English Fairy and Other Folk Tales JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 1

THE LEGEND OF BECKET'S PARENTS. 1
IN connection with the renowned Thomas Becket a curious story is related of the marriage of his parents.
It is said that Gilbert, his father, had in his youth followed the Crusaders to Palestine, and while in the
East had been taken prisoner by a Saracen or Moor of high rank. Confined by the latter within his own
castle, the young Englishman's personal attractions and miserable condition alike melted the heart of his
captor's daughter, a fair Mohammedan, who enabled him to escape from prison and regain his native
country. Not wholly disinterested however, in the part which she acted in this matter, the Moor's
daughter obtained a promise from Gilbert, that as soon as he had settled quietly in his own land, he
should send for, and marry his protectress. Years passed on but no message ever arrived to cheer the
heart of the love-lorn maiden, who thereupon resolved to proceed to England and remind the forgetful
knight of his engagement. This perilous enterprise she actually accomplished and though knowing
nothing of the English language beyond the Christian name of her lover and his place of residence in
London, which was Cheapside, she contrived to search him out; and with greater success than could
possibly have been anticipated, found him ready to fulfil his former promise by making her his wife.
Previous to the marriage taking place she professed her conversion to Christianity, and was baptised with
great solemnity in St. Paul's Cathedral, no less than six bishops assisting at the ceremony. The only child
of this union was the celebrated Thomas Becket, whose devotion in after-years to the cause of the church
may be said to have been a befitting recompense for the attention which her ministers had shown in
watching over the spiritual welfare of his mother.
This singular story has found credence in recent times with Dr. Giles, M. Thierry, Mr. Froude, and M.
Michelet; but by one of the most judicious modern biographers of Becket, Canon Robertson, it is rejected
as a legendary tale, wholly unsupported by the evidence of those chroniclers who were Becket's
contemporaries. It gave rise, both in England and Scotland, to more than one ballad, in which the elder
Becket's imprisonment in the East, his liberation by the aid of the Moorish damsel, and the latter's
expedition to Britain in quest of him, are all set forth with sundry additions and embellishments. In one
of these, which bears the name of Lord Beichan, the fair young Saracen, who, by some extraordinary
corruption or misapprehension, is recorded under the designation of Susie Pye, follows her lover to
Scotland, and there surprises him at the very hour when he is about to unite himself in marriage to
another lady. The faithless lover, on being reminded of his previous compact, professes the utmost
contrition, and declares at once his resolve to wed the Saracen's daughter, who had given such evidence
of her love and attachment to him. by making so lone and dangerous a journey The hapless bride, who
would otherwise have speedily become his wife, is unceremoniously dismissed along with her mother;
and the nuptials of Lord Beichan and Susie Pye are then celebrated with great magnificence. Another
ballad on the same subject is entitled Young Bekie, but the heroine here is represented as the daughter of
the king of France, and distinguished by the title of Burd Isbel. By such romantic embellishments, and so
incongruous and ridiculous a nomenclature, did the ballad-writers of a later age embody in verse the
story of the parents of the renowned archbishop of Canterbury.
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