OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# More English Fairy Tales/The Three Wishes

See note to tale 65
The Three Wishes
ONCE upon a time, and be sure 'twas a long time ago, there lived a poor woodman in a great forest, and every day of his life he went out to fell timber. So one day he started out, and the goodwife filled his wallet and slung his bottle on his back, that he might have meat and drink in the forest. He had marked out a huge old oak, which, thought he, would furnish many and many a good plank. And when he was come to it, he took his axe in his hand and swung it round his head as though he were minded to fell the tree at one stroke. But he hadn't given one blow, when what should he hear but the pitifullest entreating, and there stood before him a fairy who prayed and beseeched him to spare the tree. He was dazed, as you may fancy, with wonderment and affright, and he couldn't ​open his mouth to utter a word. But he found his tongue at last, and, "Well," said he, "I'll e'en do as thou wishest."
"You've done better for yourself than you know," answered the fairy, "and to show I'm not ungrateful, I'll grant you your next three wishes, be they what they may." And therewith the fairy was no more to be seen, and the woodman slung his wallet over his shoulder and his bottle at his side, and off he started home.
But the way was long, and the poor man was regularly dazed with the wonderful thing that had befallen him, and when he got home there was nothing in his noddle but the wish to sit down and rest. Maybe, too, 'twas a trick of the fairy's. Who can tell? Anyhow down he sat by the blazing fire, and as he sat he waxed hungry, though it was a long way off supper-time yet.
"Hasn't thou naught for supper, dame?" said he to his wife.
"Nay, not for a couple of hours yet," said she.
"Ah!" groaned the woodman, "I wish I'd a good link of black pudding here before me."
No sooner had he said the word, when clatter, clatter, rustle, rustle, what should come down the chimney but a link of the finest black pudding the heart of man could wish for.
If the woodman stared, the goodwife stared three times as much. "What's all this?" says she.
Then all the morning's work came back to the woodman, and he told his tale right out, from beginning to end, and as he told it the goodwife glowered and glowered, and when he had made an end of it she burst out, "Thou ​bee'st but a fool, Jan, thou bee'st but a fool; and I wish the pudding were at thy nose, I do indeed."
And before you could say Jack Robinson, there the goodman sat and his nose was the longer for a noble link of black pudding.
He gave a pull but it stuck, and she gave a pull but it stuck, and they both pulled till they had nigh pulled the nose off, but it stuck and stuck.
"What's to be done now?" said he.
"'Tisn't so very unsightly," said she, looking hard at him.
Then the woodman saw that if he wished, he must need wish in a hurry; and wish he did, that the black pudding might come off his nose. Well! there it lay in a dish on the table, and if the goodman and goodwife didn't ride in a golden coach, or dress in silk and satin, why they had at least as fine a black pudding for their supper as the heart of man could desire.
# More English Fairy Tales/The Three Cows

