⁂ The toys shown in Cologne Cathedral as the “three kings” are called Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
Three Learned Knights (The), of the island of Britain: (1) Gwalchmai ab Gwyar, called in French romances Gawain; (2) Llecheu ab Arthur; (3) Rhiwallon with the broom-bush hair. There was nothing that man knew they did not know.--Welsh Triads.
Three-Leg Alley (London), now called Pemberton Row, Fetter Lane.
Three Letters (A Man of), a thief. A Roman phrase, from fur, “a thief.”
Tun’ trium literarum homo
Me vituperas? Fur!
Plautus, Aulularia, ii. 4.
Three Makers of Golden Shoes (The), of the island of Britain; (1) Caswallawn, son of Beli, when he went to Gascony to obtain Flur. She had been abducted for Julius Cæsar, but was brought back by the prince. (2) Manawyddan, son of Llyr, when he sojourned in Lloegyr (England). (3) Llew Llaw Gyffes, when seeking arms from his mother.--Welsh Triads, cxxiv.
“What craft shall we take?” said Manawyddan.... “Let us take to making shoes.”... So he bought the best cordwal ... and got the best goldsmith to make clasps ... and he was called one of the three makers of gold shoes.--The Mabinogion (“Manawyddan,” twelfth century).
Three Robbers (The). The three stars in Orion’s belt are said to be “three robbers climbing up to rob the Ranee’s silver bedstead.”--Miss Frere, Old Deccan Days, 28.