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Chap. XXXV. THE FLITCH OF BACON. 99
•
their respective farms. A dispute, however, arose
concerning the possession of a certain bulky sow, followed
by a train of some dozen squeaking piglings. “It’s mine,”
exclaims the lord of Odden. “ No such thing,”
replies the lady of Asdal; “ I know her by her curly
tail.” “ Fiddlesticks ! ” continues the lord of Odden :
“ that all depends upon the dryness of the weather.
Yesterday her tail was as straight as your ringlets.”
“ I’ll go to law,” indignantly answered the lady, not at
all pleased at the implied insult to her tresses. So to
law they went. The Jutlanders were, and I believe
are, like their Norman descendants, essentially a litigious
race. The authorities heard both cases, plaintiff and
defendant—felt puzzled—scratched their polls. The
matter might have remained undecided to this day,
had not an ecclesiastic present suggested how on an
old carved stall in Hjørring cathedral he had seen
represented the Judgment of Solomon, and forthwith
explained the history to the assembled Court, who
unanimously condemned the sow to be split in twain,
and a moiety handed over to each contending party,
with orders to salt and smoke their respective sides
and hang them up in the manor-hall—the judge
declaring in his charge, that whoever preserves his side
for the longest period free from worms and rust shall be
pronounced the rightful possessor of the twelve little
porkers, which, until the cause be decided, shall be
considered wards in Chancery, and be allowed to feed,
increase, and multiply.
Time rolled on: great had been the preparation of
the lady of Asdal, and here she had the advantage
over the lord of Odden, who knew more of the art of
war than that of drysalting. What spices, what salt-
h 2
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