See note to tale 60
The Three Cows
THERE was a farmer, and he had three cows; fine fat beauties they were. One was called Facey, the other Diamond, and the third Beauty. One morning he went into his cowshed, and there he found Facey so thin that the wind would have blown her away. Her skin hung loose about her, all her flesh was gone, and she stared out of her great eyes as though she'd seen a ghost; and what was more, the fireplace in the kitchen was one great pile of wood-ash. Well, he was bothered with it; he could not see how all this had come about.
Next morning his wife went out to the shed, and see! Diamond was for all the world as wisht a looking creature as Facey—nothing but a bag of bones, all the flesh gone, and half a rick of wood was gone too; but the fireplace was piled up three feet high with white wood-ashes. The farmer determined to watch the third night; so he hid in a closet which opened out of the parlour, and he left the door just ajar, that he might see what passed.
Tick, tick, went the clock, and the farmer was nearly ​tired of waiting; he had to bite his little finger to keep himself awake, when suddenly the door of his house flew open, and in rushed maybe a thousand pixies, laughing and dancing and dragging at Beauty's halter till they had brought the cow into the middle of the room. The farmer really thought he should have died with fright, and so perhaps he would had not curiosity kept him alive.
Tick, tick, went the clock, but he did not hear it now. He was too intent staring at the pixies and his last beautiful cow. He saw them throw her down, fall on
her, and kill her; then with their knives they ripped her open, and flayed her as clean as a whistle. Then out ran some of the little people and brought in firewood and made a roaring blaze on the hearth, and there they cooked the flesh of the cow—they baked and they boiled, they stewed and they fried.
"Take care," cried one, who seemed to be the king, "let no bone be broken."
Well, when they had all eaten, and had devoured every scrap of beef on the cow, they began playing games with the bones, tossing them one to another. ​One little leg-bone fell close to the closet-door, and the farmer was so afraid lest the pixies should come there and find him in their search for the bone, that he put out his hand and drew it in to him. Then he saw the king stand on the table and say, "Gather the bones!"
Round and round flew the imps, picking up the bones. "Arrange them," said the king; and they placed them all in their proper positions in the hide of the cow. Then they folded the skin over them, and the king struck the heap of bone and skin with his rod. Whisht! up sprang the cow and lowed dismally. It was alive again; but, alas! as the pixies dragged it back to its stall, it halted in the off forefoot, for a bone was missing.
"The cock crew, Away they flew,"
and the farmer crept trembling to bed.
# More English Fairy Tales/The Wee, Wee Mannie

See note to tale 80
The Wee, Wee Mannie
ONCE upon a time, when all big folks were wee ones and all lies were true, there was a wee, wee Mannie that had a big, big Coo. And out he went to milk her of a morning, and said—
"Hold still, my Coo, my hinny, Hold still, my hinny, my Coo, And ye shall have for your dinner What but a milk white doo."
But the big, big Coo wouldn't hold still. "Hout!" said the wee, wee Mannie—
"Hold still, my Coo, my dearie, And fill my bucket wi' milk, And if ye'll be no contrairy I'll gi'e ye a gown o' silk."
But the big, big Coo wouldn't hold still. "Look at that, now!" said the wee, wee Mannie—
"What's a wee, wee mannie to do, Wi' such a big contrairy Coo?"
​So off he went to his mother at the house. "Mother," said he, "Coo won't stand still, and wee, wee Mannie can't milk big, big Coo."
"Hout!" says his mother, "take stick and beat Coo." So off he went to get a stick from the tree, and said—
"Break, stick, break, And I'll gi'e ye a cake."
But the stick wouldn't break, so back he went to the house. "Mother," says he, "Coo won't hold still, stick won't break, wee, wee Mannie can't beat big, big Coo."
"Hout!" says his mother, "go to the Butcher and bid him kill Coo."
So off he went to the Butcher, and said—
"Butcher, kill the big, big Coo, She'll gi'e us no more milk noo."
But the Butcher wouldn't kill the Coo without a silver penny, so back the Mannie went to the house. "Mother," says he, "Coo won't hold still, stick won't break, Butcher won't kill without a silver penny, and wee, wee Mannie can't milk big, big Coo."
"Well," said his mother, "go to the Coo and tell her there's a weary, weary lady with long yellow hair weeping for a cup o' milk."
So off he went and told the Coo, but she wouldn't hold still, so back he went and told his mother.
"Well," said she, "tell the Coo there's a fine, fine laddie from the wars sitting by the weary, weary lady with golden hair, and she weeping for a sup o' milk."
So off he went and told the Coo, but she wouldn't hold still, so back he went and told his mother.
​"Well," said his mother, "tell the big, big Coo there's a sharp, sharp sword at the belt of the fine, fine laddie from the wars who sits beside the weary, weary lady with the golden hair, and she weeping for a sup o' milk."
And he told the big, big Coo, but she wouldn't hold still.
Then said his mother, "Run quick and tell her that her head's going to be cut off by the sharp, sharp sword in the hands of the fine, fine laddie, if she doesn't give the sup o' milk the weary, weary lady weeps for."
And wee, wee Mannie went off and told the big, big Coo.
And when Coo saw the glint of the sharp, sharp sword in the hand of the fine, fine laddie come from the wars, and the weary, weary lady weeping for a sup o' milk, she reckoned she'd better hold still; so wee, wee Mannie milked big, big Coo, and the weary, weary lady with the golden hair hushed her weeping and got her sup o' milk, and the fine, fine laddie new come from the wars put by his sharp, sharp sword, and all went well that didn't go ill.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Baird, Spencer Fullerton

