Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Hooper.djvu/50

xlii hue and cry had now been made after the young men who were missing. The husband and wife engage in a quarrel, and the murder is of course discovered.

"This story has been immediately taken from The Seven Wise Masters, where it forms the example of the sixth master. The groundwork is, no doubt, oriental, and may be found, perhaps in its most ancient form, in The little hunchbacked taylor of The Arabian Nights. It was imported into Europe very early, and fell into the hands of the lively and entertaining French minstrels, who have treated it in various ways, as may be seen in Le Grand, Fableaux et Contes, tom. iv., where it is related five times. The several imitations of it from The Seven Wise Masters may be found in all the editions of Prince Erastus, an Italian modification of the Wise Masters. It forms the substance of a well-constructed and entertaining story of two friars, John and Richard, who are said to have resided at Norwich, in the reign of Henry the Fifth. This is related in Heywood's History of Women, under the title of The faire ladie of Norwich, and has crept into Blomefield's History of Norfolk in a very extraordinary manner, unaccompanied with any comment, but with the addition of the murderer's name, who is unaccountably stated to be Sir Thomas Erpingham, a well-known character. In the Bodleian library there is an old English poem entitled, A merry jest of Dane Hew, munck of Leicestre, and how he was foure times slain, and once hanged. Printed at London, by J. Aide, in 4to, without date. This is probably the same story, which has certainly been borrowed from one of those related by the Norman minstrels."

For this chapter I am also indebted to the Illustrations, &c.

"Folliculus, a knight, was fond of hunting and tournaments. He had an only son, for whom three nurses were provided. Next to this child he loved his falcon and his greyhound. It happened one day that he was called to a tournament, whither his wife and domestics went also, leaving the child in the cradle, the greyhound lying by him, and the falcon on his perch. A serpent that inhabited a hole near the castle, taking advantage of the profound silence that reigned, crept from his habitation and advanced towards the cradle to devour the child. The falcon, perceiving the danger, fluttered with his wings till he awoke the dog, who instantly attacked the invader, and after a fierce conflict, in which he was sorely wounded, killed him. He then lay down on the ground to lick and heal his wounds. When the nurses returned they found the cradle overturned, the child thrown out, and the ground covered with blood, as well as the dog, who, they immediately concluded, had killed the child. Terrified at the idea of meeting the anger of the parents, they determined to escape, but in their flight fell in with their mistress, to whom they were compelled to relate the supposed murder of