Chapter XI: Part 11

9
'Cook in your kitchen I will be,
O that my love was so easy won!
And serve your lady most reverently,
For I darena go back to Northumberland.'

10
'Cook in my kitchen you shall not be,
Why was your love so easy won!
For I will have no such servants as thee,
So get you back to Northumberland.'

11
But laith was he the lassie to tyne,
A may's love whiles is easy won
He's hired an old horse and feed an old man,
To carry her back to Northumberland.

12
O when she came her father before,
A may's love whiles is easy won
She fell down on her knees so low
For she was the fair flower of Northumberland.

13
'O daughter, O daughter, why was ye so bold,
Or why was your love so easy won,
To be a Scottish whore in your fifteen year old?
And you the fair flower of Northumberland!'

14
Her mother she gently on her did smile,
O that her love was so easy won!
'She is not the first that the Scotts have beguild,
But she's still the fair flower of Northumberland.

15
'She shanna want gold, she shanna want fee,
Altho that her love was so easy won,
She shanna want gold to gain a man wi,
And she's still the fair flower of Northumberland.'

C

#a.# Buchan's MSS, II, 166. #b.# Buchan's Ballads of the
North of Scotland, II, 208.

1
As I went by a jail-house door,
Maid's love whiles is easy won
I saw a prisoner standing there,
'I wish I were home in fair Scotland.

2
'Fair maid, will you pity me?
Ye'll steal the keys, let me gae free:
I'll make you my lady in fair Scotland.

3
'I'm sure you have no need of me,
For ye have a wife and bairns three,
That lives at home in fair Scotland.'

4
He swore by him that was crownd with thorn,
That he never had a wife since the day he was born,
But livd a free lord in fair Scotland.

5
She went unto her father's bed-head,
She's stown the key o mony a lock,
She's let him out o prison strong.

6
She's went to her father's stable,
She's stown a steed baith wight and able,
To carry them on to fair Scotland.

7
They rode till they came to a muir,
He bade her light aff, they'd call her a whore,
If she didna return to Northumberland.

8
They rode till they came to a moss,
He bade her light aff her father's best horse,
And return her again to Northumberland.

9
'I'm sure I have no need of thee,
When I have a wife and bairns three,
That lives at home in fair Scotland.'

10
'I'll be cook in your kitchen,
And serve your lady handsomelie,
For I darena gae back to Northumberland.'

11
'Ye cannot be cook in my kitchen,
My lady cannot fa sic servants as thee,
So ye'll return again to Northumberland.'

12
When she went thro her father's ha,
She looted her low amongst them a',
She was the fair flower o Northumberland.

13
Out spake her father, he spake bold,
'How could ye be a whore in fifteen years old,
And you the flower of Northumberland?'

14
Out spake her mother, she spake wi a smile,
'She's nae the first his coat did beguile,
Ye're welcome again to Northumberland.'

D

Motherwell's MS., p. 102.

1
She's gane down to her father's stable,
O my dear, and my love that she wan
She's taen out a black steed baith sturdy and able,
And she's away to fair Scotland.

2
When they came to Scotland bridge,
'Light off, you whore, from my black steed,
And go your ways back to Northumberland.'

3
'O take me by the body so meek,
And throw me in the water so deep,
For I daurna gae back to Northumberland.'

4
'I'll no take thee by the body so meek,
Nor throw thee in the water so deep;
Thou may go thy ways back to Northumberland.'

5
'Take me by the body so small,
And throw me in yon bonny mill-dam,
For I daurna gae back to Northumberland.'

E

"Written down from memory by Robert Hutton, Shepherd,
Peel, Liddesdale." Mr R. White's papers.

1
A bailiff's fair daughter, she lived by the Aln,
A young maid's love is easily won
She heard a poor prisoner making his moan,
And she was the flower of Northumberland.

2
'If ye could love me, as I do love thee,
A young maid's love is hard to win
I'll make you a lady of high degree,
When once we go down to fair Scotland.'

3
To think of the prisoner her heart was sore,
A young maid's love is easily won
Her love it was much, but her pity was more,
And she, etc.