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​BAIRD, Spencer Fullerton, LL.D., born at Reading, Pennsylvania, Feb. 3, 1823. He was educated at Dickinson College, where he became Professor of Natural Science in 1846. In 1855 he was appointed Assistant-Secretary to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, and on the death of Professor Henry, in 1878, succeeded him as Secretary. He is editor and translator of the "Iconographic Encyclopædia," New York, 1851; is author of various papers on zoology, and of reports on natural history-collections made by Captains Stansbury and Marcy, and Lieutenant Gilliss, the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, and the Pacific Railroad Survey. He has also published, in conjunction with John Cassin, "The Birds of North America" (2 vols., 1860); and "The Mammals of North America," 1861, and in connection with Charles Girard, a "Catalogue of Serpents in North America," 1862. In 1864 he commenced a work upon the birds of the New World generally, under the title, "Review of American Birds in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution." He has, for several years, been engaged in the preparation of a new account of the birds of North America, in which he is assisted by Dr. T. M. Brewer, of Boston. In 1871 he was appointed by the President, United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, for the purpose of making inquiries into the causes of the decrease of the food fishes of the United States, and the methods of restoring them. He has published in various scientific periodicals, and in the reports, of the Smithsonian Institution, numerous papers upon the mammals, birds, and fishes of North America. He has also several years furnished to Harper's Magazine, a monthly résumé of the progress of science, and prepared an annual volume describing the advances made in science during the year.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Balfour, John Blair

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​BALFOUR, The Right Hon. John Blair, Q.C., is the son of the late Rev. Peter Balfour, minister of Clackmannan, by Jane Ramsay, daughter of Mr. John Blair of Perth. He was born at Clackmannan in 1837, and was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the University of Edinburgh. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1861, and was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland on the formation of Mr. Gladstone's Administration in 1880. Mr. Balfour entered Parliament as M.P. for the counties of Clackmannan and Kinross, in November, 1880, in the place of the late Mr. W. P. Adam, on the appointment of the latter as Governor of Madras. In Aug., 1881, he was appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland in the room of Mr. McLaren, who had been raised to the judicial bench. Mr. Balfour has been twice married—first, in 1869, to Lilias Oswald, daughter of Lord Mackenzie (a Judge of Session of Scotland); and, secondly, in 1877, to the Hon. Marianne Eliza Wellwood-Moncreiff, youngest daughter of Lord Moncreiff, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Balfour, John Hutton

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​BALFOUR, John Hutton, M.D., F.R.S. L. and E., F.L.S., LL.D. Edin., Glasg. & St. Andrews, Hon. M.R.H.S., late Professor of Medicine and Botany in the University of Edinburgh, and late Regius Keeper ​of the Royal Botanic Garden, and late Queen's Botanist for Scotland, related to Dr. James Hutton, author of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, was born Sept. 15, 1808. He took the degree of M.A. in the University of Edinburgh, and that of M.D. in 1831, and was Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow from 1841 to 1845. He is the author of the "Manual of Botany," "Phyto-Theology, or Botany and Religion," "The Classbook of Botany," "Outlines of Botany," "The Plants of Scripture," "The Botanist's Companion," "Elements of Botany for Schools," "Illustrations of Botany, by means of large coloured Drawings, with Handbook," "First Book of Botany, suited for Beginners," 1872; "Introduction to the Study of Palæontological Botany," 1872; and "Second Book of Botany," 1873. He contributed the article on Botany to the 8th and 9th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and papers to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Botanical Society. Dr. Balfour is a member of many learned societies on the Continent, is a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was for thirty years (up to 1877) Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh in that city, and is now an assessor of that University.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bailey, John Eglington

