[136] Robert Henryson was a schoolmaster in Dunfermline in the
        latter part of the 15th century.  His Moral Fables,
        edited by Dr. David Irving, were printed for the
        Maitland Club in 1832, and his complete works (Poems and
        Fables) were edited by Dr. David Laing, and published in
        1865.  His Testament of Cresseid, usually considered as
        his best performance, is a continuation of Chaucer’s
        Troilus and Cresseide, which was derived from the
        Latin of an unknown author named Lollius.  Henryson was
        the author of the first pastoral poem composed in the
        English (or Scottish) language—­that of Robin and
        Makyn.  “To his power of poetical conception,” Dr. Laing
        justly remarks, “he unites no inconsiderable skill in
        versification:  his lines, if divested of their uncouth
        orthography, might be mistaken for those of a more
        modern poet.”

  [137] Schaw, a wood, a covert.

  [138] Chymeris, a short, light gown.

  [139] Hude, hood.

  [140] Bordourit, embroidered.

  [141] Hekellit-wise, like the feathers in the neck of a cock.

  [142] Fassoun, fashion.

  [143] Lokker, (?) gray.

  [144] Stikkand, sticking.

  [145] Pennair, pen-case.

  [146] Graithit, apparelled, arrayed.

  [147] Feirfull, awe-inspiring, dignified.

The Arabian sage Lokinan is represented by tradition to have been a black slave, and of hideous appearance, from which, and from the identity of the apologues in the Arabian collection that bears his name as the author with the so-called Esopic fables, some writers have supposed that Esop and Lokman are simply different names of one and the same individual.  But the fables ascribed to Lokman have been for the most part (if not indeed entirely) derived from the Greek; and there is no authority whatever that Lokman composed any apologues.  Various traditions exist regarding Lokman’s origin and history.  It is said that he was an Ethiopian, and was sold as a slave to the Israelites during the reign of David.  According to one version, he was a carpenter; another describes him as having been originally a tailor; while a third account states that he was a shepherd.  If the Arabs may be credited, he was nearly related to the patriarch Job.  Among the anecdotes which are recounted of his amiable disposition is the following:  His master once gave him a bitter lemon to eat.  Lokman ate it all, upon which his master, greatly astonished, asked him:  “How was it possible for you to eat so unpalatable a fruit?” Lokman replied:  “I have received so many favours from you, that it is no wonder I should once in my life eat a bitter melon from your hand.”