Note 902 — PART IV. From the Reformation to the present time. (continued 4)

Two Irishmen, as the story goes, served in the German or imperial army during a war with the Turks. One of them, in a skirmish with some Tartars, was by one of them overpowered and taken prisoner. Upon which he called out to his comrade, “By Jasus, I have caught a Tartar!” “Very well,” said the other, “bring him away then;’” “he wont come,” answered paddy; “then come yourself,” replied his comrade; “arrah now, my dear honey,” cried he, “but he wont let me.” Hence the origin of the proverbial saying, when a sharper has been overmatched, that he has catched a tartar.