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​BAILEY, John Eglington, F.S.A., born Feb. 13, 1840, at Edgbaston, near Birmingham, was educated at Boteler's Free Grammar School, Warrington, and Owens College, Manchester. For many years he has been connected with the Manchester branch of the large mercantile firm of Messrs. Ralli Brothers. In 1876 he was appointed a member of the Council of the Chetham Society, and is now its secretary. Mr. Bailey has published "The Life of Thomas Fuller, D.D., with Notices of his Books, his Kinsmen, and his Friends," 1874; a collection of Dr. Fuller's "Sermons," a "Memoir of Henry Clarke," 1877; and "Inventories of Church Goods of Lancashire, 1552" (for the Chetham Society), 1878. Amongst other tracts he has edited the "Manchester al Mondo" of the first Earl of Manchester (1638). He has also contributed a large number of papers to local and other journals, relating to biography, history, and bibliography, and mostly connected with Lancashire and Cheshire. The "Bibliographical History of Shorthand," perhaps his most interesting work, still remains in MS. In 1881 Mr. Bailey established The Palatine Note-Book, an illustrated monthly antiquarian and bibliographical journal, circulating in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the North of England, which has been called the Notes and Queries of that district. It has contained a memoir of Dr. John Ferriar, and several other papers from his pen.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bailey, Philip James

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​BAILEY, Philip James, son of Thomas Bailey, author of the "Annals of Notts," who died in 1856, was born at Nottingham, April 22, 1816. Having been educated at various schools in his native town, he in 1831 matriculated at the University of Glasgow, where he studied for two sessions under Professors Buchanan, Sir D. K. Sandford, Thomson, and Milne. In 1833 he began to study the law, was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1835, and called to the bar in 1840. Having little inclination for legal pursuits, Mr. Bailey before this time had carried on an extensive and varied course of reading in the libraries of the British Museum and Lincoln's Inn, as well as in the privacy of home. He was accustomed to the composition of verse from early years. "Festus," conceived and planned originally in 1836, and published in 1839, was well received in this country and in America, where it has passed through very many editions. It reached its eighth edition in this country in 1868. "The Angel World," a poem afterwards incorporated with "Festus," appeared in 1850; another poem, "The Mystic," in 1855; "The Age," a satire, in 1858; and "The Universal Hymn," in 1867.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Balfour, Francis Maitland

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​BALFOUR, Francis Maitland, M.A., F.R.S., is a son of the late Mr. James Maitland Balfour, of Whittinghame, Preston-kirk, and was born in 1851. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated in the Natural Science Tripos in 1873, being placed second in the first class. He was elected a fellow of Trinity on the first occasion on which he was eligible—viz., ​in Oct., 1874. He at once took an active part in conjunction with Dr. Michael Foster in the prosecution of the study of biology, and very early obtained a high reputation, not only as a teacher, but as an original investigator. In 1878 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is now a member of the Council of that learned body. In Nov., 1881, he was awarded a Royal medal by that society, and the claims for that distinction are thus stated in the proceedings of the society:—"Mr. Balfour's investigations in embryology and comparative anatomy have placed him thus early in life in the front rank of original workers in these branches of science. His monograph upon the development of elasmobranch fishes, published in 1878, embodies the results of several years' labours, by which quite a new light has been thrown upon the development of several important organs in the vertebrata. More recently Mr. Balfour has published a most important work on comparative embryology in two large and fully illustrated volumes, which stands alone in biological literature, not only as an admirable and exhaustive summary of the present state of knowledge respecting the development of animals in general, but by reason of the vast amount and varied character of the original researches which are incorporated in its pages." In addition to the works above alluded to, Mr. Balfour has published in conjunction with Dr. Michael Foster "Elements of Embryology." He has also contributed a very large number of smaller memoirs to the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society, the Zoological Society, and the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. In 1880 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow. In 1881 he was elected President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. He is also one of the secretaries of the British Association. On May 31, 1882, he was elected Professor of Animal Morphology at Cambridge by an unanimous vote of the members of the electoral roll selected to fill the newly-established chair. The professorship was established by a grace of the Senate passed on May 11, 1882, by virtue of the provisions of the University Statute for the establishment of additional professors. The stipend attached to the chair is £300 per annum, and it is provided the professorship shall terminate with the tenure of office of the professor first elected unless the University shall decide that the professorship shall be continued.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bain, Alexander

