P. 417. Dr. W.H. Schofield suggests that the romance imitated in the second part of this ballad is, Libeaus Desconus. There the hero, who is but a child in years (in the ballad he has a child's voice), comes to a fair city by a river side, the lady of which is besieged by a giant, black as pitch. Libeaus undertakes to fight the giant, and is received by him with disdainful language. The fight is "beside the water brim." They break their spears at the first encounter; then fight on foot with swords. Libeaus strikes off the giant's head and carries it into the town; the people come out to meet him "with a fair procession," and the lady invites him to be her lord in city and castle. Compare the ballad, etc., 54-78, and Libeaus Desconus, v. 1321 ff. [See Dr. Schofield's Studies on the Libeaus Desconus, p. 242, in Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature published under the direction of the Modern Language Departments of Harvard University, Vol. IV.]
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