ABSTRACT
All the English variants, to our knowledge, belong to the third group. The only Scots variant belonging to this group identifies the beggar as ‘Davie Faa\ In ‘The Farm er and the Tinker’ , collected by Sharp in Bam pton, O xfordshire (Sharp M SS, printed in Bronson), the beggar is called ‘David Fore’ . It would seem obvious that these names refer to a single character, a descendant perhaps o f that Faa who, in 1540, obtained from Jam es V o f Scotland a decree granting gypsies various rights and privileges.
