CHAPTER XXV 



HOW A MAN SHOULD KNOW A GREAT HART BY 

 THE PLACE WHERE HE HATH FRAYED HIS 

 HEAD 



Furthermore ye should know a great hart by 

 the fraying (for if ye find where the hart hath 

 frayed), 1 and see that the wood is great where he 

 hath frayed, and he hath not bent it, and the tree 

 is frayed well high, and he hath frayed the bark 

 away, and broken the branches and wreathed 

 them a good height, and if the branches are of a 

 good size, it is a sign that he is a great hart and 

 that he should bear a high head and well troched, 

 for by the troching 2 he breaketh such high the 

 boughs that he cannot fold them under him. 

 For if the fraying were bare and he had frayed the 

 boughs under him, it is no token that it be a 

 great hart, and especially if the trees where he 

 had frayed were small. Nevertheless men have 

 seen some great deer fray sometimes to a little 

 tree, but not commonly, but a young deer shall 



1 The words in brackets are omitted in our MS. but are in 

 the Shirley MS. and in G. de F. p. 132. 



2 The tines at top. See Appendix : Antler. 