4
She stole from her father's pillow the key,
And out of the dungeon she soon set him free,
And she, etc.

5
She led him into her father's stable,
And they've taken a steed both gallant and able,
To carry them down to fair Scotland.

6
When they first took the way, it was darling and dear;
As forward they fared, all changed was his cheer,
And she, etc.

7
They rode till they came to a fair Scottish corse;
Says he, 'Now, pray madam, dismount from my horse,
And go get you back to Northumberland.

8
'It befits not to ride with a leman light,
When awaits my returning my own lady bright,
My own wedded wife in fair Scotland.'

9
The words that he said on her fond heart smote,
She knew not in sooth if she lived or not,
And she, etc.

10
She looked to his face, and it kythed so unkind
That her fast coming tears soon rendered her blind,
And she, etc.

11
'Have pity on me as I had it on thee,
O why was my love so easily won!
A slave in your kitchen I'm willing to be,
But I may not go back to Northumberland.

12
'Or carry me up by the middle sae sma,
O why was my love so easily won!
And fling me headlong from your high castle wa,
For I dare not go back to Northumberland.'

13
Her wailing, her woe, for nothing they went,
A young maid's love is easily won
His bosom was stone and he would not relent,
And she, etc.

14
He turned him around and he thought of a plan,
He bought an old horse and he hired an old man,
To carry her back to Northumberland.

15
A heavy heart makes a weary way,
She reached her home in the evening gray,
And she, etc.

16
And all as she stood at her father's tower-gate,
More loud beat her heart than her knock thereat,
And she, etc.

17
Down came her step-dame, so rugged and doure,
O why was your love so easily won!
'In Scotland go back to your false paramour,
For you shall not stay here in Northumberland.'

18
Down came her father, he saw her and smiled,
A young maid's love is easily won
'You are not the first that false Scots have beguiled,
And ye're aye welcome back to Northumberland.

19
'You shall not want houses, you shall not want land,
You shall not want gold for to gain a husband,
And ye're aye welcome back to Northumberland.'

* * * * *

#A. a.#

2. _Halliwell's Deloney, in the first line of the burden,
has ~leape over~, but not elsewhere._

9^2. in the.

25^2. Where.

#b.#

3^2. walks.

3^4. she is.

5^1. aloud.

13^3. _omits_ sad.

15^3. the knight.

16^2. forth did.

24^3. The fairest.

27^1 thou shalt.

32^2. knight.

35^2. never were.

#B. b.#

2^2. this prison.

4^3. _omits_ that was.

6^3. ye brazen-fac'd.

11^3. He hired.

12^3. fell at his feet.

13^1. _omits_ so.

14^1. mother on her sae gentlie smild, _etc._

#C. a.#

8^2. Her bade.

8^3. return him.

#b.#

5^1. into.

13^2. at fifteen.

#D.#

2. _Thus in Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xv_:

When they came to Scotland brig,
O my dear, my love that she wan!
'Light off, ye hure, from my black steed,
And his ye awa to Northumberland.'

#E.#

"The Flower of Northumberland. Written down from memory by
Robert Hutton, Shepperd, Peel, Liddesdale, and sent by
James Telfor to his friend Robert White, Newcastle on
Tyne. 20 copies printed." _Mr White's note._

[119] "Two of them singing the dittie," says Deloney, "and all the rest bearing the burden."

[120] The earliest edition now known to exist is of 1619.

[121] Some of these ballads begin with stanzas which are found also in Kvindemorderen and Ribold ballads (our No 4, No 7), where also a young woman is carried off furtively by a man. This is only what is to be expected.

[122] By mistake, most probably. But in one of the Polish ballads, cited a little further on, #Q# (Kolberg, P. 1. Polskiego, 5 pp), the maid is told, "In my country the mountains are golden, the mountains are of gold."

[123] So 'Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight,' #D# 11:

'Is this your bowers and lofty towers?'

