CHAPTER VII.

THE THREE GREAT NOODLES.

EW folk- tales are more widelydiffused than that of the man whoset out in quest of as great noodlesas those of his own household.The details may be varied more or less, butthe fundamental outline is identical, wher-ever the story is found; and, whether it be aninstance of the transmission of popular talesfrom one country to another, or one of those" primitive Glossar ::: zum Glossareintrag  primitive fictions" which are said to be thecommon heritage of the Aryans, its independ-ent development by different nations and indifferent ages cannot be reasonably main-tained.

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Thus, in one Gaelic version of this divert- Campbell, I 388ing story in which our old friends theGothamites reappear on the scene to enacttheir unconscious drolleries- a lad marries afarmer's daughter, and one day while they areall busily engaged in peat- cutting, she is sent