Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/352

 320 Collectanea.

" He found it by the sea-side, Wrucked upp in a floode; Our Lord had written with his hands, And sealed it with his bloode." The error of Mr. Kittredge's statement, says Mr. Ela, " is apparent."

Two Notes on the Sister's Son and the Duel.

(i) The frequent mention of the sister's son as an important relationship in some early literatures has not been over-emphasised in regard to Anglo-Saxon literature. In the Battle of Maldon the relationship is referred to as follows:

" Wund wearS Wulfmaer, waelraeste geceas, ByrhtnoSes maeg, he mid billum wearS, his swuster sunu, swiSe forheawen." These lines are curiously similar to the following in the Hunting of the Cheviot:

" The was slayne, with the dougheti Duglas, Ser Hewe the Monggombyrry, Ser Davy Lwdale, that worthe was his sister's son was he."

In both these cases a warrior falls or is wounded, and the question "who is he?" is forestalled by descriptive apposition. That the relationship referred to in both cases should be that of the sister's son is interesting.

(2) The ballad of Chevy Chase refers in part to the manner of settling a dispute over hunting claims. The injured and the injurer meet each other with their followers and then there ensues a scene familiar to readers of heroic poetry, for the leaders, aware of the innocence of their men, wish the matter to be decided by single combat.

" Then sayd the doughte Doglas, Unto the lord Perse To kyll alle these giltles men, alas, it wear great pitte.

But Perse, thowe art a lord of lande

I am a yerle callyd within my contre Let all our men uppone a parti stande

and do this battell off the and of me."