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''The Twa Knights'' is a traditional Scottish ballad. It was collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad number 268.〔Francis James Child, ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', "The Twa Knights"〕 It is highly possible that the ballad was popularly unknown in Scotland, and only known through print.〔 ==Synopsis== The story belongs to the Aarne-Thompson Type 882: the wager on the wife's chastity.〔 It starts with two best friends, or "brothers sworn": one a knight, and the other a squire. They begin talking about women, and the unwed squire dourly declares that there cannot be more than nine good women in the world. The knight declares that he is lucky, for his wife is one of them. To test the truth of this claim, the squire suggests a plan where the knight goes off to sea for six months. He wagers his life that he will be able to gain the love of the lady before six months have passed. The knight insists that they lengthen the period to nine months, and then wagers all his lands on his wife's faithfulness. Once the knight has left, the squire tries at once to win the love of the "gay lady". At first approaches her directly, but she spurns his advances. Next the squire wins the aid of his foster-mother with "fifty guineas and three." The foster-mother fakes care for the lady and is able to convince her to send all of her servants out to work the fields. Once the house is empty, the foster-mother lulls the gay lady to sleep and then leaves. The scheming old woman delivers all the keys to the house to the young squire, who goes in and wakes the lady in her bedchamber. He insists that they make love, but the knight's wife spurns him, saying that it would be a sin to sully her husband's bed. Instead, she agrees that she will come to his bed the next day. The next day, the gay lady sends her niece, Maisry, to the squire in her place. The squire is unable to detect the deception and sleeps with the girl, taking her ring and her ring-finger as tokens of the night. The knight returns after the agreed time has ended, and is greeted by the squire. The squire insists that he has won the knight's lands and shows the finger as proof. The knight, distraught, goes to punish his wife. When he gets to the castle, however, the lady is able to show him that her hand is whole and tell to him the plot that saved her chastity. The knight summons both Maisry and the squire, and gives Maisry the choice of whether to stab her lover or wed him. After some thought, Maisry decides to marry the squire, and the ballad ends with a nod to her wisdom. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Twa Knights」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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