Ivanhoe, page 2

This page introduces 2 of the central figures around Ivanhoe: Gurth the Swineherd and Wamba the Jester, both servents of Cedric the Saxon, Ivanhoe´s father. After a detailed description of Gurth, it says : " One part of his dress remains, but it is too remarkable to be suppressed; it was a brass ring, resembling a dog´s collar, but without any opening, and soldered fast around his neck, so loose as to form no impediment to his breathing, yet so tight as to be incapable of being removed, excepting by the use of a file. On this singular gorget was engraved, in Saxon characters, an inscription of the following purport:- "Gurth, the son of Beowulph, is the born thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood." On the similar collar of Wamba it said: "Wamba, the son of Witless, is the thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood."