Shetland Folk-Lore
characters, would indicate that it probably belongs to the same period.
The Bressay stone is smaller, being only 3 feet 9 inches in length, 16 inches wide at the top, and tapering to less than a foot at the bottom, but it is richly carved on both sides. It also bears the figure of the cross formed by interlacing lines, and on each side there are two ecclesiastical figures similarly dressed to those on the Burra stone, with long tunics and hoods (cuculla), and also holding pastoral staves. These figures have a further resemblance in that two of them are also shown as bearing wallets at their sides, in which probably the Service-Books were carried. The lion-like animal has also its counterpart on the Bressay stone, upon which is also represented, along with some other figures of animals, a man on horseback. Another resemblance is seen in the representation of the figure of a human being between the mouths of two grotesque
creatures who appear about to devour it.
98
