(6) _Petty serjeanty_ may be described in the words of Littleton as “where a man holds his lands of our lord the king to yield to him yearly a bow or sword, or a dagger or a knife ... or to yield such other small things belonging to war.”[73] ----- Footnote 73: See Littleton, II. ix. s. 159. With this may be compared the definition given in chapter 37 of Magna Carta, where John speaks of land thus held by a vassal as “quam tenet de nobis per servitium reddendi nobis cultellos, vel sagittas vel hujusmodi.” ----- The grant of lands on such privileged tenures was frequently made in early days on account of the special favour entertained by the King for the original grantee, due, it might be, to the memory of some great service rendered at a critical juncture to the King’s person or interests. A few illustrative examples may be cited from the spirited description of a scholar whose accuracy can be relied upon. Serjeanties, as Miss Bateson tells us, "were neither always military nor always agricultural, but might approach very closely the service of knights or the service of farmers.... The serjeanty of holding the King’s head when he made a rough passage across the Channel, of pulling a rope when his vessel landed, of counting his chessmen on Christmas Day, of bringing fuel to his castle, of doing his carpentry, of finding his potherbs, of forging his irons for his ploughs, of tending his garden, of nursing the hounds gored and injured in the hunt, of serving as veterinary to his sick falcons, such and many other might be the ceremonial or menial services due from a given serjeanty."[74] ----- Footnote 74: _Mediaeval England_, pp. 249-250. A similar tenure still exists in Scotland under the name of "blench"—a tenure wherein the reddendo is elusory, viz., the annual rendering of such small things as an arrow or a penny or a peppercorn, “if asked only” (_si petatur tantum_). ----- In the days before legal definition had done its work, it must often have been difficult to say on which side of the line separating Petty Serjeanties from Grand Serjeanties any particular holding fell. Gradually, however, important and practical distinctions were established, making it necessary that the boundary should be defined with accuracy. In particular, the rule was established that Petty Serjeanties, while liable for relief, were exempt altogether from the burdensome incidents of wardship and marriage, which Grand Serjeanties shared with lands held by ordinary Barony or Knight’s service.[75] Thus the way was prepared for the practical identification of the Petty Serjeanties with ordinary socage at a later date. ----- Footnote 75: Littleton, II. viii. s. 158. -----