[124] There is a similarity, which is perhaps not accidental, between these Scandinavian ballads and 'Child Waters.' Child Waters makes Ellen swim a piece of water, shows her his hall--"of red gold shines the tower"--where the fairest lady is his paramour, subjects her to menial services, and finally, her patience withstanding all trials, marries her.

[125] They pass the water in #Q# only, and that in a boat. She is thrown in from a bridge in #V#, #W#, the bridge of Cracow in #C#: cf. Scotland bridge, #D# 2 of this ballad. By a curious accident, it is at a wayside crucifix that the man begins his change of demeanor in Polish #CC# 2 (Kolberg, #ddd#), as in #B# 5, #E# 7, of this ballad, it is at a Scottish cross.

10

THE TWA SISTERS

#A. a.# 'The Miller and the King's Daughter,' broadside of
1656, Notes and Queries, 1st S., V, 591. #b.# Wit
Restor'd, 1658, "p. 51," in the reprint of 1817, p. 153.
#c.# 'The Miller and the King's Daughters,' Wit and
Drollery, ed. 1682, p. 87. #d.# 'The Miller and the King's
Daughter,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 315.

#B. a.# 'The Twa Sisters,' Jamieson-Brown MS., fol. 39.
#b.# 'The Cruel Sister,' Wm. Tytler's Brown MS., No 15.
#c.# 'The Cruel Sister,' Abbotsford MS., "Scottish Songs,"
fol. 21. #d.# 'The Twa Sisters,' Jamieson's Popular
Ballads, I, 48.

#C.# 'The Cruel Sister,' Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 143
(1802).

#D.# 'The Bonnie Milldams of Binnorie,' Kinloch MSS, II,
49.

#E.# 'The Twa Sisters,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, No X, p. 30.

#F.# 'The Bonny Bows o London,' Motherwell's MS., p. 383.

#G.# Motherwell's MS., p. 104.

#H.# Motherwell's MS., p. 147.

#I.# 'Bonnie Milldams o Binnorie,' Kinloch MSS, V, 425.

#J.# 'The Miller's Melody,' Notes and Queries, 4th S., V,
23.

#K.# 'Binnorie,' Kinloch's papers.

#L. a.# 'The Miller's Melody,' Notes and Queries, 1st S.,
V, 316. #b.# 'The Drowned Lady,' The Scouring of the White
Horse, p. 161.

#M.# 'Binorie, O an Binorie,' Murison MS., p. 79.

#N.# 'Binnorie,' [Pinkerton's] Scottish Tragic Ballads, p.
72.

#O.# 'The Bonny Bows o London.' #a.# Buchan's Ballads of
the North of Scotland, II, 128. #b.# Christie's
Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 42.

#P. a.# 'The Twa Sisters,' Motherwell's MS., p. 245. #b.#
'The Swan swims bonnie O,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy,
Appendix, p. xx.

#Q.# 'The Twa Sisters,' communicated by J. F. Campbell,
Esq.

#R. a.# 'The Three Sisters,' Notes and Q., 1st S., VI,
102. #b.# 'Bodown,' communicated by J. F. Campbell, Esq.
#c.# 'The Barkshire Tragedy,' The Scouring of the White
Horse, p. 158.

#S.# Kinloch MSS, VI, 89.

#T.# 'Sister, dear Sister,' Allingham's Ballad Book, p.
xxxiii.

#U.# From Long Island, N.Y., communicated by Mr W. W.
Newell.

