Gotham, Tales of the Mad Men of

Collection of jests representing the absurd doings and sayings of the people of Gotham, a parish near Trent junction in Nottinghamshire, England. The simplicity of the inhabitants has become proverbial, but was said to have been assumed originally to avert a king's anger. Gotham is sometimes used as a nickname for New York, having been first applied by US writer Washington Irving in Salmagundi 1807-08.

One absurdity attributed to the inhabitants of Gotham is the building of a wall round the cuckoo to shut it in. The tales were first printed about 1550 under the title Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, collected by A B (Andrew Borde).