Faber clavicularius
quem superius fabrum mendaciorum dixi, narravit se tempore belli,
credens suos se subsecuturos equitando ad cujusdam oppidi portas
penetrasse: et cum ad portas venisset cataractam turre demissam, equum
suum post ephippium discidisse, dimidiatumque reliquisse, atque se
media parte equi ad forum usque oppidi equitasse, et caedem non modicam
peregisse. Sed cum retrocedere vellet multitudine hostium obrutus, tum
demum equum cecidisse seque captum fuisse."

The drinking at the fountain was probably an embellishment of Raspe's
own. Many of Bebel's jests were repeated in J. P. Lange's _Delicioe
Academicoe_ (Heilbronn, 1665), a section of which was expressly devoted
to "Mendacia Ridicula"; but the yarn itself is probably much older than
either. Similarly, the quaint legend of the thawing of the horn was told
by Castiglione in his _Cortegiano_, first published in 1528. This is
how Castiglione tells it: A merchant of Lucca had travelled to Poland
in order to buy furs; but as there was at that time a war with Muscovy,
from which country the furs were procured, the Lucchese merchant
was directed to the confines of the two countries. On reaching the
Borysthenes, which divided Poland and Muscovy, he found that the
Muscovite traders remained on their own side of the river from distrust,
on account of the state of hostilities. The Muscovites, desirous of
being heard across the river announced the prices of their furs in a
loud voice; but the cold was so intense that their words were frozen in
the air before they could reach the opposite side. Hereupon the Poles
lighted a fire in the middle of the river, which was frozen into a solid
mass; and in the course of an hour the words which had been frozen
up were melted, and fell gently upon the further bank, although the
Muscovite traders had already gone away. The prices demanded were,
however, so high that the Lucchese merchant returned without making any
purchase. A similar idea is utilised by Rabelais in _Pantagruel_, and by
Steele in one of his _Tatlers_. The story of the cherry tree growing out
of the stag's head, again, is given in Lange's book, and the fact that
all three tales are of great antiquity is proved by the appearance of
counterparts to them in Lady Guest's edition of the _Mabinogion_. A
great number of _nugoe canoroe_ of a perfectly similar type are narrated
in the sixteenth century "Travels of the Finkenritter" attributed to
Lorenz von Lauterbach.

T