r representative
variants;[23] and it thus presents to the student of tradition an
excellent example for inquiry as to the value to history of legends
world-wide in their distribution attaching themselves to historical
localities.

There are some obvious features about this group of traditions, which
at once lead to interesting questions. There is first the fact that
all the British variants of the treasure stories centre round London
Bridge; secondly, there is the extension beyond Britain to the Breton
variant and the Norse variant, both non-British legends, of which the
_locus_ is London Bridge. From these two facts it is clear that London
Bridge had some special influence at a period of its history which
dates before the separation of the Breton folk from their Celtic
brethren in Britain, for the Bretons would not after their separation
acquire a London Bridge tradition; and again at a period of its
history when Norse legend and saga were fashioning. In the one case
the myth-makers must have been Celts of the fourth century, and the
only bridge known to these Celts must have been that belonging to
Roman Lundinium; in the other case the myth-makers were Norsemen, and
the bridge known to them was the later bridge so frequently referred
to in the chronicle accounts of the Danish and Norse invasions of
England.

It is not difficult, by a joint appeal to history and folklore, to
trace out from this very definite starting-point the events which
brought about this particular specialisation of the world-spread
treasure myths.

Obviously the first point to note is that London Bridge loomed out
greatly in the minds and understanding of people at two distinct
periods of its history.[24] That the first period relates to its
building is suggested by the date supplied by the evidence of the
Breton version. The people who wondered at its building, or the
results of its building, were certainly not the builders themselves,
and we thus see a distinction in culture between the bridge builders
and the wonder builders. This condition is exactly provided for by the
building of the earliest London Bridge. It was a work of the Romans of
Lundinium,[25] and the people who stood in wonder at this great
enterprise were not the Roman engineers and builders, accustomed to
such undertakings all over the then known world, and they must
therefore have been the surrounding non-Roman people, who were the
Celtic tribesmen. Now the culture-antagon