Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/207

 The Romance of Mdhisine. 1 9 1

so overcome was Elinas with grief at the loss of his wife Pressine, that he made over the government to his son Nathas. These equations can only be checked by an Irish antiquary. The identification of the lofty mountain of Brumbelio\-s is a different matter. M. Baudot does not hesitate to say that it is Crossfell. His contention is based partly on considerations of the probable corruption of manuscripts by the misreading of copyists. But the termination ioys is apparently refractory to this reasoning. So he reads Brumbelioys as Crossfell Hills, the terminal syllable, he says, " rendering as perfectly as writing can the pronunciation of hills !''

We return to the adventures of Melusine. She is found at midni<;ht at the fair\' fountain called the Fount of Thirst, and wedded by Raj-mond, Count of Lusignan, on the terms we know. When he violates his oath, she mounts on the window sill and flies away, leaving the print of her foot in the stone, l^ut first of all she goes three times round the fortress in the shape of a serpent fifteen feet long, and every time she passes the window of the room where she has been betrayed she utters a piercing cry. However, we need not follow the details of departure and lamentations. It suffices to draw attention to the fact that, though she is in the form of a fish from the navel down- ward, she flies, and she also takes the form of a great serpent. She furthermore returns daily to visit her children and superintend their nurses. According to another account, adopted elsewhere in the romance, Raymond, after dis- covering Alelusine's secret, says nothing about it ; and all goes on as before, until their son Geoffrey, in a fit of rage with his brother Froimond, who has become Abbot of Maillieres, burns the abbey over his head. Raymond, on hearing of the deed, is overcome with sorrow and anger, calls her " Thou false serpent ! ", and reproaches her with the misconduct of her sons. But, when he sees Melu- sine before him and realizes what he has done, lie pra\-s