Chapter XLIX: Yallery Brown

_Source._--Mrs. Balfour's "Legends of the Lincolnshire Fens," in _Folk-Lore_, ii. It was told to Mrs. Balfour by a labourer, who professed to be the hero of the story, and related it in the first person. I have given him a name, and changed the narration into the oblique narration, and toned down the dialect.

_Parallels._--"Tiddy Mun," the hero of another of Mrs. Balfour's legends (_l.c._, p. 151) was "none bigger 'n a three years old bairn," and had no proper name.

_Remarks._--One might almost suspect Mrs. Balfour of being the victim of a piece of invention on the part of her autobiographical informant. But the scrap of verse, especially in its original dialect, has such a folkish ring that it is probable he was only adapting a local legend to his own circumstances.