Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

29. The Boy and the Mantle

P. 268 ft., II, 502 a, III, 503, IV, 454 a. Tests of chastity. On the Herodotean story, I, 271, see E. Lefébure, Mélusine, IV, 37-39. — St. Wilfred's Needle, in Ripon Minster. 'In ipso templo, avorum memoria Wilfridi acus celeberrima fuit. Id erat augustum in cryptoporticu foramen quo mulierum pudicitia explorabatur; quae enim castæ erant facile transibant, quæ dubia fama nescio quo miraculo constrictæ detinebantur.' Camden, Britannia, ed. 1607, p. 570; see Folk-Lore Journal, II, 286. (G.L.K.)


[P. 261 f. On the Gaelic ballad in the Dean of Lismore's Book see the elaborate article by Professor Ludw. Chr. Stern, Die gälische Ballade vom Mantel in Macgregors Liederbuche, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, I, 294 ff. The text is given according to the edition of Alexander Cameron, Reliquiae Celticae, I, 76, with another copy from a 1628 Manuscript in the Franciscan Convent at Dublin. Stern's translation clears up some points, and brings out one striking similarity between the Gaelic and the English ballad. When MacReith's wife tried on the mantle, "er passte ihr, beides an Fuss und Hand, bis auf die Gabel ihrer kleinen Finger und Zehen." She explains this failure of the mantel to cover her completely: "'Einen Kuss bekam ich verstohlen von O'Duibhnes Sohne Diarmaid; der Mantel würde bis auf den Boden reichen, wenn es nicht der allein ware.'" Compare sts 28-30 of 'The Boy and the Mantle.' This similarity, in a feature unknown to other versions of the story, coupled with the form 'Craddocke' in the English ballad (a form which "nur aus dem welschen Caradawc entstanden sein kann") convinces Stern that 'The Boy and the Mantle,' and probably also the Gaelic ballad, are derived directly from Welsh tradition, independently of the Old French versions, which, however, he thinks also go back ultimately to Wales (p. 310). I am indebted to Dr. F.N. Robinson for calling my attention to Stern's article. G.L.K.]

268 ff., 507 a, II, 502 a, III, 503, IV, 454 a, V, 212 f. Tests of chastity. "The jacinth stone will not be worne on the finger of an adulterer, nor the olive grow if planted by one that leadeth his life in unlawful lusts." Greene, Never too late, Pt. II, 1590, Works, ed. Grosart, VIII, 141. A note on the general subject in G. Rua, Novelle del "Mambriano," pp. 66 f., 73-83. G.L.K. [See also Zupitza, Herrig's Archiv f. das Studium der neueren Sprachen, LXXXII, 201; Nyrop, Dania, I, 13, n. 2; Feilberg, Dania, I, 154; 'La Mensuration du Cou,' Perdrizet and Gaidoz, Mélusine, VI, 225 ff.]

270 a, 1st paragraph. The Shukasaptati story at p. 29 f. of R. Schmidt's translation.

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