A.C.
Roland and Oliver.—Canciani says there is a figure in the church porch at Verona which, from being in the same place with Roland, and manifestly of the same age, he supposes may be Oliver, armed with a spiked ball fastened by a chain to a staff of about three feet in length. Who are Roland and Oliver? There is the following derivation of the saying "a Roland for your Oliver," without any reference or authority attached, in my note-book:—
"—Charlemagne, in his expedition against the Saracens, was accompanied by two 'steeds,' some writers say 'pages,' named Roland and Oliver, who were so excellent and so equally matched, that the equality became proverbial—'I'll give you a Roland for your Oliver' being, the same as the vulgar saying, 'I'll give you tit for tat,' i.e. 'I'll give you the same (whether in a good or bad sense) as you give me.'"
JARLTZBERG.
QUERIES
THE STORY OF THE THREE MEN AND THEIR BAG OF MONEY.
Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors, relates, in connection with Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper Ellesmere, a very common story, of which I am surprised he did not at once discern the falsehood. It is that of a widow, who having a sum of money entrusted to her by three men, which she was on no account to return except to the joint demand of the three, is afterwards artfully persuaded by one of them to give it up to him. Being afterwards sued by the other two, she is successfully defended by a young lawyer, who puts in the plea that she is not bound to give up the money at the demand of only two of the parties. In this case this ingenious gentleman is the future chancellor. The story is told of the Attorney-General Noy, and of an Italian advocate, in the notes to Rogers' Italy. It is likewise the subject of one of the smaller tales in Lane's Arabian Nights; but here I must remark, that the Eastern version is decidedly more ingenious than the later ones, inasmuch as it exculpates the keeper of the deposit from the "laches" of which in the other cases she was decidedly guilty. Three men enter a bath, and entrust their bag of money to the keeper with the usual conditions. While bathing, one feigns to go to ask for a comb (if I remember right), but in reality demands the money. The keeper properly refuses, when he calls out to his companions within, "He won't give it me." They unwittingly respond, "Give it him," and he accordingly walks off with the money. I think your readers will agree with me that the tale has suffered considerably in its progress westward.
My object in troubling you with this, is to ask whether any of your subscribers can furnish me with any other versions of this popular story, either Oriental or otherwise.
BRACKLEY.