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​BAIN, Alexander, LL.D., born at Aberdeen in 1818, entered Marischal College in 1836, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1840. From 1841 to 1844 he taught, as deputy, the class of Moral Philosophy in Marischal College; from 1844 to 1845, the Natural Philosophy Class. In 1845 he was elected Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Andersonian University, Glasgow, but retired at the end of a year. In 1847 he was appointed by the Metropolitan Sanitary Commissioners their Assistant-Secretary, and in 1848 became Assistant-Secretary to the General Board of Health, which post he resigned in 1850. From 1857 to 1862 he was Examiner in Logic and Moral Philosophy in the University of London. In 1858, 1859, 1860, 1863, 1864, 1868, and 1870, he acted as Examiner in Moral Science at the India Civil Service Examinations. In 1860 he was appointed, by the Crown, Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen. In 1864 he was re-elected Examiner in the University of London, and continued to hold that position till 1869. His first literary production was an article, in 1840, in the Westminster Review, to which he contributed at various times. In 1847–8 he wrote textbooks on Astronomy, Electricity, and Meteorology, in Messrs. Chambers's school series, several of Chambers's "Papers for the People," and the articles on Language, Logic, the Human Mind, and Rhetoric in the "Information for the People." In 1852 he published an edition of the "Moral Philosophy of Paley," with dissertations and notes. "The Senses and the Intellect" appeared in 1855, and "The Emotions and the Will," completing a systematic exposition of the human mind, in 1859. "The Study of Character, including an Estimate of Phrenology," was published in 1861, an English Grammar in 1863, and "Manual of English Composition and Rhetoric" in 1866. His more recent works are, "Mental and Moral Science," 1868; "Logic, Deductive and Inductive," 1870; "Mind and Body; Theories of their Relation," 1873; a collection of "The Minor Works of George Grote, with Critical Remarks on his Intellectual Character, Writings, and Speeches," 1873; "A Companion to the Higher English Grammar," 1874; "Education as a Science," 1879; "James Mill, a Biography," and "John Stuart Mill, a Criticism, with Personal Recollections," 1882. In 1880 he retired from the Logic chair of Aberdeen University. In 1881 he was elected, by the students, Lord Rector of the University.
# Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Baines, Edward

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​BAINES, Sir Edward, second son of the late Edward Baines (representative of the borough of Leeds in Parliament for seven years, 1834–41), and brother of the late Right Hon. M. T. Baines, M.P.. some time Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was born in 1800, and educated at the Protestant Dissenters' Grammar School, Manchester. For many years he was associated with his father as editor and proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, one of the most influential Liberal organs in the North of England; and he is the author of "The History of the Cotton Manufacture," "The Life of the late Edward Baines," "A Visit to the Vaudois of Piedmont," "The Woollen Manufacture of England," and other works bearing on the industrial progress and commerce of the nation. Sir E. Baines, who is President of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, was elected M.P. for Leeds in his brother's place in 1859, but he lost his seat at the general election of Feb. 1874. In 1861 his attempt to introduce into Parliament a bill to reduce the franchise in boroughs to £6 was defeated on a division by 245 to 193 votes. In 1864 and 1865 the ​measure was again rejected by the House of Commons. Mr. Baines was a member of the Schools Inquiry Commission (1865 to 1868), and a supporter of the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, and the Elementary Education Act of 1870. As one of the leading Dissenting members, he took an active part in opposition to Church Rates and University Tests, and in supporting the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill. He was also a decided friend of the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and every measure of Free Trade. In Dec. 1880, he received the honour of knighthood. He is a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.