Note 25 — Chapter V · NORTH TIROL—UNTERINNTHAL. (LEFT INN-BANK.)

A similar fact for the comparative mythologist is recorded p. 123–4, in the case of the Bienerweible. While these sheets were preparing for the press, a singular one nearer home was brought under my notice. A little girl being asked at a national school examination, ‘What David was before he was made king?’ answered, ‘Jack the Giant-killer.’ This is a noteworthy instance of the hold of myths on the popular mind; it did not proceed from defective instruction, for the school is one of the very first in its reports, and the child not at all backward.