190 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 148. 



nuntiat. Moxque euai e piscina levari prascipit, atque 

 nutrici tradltum, omni cum studio mandat alendum. 

 Et quia euin de piscina, qua; eorum lingua Lama dicl- 

 tur, abstulit, Lamissio eidem nomen iinposuit. Qui, 

 cum adolevisset, adeo strenuus juvenis effectus est, ut 

 et bellicosissimus extiterit, et post Agehnundi funus, 

 regni gubernacula rexerit." 



Thus the story is clearly thrown back to the 

 earliest times ; for the legends which Warnefred 

 has inserted in the beginning of his history belong 

 unquestionably to the original " folk lore" of the 

 Lombards, and have been so treated by Grimm. 



Another, and more curious story, which finds a 

 fur- off cousin in the north, is given by Price in his 

 Arcliceologia Cornu-Britannica (1790), p. 55. He 

 has printed it in Cornish, AYelsh, and English, for 

 the purpose of showing the connexion between 

 the first two dialects, but the original is Cornish : 



" In times past," it runs, " there dwelt at the 

 Ram's house in St. Levan, a man and woman, 

 whose work fell scant ; and saith the man to his 

 wife, I will go and look for work to do, and you 

 may get your living here." He took service 

 accordingly with a farmer " in the east," for three 

 pounds the year's wages. When the first year 

 was ended, his master showed him his money, but 

 said, " John, if you will give me back these three 

 pounds, I will show you a point of wit." John 

 agreed ; and his master bade him " Take care not 

 to leave an old way for a new.''' At the end of the 

 second year, the same bargain was made ; and 

 John learnt " never to go into a house where a 

 young woman was mai'ried to an old man.'' The 

 third year, his master taught John " the best point 

 ofwitof all:" "to be twice threshed, rather than 

 contend once." After that, John would serve no 

 longer ; but before he left, his master's wife made 

 him a cake, and put the nine pounds in it, and 

 told him to break it when he and his wife were 

 most merry together, and not before. 



John accordingly travelled homeward ; and on 

 St. Hilary Down he met three merchants of Tre- 

 reen, returning from Exeter fair. He went on 

 with them until " they took a new way ; but John 

 kept the old." They had scarcely parted, when 

 thieves took hold of the merchants ; but John 

 heard their cry, and called " thieves" so manfully, 

 that the thieves forsook their prey. At Market 

 Jew, John and the mei'chants met again, and all 

 entered the same hostelry. "But," said John, "I 

 must needs see the host of this house." " The 

 host ! " said the merchants ; " what would you do 

 with him ? Here is the hostess, young and hand- 

 some." But John went into the kitchen, and there 

 he saw him, an old man and feeble, turning the 

 spit. " Oh," said John, " here I will not lodge, 

 but in the next house." 



Now the hostess had arranged " with a fellow 

 that was in the town" to kill the old man, and 

 to charge the merchants with the murder. And 



when John was in bed in the next house, he saw 

 a light through a hole in the wall ; and whilst one 

 man strangled the old man with his handkerchief, 

 another stood with his back against the hole, least 

 any should look in : so John cut with his knife a 

 round j)iece out of his gown as he stood there. 

 The next day, when the merchants were accused 

 of the murder, John freed them by showing the 

 piece. Then he went straight home to his wife ; 

 but before he went into the house, he listened, 

 and heard within a strange man with his wife. 

 Then he laid hand on his dagger to kill them both ; 

 but he remembered that he ought " to think twice 

 ivith himself before contending once" and paused 

 before he knocked. " Who is there, in God's 

 name ?" said she. " I am here," said John. " By 

 St. Mary, whom do 1 hear ? " said she. " If it be 

 you, John, come into the house." And when he 

 came in, he found no strange man ; but the voice 

 he heard was that of his own little son, who had 

 been born after he left home. So John and his 

 wife broke the cake, and there they found the 

 nine pounds ; and right merry were they. 



The northern version occurs in the story of 

 Ilaco of Vikia, which will be found in one of the 

 tracts published by the University of Copenhagen, 

 the printing of which forms part of the " Solennia 

 Academica" on the King's birthday. Haco, 

 having spent his own substance in Norway, takes 

 service with the King of Denmai-k, who has 

 him instructed in the arts of the ironsmith, the 

 silversmith, and the goldsmith ; and finally, in 

 that of the "stonesmith" or architect. He be- 

 comes the most skilful workman in the north ; 

 and at the end of each year asks from the king 

 some piece of " wholesome rede." The king gives 

 him three good counsels : — '■'■Never trust a little 

 man., nor one with a red beard;" '■'■ In whatever 

 haste you ■may be, never leave a church before the 

 77iass is said fairly out." And thirdly, " If thou art 

 angry xcith thine enemy, and would kill him, say 

 first the Lord's Prayer three times — and then kill 

 him if thou wilt." After this, the king gives him 

 a ship laden with merchandize, and sends him to 

 England, where he trades to great advantage. 



The English king, hearing of his skill in "stone- 

 work," desires him to assist in building a new hall : 

 but there was an English " master" also skilled in 

 the craft ; and to see which was the abler, the 

 king orders that each should build one side of the 

 hall. Haco's side progresses most skilfully and 

 rapidly; and the jealous Englishman accuses him 

 of using " help such as no good man should have." 

 The king is persuaded, and a plot is laid for 

 Haco's destruction. The king sends him his glove 

 as a token, bidding him take the whole charge of 

 the work, and visit it every morning before sun- 

 rise. Meanwhile, the workmen are ordered to 

 seize him when he comes — whatever form he may 

 put on by aid of magical arts — and to burn him 