This is one of the very few old ballads which are not extinct as tradition in the British Isles. Even drawing-room versions are spoken of as current, "generally traced to some old nurse, who sang them to the young ladies."[126] It has been found in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and was very early in print. Dr Rimbault possessed and published a broadside of the date 1656[127] (#A a#), and the same copy is included in the miscellany called Wit Restor'd, 1658. Both of these name "Mr Smith" as the author; that is, Dr James Smith, a well-known writer of humorous verses, to whom the larger part of the pieces in Wit Restor'd has been attributed. If the ballad were ever in Smith's hands, he might possibly have inserted the three burlesque stanzas, 11-13; but similar verses are found in another copy (#L a#), and might easily be extemporized by any singer of sufficiently bad taste. Wit and Drollery, the edition of 1682, has an almost identical copy of the ballad, and this is repeated in Dryden's Miscellany, edition of 1716, Part III, p. 316. In 1781 Pinkerton inserted in his Tragic Ballads one with the title 'Binnorie,' purporting to be from Scottish tradition. Of twenty-eight couplets, barely seven are genuine. Scott printed in 1802 a copy (#C#) compounded from one "in Mrs Brown's MS." (#B b#) and a fragment of fourteen stanzas which had been transcribed from recitation by Miss Charlotte Brooke, adopting a burden found in neither.[128] Jamieson followed, four years after, with a tolerably faithful, though not, as he says, _verbatim_, publication of his copy of Mrs Brown's ballad, somewhat marred, too, by acknowledged interpolations. This text of Mrs Brown's is now correctly given, with the whole or fragments of eleven others, hitherto unpublished.

The ballad is as popular with the Scandinavians as with their Saxon cousins. Grundtvig, 'Den talende Strengeleg,' No 95, gives nine #Danish# versions and one stanza of a tenth; seven, #A-E#, in II, 507 ff, the remainder, #H-K#, in III, 875 ff. One more, #L#, is added by Kristensen, No 96, I, 253. Of these, only #E# had been previously printed. All are from tradition of this century.

There are two #Icelandic# versions, #A# from the 17th, #B# from the 19th, century, printed in Íslenzk Fornkvæði, No 13, 'Hörpu kvæði.'

Of twelve #Norwegian# versions, #A#, by Moe, "is printed in Norske Universitets og Skole-Annaler for 1850, p. 287," and in Moe's Samlede Skrifter, II, 118, 'Dæ bur ein Mann hær utmæ Aa;' #B#, by Lindeman, Annaler, as before, "p. 496," and in his Norske Fjeldmelodier, vol. I, Tekst-Bilag, p. 4, No 14, 'Dei tvæ Systa;' #C#, by Landstad, 'Dei tvo systar,' No 53, p. 480; #D-L# are described by Professor Bugge in Grundtvig, III, 877 f; #M# "is printed in Illustreret Nyhedsblads Nytaarsgave for 1860, p. 77, Christiania."

Four #Färöe# versions are known: #A#, 'Hörpuríma,' "in Svabo's MS., No 16, I, 291," incorrectly printed by Afzelius, I, 86, and accurately, from a copy furnished by Grundtvig, in Bergström's edition of Afzelius, II, 69; #B#, a compound of two versions taken down by Pastor Lyngbye and by Pastor Schröter, in Nyeste Skilderie af Kjøbenhavn, 1821, col. 997 ff; #C#, a transcript from recitation by Hammershaimb (Grundtvig); #D#, "in Fugloyjarbók, No 31."

#Swedish# versions are: #A#, 'Den underbara Harpan,' Afzelius, No 17, I, 81, new ed., No 16, 1, I, 72: #B#, 'De två Systrarne,' Afzelius, No 69, III, 16, new ed., No 16, 2, I, 74: #C#, #D#, #E#, unprinted copies in Cavallius and Stephens's collection: #F#, 'De två Systrarne,' Arwidsson, No 99, II, 139: #G#, 'Systermordet,' E. Wigström, Skånska Visor, p. 4, and the same, Folkdiktning, etc., No 7, p. 19: #H#, Rancken, Några Prof af Folksång, No 3, p. 10. Afzelius, moreover, gives variations from four other copies which he had collected, III, 20 ff, new ed., II, 74 ff; and Rancken from three others. Both of the editors of the new Afzelius have recently obtained excellent copies from singers. The ballad has also been found in Finnish, Bergström's Afzelius, II, 79.

There is a remarkable agreement between the Norse and English ballads till we approach the conclusion of the story, with a natural diversity as to some of the minuter details.

The sisters are king's daughters in English #A#, #B#, #C#, #H#, #O# (?), #P#, #Q#, #R a#, and in Swedish #B# and two others of Afzelius's versions. They are an earl's daughters in Swedish #F#, and sink to farmer's daughters in English #R b#, #c#,[129] Swedish #A#, #G#, Norwegian #C#.

