Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—E

Egil

Brother of Weland, the Vulcan of Northern mythology. Egil was a great archer, and a tale is told of him the exact counterpart of the famous story about William Tell: One day King Nidung commanded Egil to shoot an apple off the head of his son. Egil took two well-selected arrows from his quiver, and when asked by the king why he took two, replied (as the Swiss peasant to Gessler), “To shoot thee, O tyrant, with the second, if I fail.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Egis
Egg-trot
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