worthy variation
which seems to point to some deep-rooted idea that the ties of blood
are stronger among women than among men.

Literary Influence of the "Gamelyn" Story

The story of "Gamelyn" has two great claims to our attention: it is,
through Lodge's "Euphues' Golden Legacy," the ultimate source of
Shakespeare's _As You Like It_, and it seems to be the earliest
presentment in English literature of the figure of "the noble outlaw."
In fact, Gamelyn is probably the literary ancestor of "bold Robin
Hood," and stands for an English ideal of justice and equity, against
legal oppression and wickedness in high places. He shows, too, the
love of free life, of the merry greenwood and the open road, which
reappears after so many centuries in the work of Robert Louis
Stevenson.

The Story

In the reign of King Edward I. there dwelt in Lincolnshire, near the
vast expanse of the Fens, a noble gentleman, Sir John of the Marches.
He was now old, but was still a model of all courtesy and a "very
perfect gentle knight." He had three sons, of whom the youngest,
Gamelyn, was born in his father's old age, and was greatly beloved by
the old man; the other two were much older than he, and John, the
eldest, had already developed a vicious and malignant character.
Gamelyn and his second brother, Otho, reverenced their father, but
John had no respect or obedience for the good gentleman, and was the
chief trouble of his declining years, as Gamelyn was his chief joy.

The Father Feels his End Approaching

At last old age and weakness overcame the worthy old Sir John, and he
was forced to take to his bed, where he lay sadly meditating on his
children's future, and wondering how to divide his possessions justly
among the three. There was no difficulty of inheritance or
primogeniture, for all the knight's lands were held in fee-simple, and
not in entail, so that he might bequeath them as he would. Sir John of
the Marches, fearing lest he should commit an injustice, sent
throughout the district for wise knights, begging them to come
hastily, if they wished to see him alive, and help him. When the
country squires and lords, his near neighbours, heard of his grave
condition, they hurried to the castle, and gathered in the bedchamber,
where the dying knight greeted them thus: "Lords and gentlemen, I warn
you in truth that I may no longer live; by the will of God death lays
his hand upon me." When they heard this they tried to encourag