _n._); and Wanley's _Wonders of the Little World_. Browning is said to have taken it from the last source (Furnivall, _Browning Bibliography_, 158), though there are touches which seem to me to come from Howell (see my note _ad loc._), while it is not impossible he may have come across Elder's book, which was illustrated by Cruikshank. The Grimms give the legend in their _Deutsche Sagen_ (ed. 1816, 330-33), and in its native land it has given rise to an elaborate poem _à la_ Scheffel by Julius Wolff, which has in its turn been the occasion of an opera by Victor Nessler. Mrs. Gutch, in an interesting study of the myth in _Folk-Lore_ iii., pp. 227-52, quotes a poem, _The Sea Piece_, published by Dr. Kirkpatrick in 1750, as showing that a similar legend was told of the Cave Hill, Belfast.