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SOS - SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION
"THE PEDLAR OF SWAFFHAM" STORY AND SOURCES
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)

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1) It's "The Pedlar of Swaffham." I seem to remember someone once saying that peddler is correct American spelling, but Swaffham is in England and it's definitely pedlar. In fact, the verb to peddle was backformed from pedlar, so if peddler exists in the USA, it is double backformed.


2) There is also an Arabian Nights version -- usually called "The Ruined Man and His Dream" -- I know it's in Burton.


3) The Peddler of (I think it's Balladhadreen) but I'm not sure which story you're referring to, but I'll take a shot at the name of the town (or road). If it's Irish, the original could be Baile (or Bealach) an Doirín -- the Town (or Road) of the Oak Grove. The Anglicised pronunciation would be "BAL-ah-hah-DREEN." The same would probably apply if it's Scottish -- which seems more likely if the story is a version of "The Peddler of Swaffam."


4) The story also is based on the story of long ago of Jewish origin called "The Treasure" (Uri Shulevitz did a children's book of this version) where the poor man has the dream and the treasure is supposed to be under the bridge in the city and lo and behold the policeman in the city by the bridge tells the poor man that his dream says the treasure is at the home of guess who. I don't know which version is older, that's the fun of folklore.


5) "Peddler of Ballyhadereen" is an Irish variant of the tale. It is one of my favorite versions. (A village by that name actually exists just North and West of Roscommon, in the West of Ireland). A good literary source for the tale is in Ruth Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller (by the same title). In addition to the other versions mentioned from England (Swaffam) and Japan, there is also a much older variant from the Hebrew tradition in The Book of Legends.


6) There's an Irish version as well as the Swaffham version (and there is still a town by that name, north of London, where, I'm told, there's a statue of the peddler). Of course, there's also a Dutch version and no doubt many more.


7) By some odd quirk of the story universe, this story was also collected in Japan decades ago -- quite comfortably naturalized in that setting. I don't know if it had escaped from an imported book into oral transmission, or if a parallel variant just sprang up in that distant soil.


8) Thought it was "The Peddler of Swaffam," and I just found this post that confirms it citing Jane Yolen and Heather Forest as having books that tell about Swaffam and even John Chapman being the name of the peddler. In Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Jane Yolen, she notes that Chapman is the old word for peddler, and in the fifteenth-century "Black Book" (still in the Swaffham Church library) is a list of the benefactors of the church; it records that Chapman paid for the new north aisle as well as contributing to the spire fund in 1462. And in Heather Forest's Wonder Tales from Around the World, she notes that "the Swaffam Church in Norfolk has a statue of Chapman, carved in 1462, with the inscription, 'pray for the health of John Chapman and his wife and children, which John caused this aisle to be made with windows and roof.'"


9) Five versions of Pedlar's Dream:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1645.html


10) In the church archives in Swaffham there is documentary evidence that a poor local pedlar gave a large gift to the church - I don't remember if there was a name, but he was someone who could never have had such money, and that wasn't a time when poor people had any chance of sudden wealth. It's a true story! Those 1001 Nights nicked our story to bulk out theirs when they couldn't get past 1000.


11) This is the story (Arabian Nights) I've heard of as the "original" source as well, and probably Ruth Sawyer's is the best known. There is indeed a statue of John Chapman with his little dog beside him in greater downtown Swaffam. A few years ago when John Row was visiting Texas, I asked about Swaffham and the tale, and he verified that there is indeed a statue of John Chapman with his little dog beside him in greater downtown Swaffam. He figured it would be about a three-day walk from London, and three more back, long enough to make you think twice about following a suggestion that came in a dream.


12) What strikes me is that the name is the same as our Johnny Appleseed--John Chapman.


13) "The Peddlar of Swaffham." There are a dozen versions but usually he goes to a bridge to find the man who inadvertantly tells him that his treasure is in his own back yard. It's a standard tale for many tellers.

Marilyn K.

Created 2005; last update 2/16/10