24 THE KING'S MIRROR 



add that if sand or dust is brought from Ireland to 

 another country and scattered about a reptile, it will 

 perish.* Both characterize the Irish people as savage 

 and murderous, but they also call attention to their 

 kind treatment of holy men, of whom the island has 

 always had many.f In fact, every statement in the 

 King's Mirror as to the nature of the land and the 

 character of the inhabitants can be duplicated in Giral- 

 dus' description of Ireland, except, perhaps, the single 

 observation that the Irish people, because of the mild- 

 ness of the climate, often wear no clothes. 



But even if Giraldus' work is to be regarded as one of 

 the sources which the Norwegian author may have used 

 in writing his chapters on the Irish mirabilia, it cannot 

 have been the only or even the principal source. The 

 account of these marvels in the King's Mirror does not 

 wholly agree with that of the Welshman's work. In some 

 instances the wonders are told with details that are 

 wanting in the earlier narrative. Frequently, too, the 

 Norwegian version is more explicit as to localities and 

 gives proper names where Giraldus has none. It also 

 records marvels and miracles which are not found in the 

 Topographia Hibernica. 



In an edition of the Irish Nennius the editor has 

 added as an appendix a brief account of the " Wonders 

 of Ireland," many of the tales of which have interesting 

 parallels in the King's Mirror. There is also a medieval 

 poem on the same theme t which contains allusions to 

 much that the Norwegian author has recorded with 



* Giraldus, Opera, V, 62-64; King's Mirror, c. x. 



t Topographia Hibernica, Hi, c. 28; King's Mirror, c. x. 



t See Wright-Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, II, 103-107. 



