Ivor, in an attempt to rescue the children,
"Quatuor igitur ingentes focos e quatuor partibus ipsius saltus
accendit, accensisque plurimas quas secum attulerat carnes passim
iniecit ilicemque uicinam cum coniuge et cane ascendens delituit.
Fumo autem ignium per nemoris latitudinem diffuso, ubi lupi in
confinio degentes--quorum inibi ingens habebatur copia--odorem
perceperunt carnium, illo contendere et confluere ilico
coeperunt."[142]
Here we have the idea of a hollow oak with people in it, wolves in the
vicinity, and children at hand who have been hanged, and therefore
presumably dead. Had the cord broken by which they were hanged, they
would certainly have been torn to pieces by the wolves. But especially
striking is the statement that Ivor's dog is concealed in a tree; and
this tree is called "ilex" (holly-oak), the very word used by Saxo to
designate the kind of hollow tree that Hroar and Helgi (he calls them
Harald and Halfdan, as has been stated) are concealed in, under the
pretence that they are dogs.
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