“Another curious similarity occurs in the early English romance of Sir Isumbras,” said Lathom. “That knight’s misfortunes came upon him in a very similar manner to poor Eustace’s: the knight, his wife, and his three children wander on their pilgrimage to the Holy Land; she wrapped in his surcoat, his scarlet mantle being divided among his three children. They so reach a river, and two of their children are carried off by a lion and a leopard ; one child, however, and the mother are left: then sings the old poet:
“‘Through the forest they went days three,
Till they came to the Greekish sea;
They grieved and were full wo!
As they stood upon the land
They saw a fleet come sailand (sailing),
Three hundred ships and mo. (more),
With top castles set on loft,
Richly then were they wrought,
With joy and mickle pride: