Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitchwife
You're right, of course, but don't tell G.K. Chesterton!
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Chesterton knew it was pre-Anglo-Saxon. In the Ballad of the White Horse, when he plays the harp among the Danes, Alfred says:
"All things achieved and chosen pass,
As the White Horse fades in the grass,
No work of Christian men.
“
Ere the sad gods that made your gods
Saw their sad sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale,
That you have left to darken and fail,
Was cut out of the grass."
So yeah, he knew it was really really old.
Your point about tradition vs. history is right, of course. But I just read
The Ballad of the White Horse so I had to comment.