Note 73 — Lohengrin

The ancient Longobard tale of the exposure of King Lamissio, related by Paulus Diaconus (L, 15), gives a similar incident. A public woman had thrown her seven newborn infants into a fish pond. King Agelmund passed by, and looked curiously at the children, turning them around with his spear. But when one of the children took hold of the spear, the king considered this as of good augury; he ordered this boy to be taken out of the pond, and to be given to a wet nurse. As he had taken him from the pond, which in his language is called “lama,” he named the boy Lamissio. He grew up into a stalwart champion, and after Agelmund’s death, became king of the Longobards.