Havelok the Dane: A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln.
By Charles W. Whistler, M.R.C.S.
CONTENTS
PREFACE.
If any excuse is needed for recasting the ancient legend of Grim the fisher andhis foster-son Havelok the Dane, it may be found in the fascination of thestory itself, which made it one of the most popular legends in England from thetime of the Norman conquest, at least, to that of Elizabeth. From the eleventhto the thirteenth centuries it seems to have been almost classic; and duringthat period two full metrical versions—one in Norman-French and the other inEnglish—were written, besides many other short versions and abridgments, whichstill exist. These are given exhaustively by Professor Skeat in his edition ofthe English poem for the Early English Text Society, and it is needless to domore than refer to them here as the sources from which this story is gathered.
These versions differ most materially from one another in names and incidents,while yet preserving the main outlines of the whole history. It is evident thatthere has been a far more ancient, orally-preserved tradition, which has beenthe original of the freely-treated poems and concise prose statements