[178] Kathá Sarit Ságara (of the early part of the 12th century), Tawney's translation, I, 136 ff. The story is cited by Rajna, in Romania, VI, 359. Herr v. Bodman leaves his marriage ring in a wash-bowl! Meier, Deutsche V. m. aus Schwaben, 214 f.
[179] The ring given Horn by Rymenbild, in 'King Horn,' 579 ff (Wissmann), and in the French romance, 2056 ff, protects him against material harm or mishap, or assures him superiority in fight, as long as he is faithful. So in Buchan's version of 'Bonny Bee-Ho'm,' st. 8:
'As lang's this ring's your body on,
Your blood shall neer be drawn.'
"The king's daughter of Linne" gives her champion two rings, one of which renders him invulnerable, and the other will staunch the blood of any of his men who may be wounded: Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lvii. Eglamore's ring, Percy MS., II, 363, st. 51, will preserve his life on water or land. A ring given Wolfdietrich by the empress, D VIII, st. 42, ed. Jänicke, doubles his strength and makes him fire-proof in his fight with the dragon. The ring lent Ywaine by his lady will keep him from prison, sickness, loss of blood, or being made captive in battle, and give him superiority to all antagonists, so long as he is true in love: Ritson, Met. Rom. I, 65, vv 1533 ff. But an Indian ring which Reinfrît receives from his wife before he departs for the crusade, 15,066 ff, has no equal, after all; for, besides doing as much as the best of these, it imparts perpetual good spirits. It is interesting to know that this matchless jewel had once been the property of a Scottish king, and was given by him to his daughter when she was sent to Norway to be married: under convoy of Sir Patrick Spens?
[18]
SIR LIONEL.
[A]. 'Sir Lionell,' Percy MS., p. 32, Hales and Furnivall, I, 75.
[B]. 'Isaac-a-Bell and Hugh the Græme,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 110.
[C]. a. 'The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove,' Allies, The British, Roman and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire, 2d ed., p. 116. b. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 124.
[D]. Allies, as above, p. 118.