dren, dwelling happily in your own home.

[Illustration: THE FINDING OF SILVESTIK]

"I have taken to my door a little white dove which sits in a small
hollow of the stone. I have tied to his neck a letter with the ribbon
of my wedding-dress and have sent it to my son. Arise, my little dove,
arise on your two wings, fly far, very far across the great sea, and
discover if my son is still alive and well."

Silvestik rested in the shade of an English wood, and as he did so a
familiar note fell upon his ear.

"That sound resembles the voice of my mother's little white dove," he
said. The sound grew louder; it seemed to say, "Good luck to you,
Silvestik, good luck to you. I have here a letter for you."

Silvestik in high happiness read the letter, and resolved to return
home to his sorrowing parent.

Two years passed, three years passed, and the dove did not return to
delight the heart of the longing mother, who day by day walked the
dismal seashore waiting for the vessel that never came. One day of
storm she was wandering on the beach as usual when she saw a vessel
being driven with great force upon the iron coast. Even as she watched
it it dashed upon the rocks. Soon there were cast upon the shore the
forms of many dead, and when the gale abated and the heart-sick mother
was able to search among them she found Silvestik!

Several competent judges are of opinion that this ballad is
contemporary with the events which it relates. Many of the Breton
lords who sailed with William the Conqueror did not return for several
years after the expedition had accomplished its object, and some not
at all. Nothing is known regarding the hero. The bird is frequently
the messenger between lovers in ballad literature, but it is seldom
that it is found carrying letters between a mother and her
son--indeed, this is perhaps the only instance known.

_The Marriage-Girdle_

This ballad has reference to the Breton expedition which sailed for
Wales in 1405 to assist the Welsh under Owen Glendower to free their
principality from the English yoke. The Bretons rendered material
assistance to their Welsh brothers, and had the satisfaction on their
return of knowing that they had accomplished that which no French king
had ever been able to achieve--the invasion of English territory. The
expedition was commanded by Jean de Rieux, Marshal of France, and
numbered ten thousand men.

The ballad tells how a young man on the morning after his betr