Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/290

 278 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

of the king of Brittany : he conquers Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy ; goes to the Holy Land, and forces the emperor of the Saracens to give him his daughter in marriage.

The editor notes the resemblance of this narration to Arthurian romances ; this likeness is obvious, though the tale has no near affinity to Crestien's. Unhappily, however, the history has little similarity to genuine Breton folk-tales, and it is scarcely to be doubted that in the account we have only a literary recast, answer- ing to the inventions of Hersart de la Villemarque.

(b.) Laoidh a?i Amadan Moir (Lay of the Great Fool). A Gaelic ballad, which differs from the preceding in being genuine and ex- actly reported, possesses all the mystic character of such verse. It is recited how an enigmatical personage known as the Great Fool, while engaged in an unexplained expedition to Lochlann (Scandina- via), becomes enveloped in a magic mist, meets a Gruagach (demonic being), and is induced to drink from a cup offered by the latter, with the result that the demon deprives him of both legs below the knee. In spite of this loss, he continues his journey with rapidity, and is able to overtake and capture a hound, white, with red ears (dogs of hell or fairyland are of such hue), belonging to another Gruagach, who demands return of the animal in exchange for hospitality, and conducts the youth to his castle, the Golden City, where the guest is left to guard the wife and treasure of the host, who goes hunting. The house is visited by a lover of the wife ; the intruder is seized by the Fool, and forced to surrender the legs of the latter, which he has annexed. In the end, the Gruagach of the cup returns, and according to a common and no doubt ancient feature of Gaelic tales, we learn that the master of the house, in transformation, was also the enchanter and the interloper, his object in arranging these dif- ferent appearances being to test the courage and worth of the hero.

It occurred to Campbell that the cup of this wild legend might have some relation to the Grail ; but, for my part, I am unable to discover any similarity.

(c.) Story of the G?'eat Fool. The lay was explained to Campbell by a tale professing to give the history of the Fool ; but, as usual in such explanations, it is very doubtful whether the prose and the verse have in reality any connection. The Great Fool is represented as a posthumous son of a foe of the king. To preserve his life, his mother flies with her son to the wilderness, where the youth grows up in ignorance, distinguished by ferocity and strength. He runs down wild deer, and his mother makes him a dress of the hides ; he barbarously kills his foster-brother for making him the subject of jests ; he catches the king's horse, rides to the palace, kills the king's son, and obliges the king to recognize him as heir. He is afterwards sent to rescue a lady from a dragon.

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