ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how bifurcations beyond the double etymology of the term come to bear in the tale of Tannakin Skinker, the hog-faced woman. An instance of one such multi-valenced monster literally traveling to the populace of England at this time is that of Tannakin Skinker. In 1639, a woman named Skinker crossed the channel from "Wirkham a neuter towne between the Emperour and the Hollander". After detailing several unsuccessful comical attempts on the parts of suitors to get Skinker's deformity, the author of the pamphlet uses John Gower's "Tale of Florent" as an illustration of the benefits of marrying a supposedly unsuitable wife. If the ballad extends the xenophobia present in the pamphlet all the way to the cause of Skinker's deformity, the pamphlet relies on a more universal cause for Skinker's affliction: a rich woman's spurning of a poor woman and her children.
