Page 412 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

406 History and Science of Knots

Thou sent'st to me a true love-knot, but I
Return a ring of jimmals, to imply
Thy love had one knot, mine a triple tye.
In this context Q nskeknuten, the Wish Knot, may be mentioned. In
Scandinavia, about a century ago, a mild superstition among girls was to be
found, regarding this. The following example is from Jutland, in Denmark
[14]:
The Wish Knot: A magic knot which tells whether a wish will come
true. A girl (A) lets another girl (B) pull up five long grass straws,
and lets B hold them around the middle. Then A ties the straws,
two by two at the bottom and two by two at the top. Finally, the
two remaining free ends, one at the top and one at the bottom, are
tied together. Fortune will favour A if all straws form a single ring;
if two rings are formed, that also is a good omen; three rings are
not to be considered hopeful, but that is better than when all rings
are separated: then all hope is lost.

According to Ohrvall this custom was also to be found in Sweden, and
may still have been found there locally during the first decades of the 20th
century [36]. It is remarkable that nothing is mentioned in the event the grass
ring should be formed into a Trefoil Knot.

The True Love Knot in the English Literature

The allegorical 14-16th century Love Knots were restricted to an illus-
trious circle at medieval courts. On the other hand, poetry belongs to an
entire people. Moreover, the strong expressive value of the symbolic imagery,
relieving poets from saying anything concrete about the True Love Knot's ap-
pearance, unleashed an avalanche of True Love Knots in print. Love Knots,
as such, began to be mentioned in the English literature in the 14th century.
The earliest recorded instance of our phenomenon in the New English Dictio-
nary is Sir Gawaine and the Greene Knight about 1350. In the 14th century
Chaucer's monk in the Canterbury Tales had a curious pin of gold, with a love
knotte in the gretter ende [9].
Thomas Whyatt, the poet at the court of Henry VIII, who reigned from
1509 to 1547, wrote about knots straining around his heart [35]:
The knott whych ffyrst my hart dyd strayn,
Whan that your servant I becam,
Doth bynde me styll for to Remayne
All waies your owne, as nowe I am ....