Gan´dalin, earl of the Firm Island, and ’squire of Am´adis de Gaul.
Gandalin, though an earl, never spoke to his master but cap in hand, his head bowing all the time, and his body bent after the Turkish manner.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. iii. 6 (1605).
Gan´elon (2 syl.), count of Mayence, the “Judas” of Charlemagne’s paladins. His castle was built on the Blocksberg, the loftiest peak of the Hartz Mountains. Charlemagne was always trusting this base knight, and was as often betrayed by him. Although the very business of the paladins was the upholding of Christianity, Sir Ganelon was constantly intriguing for its overthrow. No doubt jealousy of Sir Roland made him a traitor, and he basely planned with Marsillus (the Moorish king), the attack of Roncesvallês. The character of Sir Ganelon was marked with spite, dissimulation, and intrigue, but he was patient, obstinate and enduring. He was six feet and a half in height, had large glaring eyes and fiery red hair. He loved solitude, was very taciturn, disbelieved in the existence of moral good, and has become a by-word for a false and faithless friend. Dantê has placed him in his “Inferno.” (Sometimes called Gan.)
The most faithless spy since the days of Ganelon.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot, xxiv. (1820).
Ganem, “The Slave of Love.” The hero and title of one of the Arabian Nights tales. Ganem was the son of a rich merchant of Damascus, named Abou Aibou. On the death of his father he went to Bagdad, to dispose of the merchandise left, and accidentally saw three slaves secretly burying a chest in the earth. Curiosity induced him to disinter the chest, when lo! it contained a beautiful woman, sleeping from the effects of a narcotic drug. He took her to the lodgings, and discovered that the victim was Fetnab, the caliph’s favorite, who had been buried alive by order of the sultana, out of jealousy. When the caliph heard thereof, he was extremely jealous of the young merchant, and ordered him to be put to death, but he made good his escape in the guise of a waiter, and lay concealed till the angry fit of the caliph had subsided. When Haroun-al-Raschid (the caliph) came to himself, and heard the unvarnished facts of the case, he pardoned Ganem, gave to him Fetnab for a wife, and appointed him to a lucrative post about the court.
Gan´esa, goddess of wisdom, in Hindû mythology.
Then Camdeo [Love] bright and Ganesa sublime
Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime.
Campbell, Pleasures of Hope, i. (1799).
Ganlesse (Richard), alias Simon Canter, alias Edward Christian, one of the conspirators.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).