FOLK-LORE WITCH-HAZEL. 213 



Danish origin. U A certain Palnatoki, for some time 

 among King Harold's body-guard, had made his brav- 

 ery odious to very many of his fellow soldiers by the 

 zeal with which he surpassed them in the discharge of 

 his duty. This man once, while talking tipsily over 

 his cups, had boasted that he was so skilled as an 

 archer that he could hit the smallest apple placed at 

 a distance of fifty paces on a wand, and at the first 

 shot. This boastful language soon reached the ears 

 of his majesty, who had long sought an opportunity 

 to involve the braggart in difficulty. The King or- 

 dered that a test of the archer's skill should be made 

 by placing the apple on the son's head instead of the 

 suggested wand, and with the threat that, unless the 

 author of the promise could strike the mark at the 

 first flight of the arrow, he should pay the penalty of 

 his empty boasting by the loss of his own head. The 

 King's command struck the soldier with dismay, for 

 he was exceedingly fond of his darling boy a lad six 

 years of age. After the lad had been stationed at the 

 given distance and the apple placed on his head, the 

 father asked the privilege of speaking to his child be- 

 fore he discharged the perilous missile ; and while 

 whispering in the lad's ear and arranging his arms be- 

 hind him, Palnatoki slipped a hazel stick into the 

 boy's hands, and stuck an apple on the upper end of it. 

 The stick was not discovered, and the first arrow in 

 its flight split the apple and left the youth unharmed. 

 The King then asked the archer why he had taken 

 other arrows in his quiver when the terms were that 

 he should try but once ? The answer corresponded to 

 the one ascribed to Tell : ' To kill thee, tyrant, had I 

 slain my son.' " This story being centuries older than 

 the Swiss production, the inference is that the latter 



