Chapter XXIV: Golden Arm

_Source_.--Henderson, _l.c._, p. 338, collected by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in Devonshire. Mr. Burne-Jones remembers hearing it in his youth in Warwickshire.

_Parallels_.--The first fragment at the end of Grimm (ii. 467, of Mrs. Hunt's translation), tells of an innkeeper's wife who had used the liver of a man hanging on the gallows, whose ghost comes to her and tells her what has become of his hair, and his eyes, and the dialogue concludes

“SHE: Where is thy liver?
IT: Thou hast devoured it!”

For similar “surprise packets” see Cosquin, ii. 77.

_Remarks_.--It is doubtful how far such gruesome topics should be introduced into a book for children, but as a matter of fact the _katharsis_ of pity and terror among the little ones is as effective as among the spectators of a drama, and they take the same kind of pleasant thrill from such stories. They know it is all make-believe just as much as the spectators of a tragedy. Every one who has enjoyed the blessing of a romantic imagination has been trained up on such tales of wonder.