My Own Self, Me Aan Sel or Ainsel is a Northumbrian fairy tale collected by the folklorist Joseph Jacobs. A version of the tale appears in Scottish Folk Tales by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1137 (Self Did It), similar to the encounter between Odysseus and Polyphemus,. [1] The story tells how a fairy is outsmarted by a human child through clever wordplay.
A widow lived with her son in a cottage with many "Good Folk" (elves or fairies) living about it. One night her son would not go to bed, so she went to sleep on her own. A small fairy girl came down the chimney and told him that her name was "My Own Self", and the boy told her that he was "Just my own self too." They played together for a time, and when he stirred up the fire a spark landed on her foot and made her cry out. Her mother's voice came down the chimney, demanding to know what had happened, and the girl said "Just my own self" had burned her foot. Her mother told her that if she herself did it then she shouldn't make such a fuss about it, and a long arm came down the chimney to pull the girl back up. The boy was so frightened that he learned his lesson and went to bed when his mother told him to. [2]
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally published in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910), the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson, and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU index is an essential tool for folklorists, used along with the Thompson (1932)Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.
"The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was" or "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" is a German folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales. The tale was also included by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book (1889).
"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.
The Three Heads in the Well is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.
The Rose-Tree is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.
Rushen Coatie or Rashin-Coatie is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his More English Fairy Tales.
"The Robber Bridegroom" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 40. Joseph Jacobs included a variant, Mr Fox, in English Fairy Tales, but the original provenance is much older; Shakespeare alludes to the Mr. Fox variant in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1:
The Battle of the Birds is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He recorded it in 1859 from a fisherman near Inverary, John Mackenzie and was, at the time, building dykes on the Ardkinglas estate.
Fair, Brown and Trembling is an Irish fairy tale collected by Jeremiah Curtin in Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland and Joseph Jacobs in his Celtic Fairy Tales.
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his Celtic Fairy Tales. It is Aarne-Thompson type 709, Snow White. Others of this type include Bella Venezia, Nourie Hadig, La petite Toute-Belle and Myrsina.
The Armless Maiden is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.
Molly Whuppie is an English language fairy tale set in Scotland. It was first published in 'Three Folk-Tales from Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire' in "Folklore" (6.2.1884). Rev. Walter Gregor said that the tales had been 'communicated to me by Mr. Moir, Rector of the Grammar School, Aberdeen. He had them from his mother, who kindly wrote out " Mally Whuppie " and " The Red Calf" at my request.' Anglicising the name to "Molly" from "Mally" Joseph Jacobs used this source of the story in his English Fairy Tales. A Highland version, Maol a Chliobain, was collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands. Jacobs noted the relationship between the two tales, and an Irish variant, "Smallhead," and concluded that the tale was Celtic in origin.
The King of England and his Three Sons is a Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales. He listed as his source Francis Hindes Groome's In Gypsy Tents, where the informant was John Roberts, a Welsh Roma. Groome published the tale as An Old King and his three Sons in England.
The Old Witch is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, More English Fairy Tales. It is also included within A Book of Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner. Neil Watkins has researched the story of ‘The Old Witch’. In "The Watkins Book of English Folktales" PP.55-60 Watkins records that the story was told by a nine year old girl called Nora to Ellen Chase in Deptford in 1892. Ellen Chase gave her copy of the story to Mrs Gomme, who then sent it to Joseph Jacobs. Watkins notes that “It is at once clear that the Gomme/Jacobs text is a radical revision of the original, rather than a slight brushing-up for publication.” Chase’s original notes were published in FLS News as ‘The Witch and her Servant’ and is re-produced in Watkins pp.58-59.
The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener is an Irish fairy tale collected by Patrick Kennedy in Fireside Stories of Ireland. Joseph Jacobs included it in More Celtic Fairy Tales.
The Blue Belt is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr. It is Aarne-Thompson type 590.
The Well of the World's End is an Anglo-Scottish Border fairy tale, recorded in the Scottish Lowlands, collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales. His source was The Complaynt of Scotland, and he notes the tale's similarity to the German Frog Prince. Like that tale, it is Aarne-Thompson type 440, "The Frog King" or "Iron Henry".
"The Pink" or "The Carnation" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale number 76.
"Mossycoat" is a fairy tale published by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth Tongue in Folktales of England. It appears in A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner. and Small-Tooth Dog by Kevin Crossley-Holland. The story known by folklorists was collected by researcher T. W. Thompson from teller Taimi Boswell, a Romani, at Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, January 9, 1915.
Lady Featherflight is an American fairy tale first published in 1891, by W. W. Newell, and collected from an oral source in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the tale, a traveler is offered hospitality by Lady Featherflight, a giant's daughter. He is forced to perform a number of tasks for her father, but Featherflight offers him assistance through her control over birds. They eventually elope and steal her father's treasure.
