[783] ii. 240.
[784] Cfr. Du Cange, s. v. galaxia.
[785] Das festliche Jahr, zweite Ausg., p. 216.
[786] Florence, Piatti, 1821.
[787] Concerning this stone, cfr. a whole chapter in Aldrovandi, De Quadrupedibus Bisulcis, i.
[788] Cfr. Du Cange, s. v. Agnus Dei, where we even find the verses with which Urban V. accompanied the gift of an Agnus Dei to John Paleologus.—In the month of October, the Thuringians celebrate the festival of the race after the ram, which, when overtaken, is led to a large rock and there killed. For the race after the ram, cfr. also Villemarqué, Chants Populaires de la Bretagne.—In a popular song, in which England is transformed into Engelland (or country of the angels), Mary, the nurse of God, appears with the white lamb:—
"Die Himmelsthür wird aufgehen;
Maria Gottes Amme
Kommt mit dem weissen Lamme."
[789] Menzel, the work quoted before.
[790] Professor Emilio Teza has published a mediæval Italian version of this poem with notes.
[791] Cfr. the before-quoted fable of Babrios, in which the vine complains of the he-goat which eats its leaves.—In the Italian proverb, "Salvar la capra e i cavoli," the she-goat is again indicated as an eater of leaves.—The leaves of the sorb-apple, according to the Norwegian belief, cure sick goats, by which the god Thor is drawn.—Cfr. Kuhn, Die H. d. F. u. d. G.