6 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



Anglo-Saxon title in a slightly modified form is one 

 among several instances of a similar practice which 

 came into use after the Norman Conquest. This 

 is illustrated by the following quotation from Sir 

 Walter Scott's Ivanhoe : — 



" ' Why, how call you those grunting brutes 

 running about on their four legs?' demanded 

 Wamba. 



" ' Swine, fool, swine,' said the herd ; ' every fool 

 knows that.' 



" ' And swine is good Saxon,' said the jester ; 

 ' but how call you the sow when she is flayed, 

 drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels 

 like a traitor ? ' 



" ' Pork,' answered the swineherd. 



" ' I am very glad every fool knows that too,' 

 said Wamba ; ' and pork, I think, is good Norman- 

 French ; and so when the brute lives and is in 

 charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon 

 name ; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, 

 when she is carried to the castle-hall to feast among 

 the nobles ; what does thou think of this, friend 

 Gurth, ha ? ' 



" ' It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, 

 however it got into thy fool's pate.' 



" ' Nay, I can tell you more,' said Wamba in 

 the same tone ; ' there is old Alderman Ox continues 

 to hold his Saxon epithet while he is under the 

 charge of serfs and bondsmen such as thou, but 



