Chapter VII: Nix Nought Nothing

_Source_.--From a Scotch tale, “Nicht Nought Nothing,” collected by Mr. Andrew Lang in Morayshire, published by him first in _Revue Celtique_, t. iii; then in his _Custom and Myth_, p. 89; and again in _Folk-Lore_, Sept. 1890. I have changed the name so as to retain the _équivoque_ of the giant's reply to the King. I have also inserted the incidents of the flight, the usual ones in tales of this type, and expanded the conclusion, which is very curtailed and confused in the original. The usual ending of tales of this class contains the “sale of bed” incident, for which see Child, i. 391.

_Parallels_.--Mr. Lang, in the essay “A Far-travelled Tale” in which he gives the story, mentions several variants of it, including the classical myth of Jason and Medea. A fuller study in Cosquin, _l.c._, ii. 12-28. For the finger ladder, see Köhler, in _Orient and Occident_, ii. III.