Perrow—The Last Will and Testament in Literature. 703 
his testament. 1 The animal testament continued to flourish as 
late as the middle of the eighteenth century. 
§7. The most important element of the Will is the disposition 
of property. This element also easily lends itself to literary 
treatment. The calling together of one’s relatives and friends 
and the distribution among them of one’s property is a situation 
upon the effectiveness of which a writer may always count. The 
writer of the hook of Genesis makes use of this situation when 
he represents the dying patriarch as dividing the promised land 
among his sons. Eusebius (died c. 338 A. D.) in his Chroni- 
con tells of a testament that Hoah made dividing the world 
among his three sons. 2 
A. chronicle account shows us Dagobert (died 638) calling 
his men around him and making in their presence his Last Will 
and Testament. 3 He also had his will preserved in written 
form. 
Marbans Testament is included in an Irish dialogue poem 
written about the tenth century. 4 Marban is trying to justify 
his simple life to Guaire, the king. He repeats the provisions 
of his will. 
“Thou hast already heard my bequest, 
At the hour of leaving the world: 
This cup of mine to the hermit, 
My household pet to Laidgen, the leper. 
My knife and my “spedud hud”, 
My dwelling in Tuaim Aidchi, 
My cudgel, my pet, my cup, 
My leathern satchel, my musical instrument. 
1 Barbazan. Fables et Contes, 1756, III, 70. This tendency to repre¬ 
sent animals as making their testaments is related to the general 
tendency so strong in Europe during the Middle Ages to make ani¬ 
mals do the same things men do. Out of this general animistic im¬ 
pulse came the Beast Fable and the Beast Epic. See G. L. Kittrdge 
in the Universal Cyclopedia s. v. Beast Fable, and F. B. Gummere in 
the same s. v. Reynard the Fox. Analagous to the animistic tendency 
is the tendency to make inanimate objects act as men. So we get 
testaments of cities, statues, trees, etc. Cf. pages 483, 494. 
2 Cedrene gives a fuller account of this testament. See Compendium 
Historiarum, Paris, 1647, I, 12; also Peignot, I, xi. 
s Peignot, II, 349. 
4 King and Hermit , trans. by K. Meyer, London, 1901. 