It is a thing made much of in most of the Norse ballads that the younger sister is fair and the older dark; the younger is bright as the sun, as white as ermine or as milk, the elder black as soot, black as the earth, Icelandic #A#, Swedish #A#, #B#, #G#, Danish #A#, #D#, etc.; and this difference is often made the ground for very unhandsome taunts, which qualify our compassion for the younger; such as Wash all day, and you will be no whiter than God made you, Wash as white as you please, you will never get a lover, Färöe #A#, #B#, Norwegian #A#, #C#, etc. This contrast may possibly be implied in "the youngest was the fairest flower," English #F#, #G#, #Q# ["sweetest," #D#], but is expressed only in #M#, "Ye was fair and I was din" (dun), and in #P a#, "The old was black and the young are fair."

The scene of action is a seashore in Icelandic and Färöe #A#, #B#, Norwegian #A#, Swedish #A#, #B#, #G#, #H#, and in all the Danish complete copies: a seashore, or a place where ships come in, in English #A#, #B a#, #D-I#, #Q#, #R a#, #T#, but in all save the last of these (the last is only one stanza) we have the absurdity of a body drowned in navigable water being discovered floating down a mill-stream.[130] #B c# has "the deep mill-dam;" #C# "the river-strand," perhaps one of Scott's changes; #M#, "the dams;" #L#, #O#, #P#, #R b c#, a river, Tweed mill-dam, or the water of Tweed. Norwegian #B# has a river.

The pretence for the older sister's taking the younger down to the water is in English #A-E#, #G#, #H#, #I#, #O#, #Q#, to see their father's ships come in; in Icelandic #B# to wash their silks;[131] in most of the Norse ballads to wash themselves, so that, as the elder says, "we may be alike white," Danish #C-H#, Norwegian #A#, #C#, Swedish #F#, #G#, Färöe #A#, #B#. Malice prepense is attributed to the elder in Swedish #B#, #F#, Norwegian C, Danish #E#, #F#, #G#: but in Färöe #A#, #B#, Norwegian #A#, #B#, and perhaps some other cases, a previous evil intent is not certain, and the provocations of the younger sister may excuse the elder so far.

The younger is pushed from a stone upon which she sits, stands, or steps, in English #B#, #C#, #E-H#, #M#, #O#, #Q#, Icelandic #A#, #B#, Färöe #A#, #B#, Norwegian #A#, #B#, #C#, Danish #A-E#, #H#, #L#, Swedish #G#, #H#, and Rancken's other copies.

The drowning scene is the same in all the ballads, except as to one point. The younger sister, to save her life, offers or consents to renounce her lover in the larger number, as English #B-E#, #G#, #H#, #I#, #M#, #P#, #Q#, Danish #A-D#, #F#, #G#, #I#, Swedish #A-D#, #G#, #H#; and in Icelandic #B# and "all the Färöe" ballads she finally yields, after first saying that her lover must dispose of himself. But Swedish #F#, with more spirit, makes the girl, after promising everything else, reply:

'Help then who can, help God above!
But ne'er shalt thou get my dear true-love.'

In this refusal concur Icelandic #A#, Danish #E#, #H#, #L#, and all the Norwegian versions except #L#.

Swedish #A#, #G#, and Rancken's versions (or two of them) make the younger sister, when she sees that she must drown, send greetings to her father, mother, true-love [also brother, sister, Rancken], and add in each case that she is drinking, or dancing, her bridal in the flood, that her bridal-bed is made on the white-sand, etc.

The body of the drowned girl is discovered, in nearly all the English ballads, by some member of the miller's household, and is taken out of the water by the miller. In #L b#, which, however, is imperfect at the beginning, a harper finds the body. In the Icelandic ballads it is found on the seashore by the lover; in all the Norwegian but #M# by two fishermen, as also in Swedish #D# [fishermen in Swedish #B#]; in all the Färöe versions and Norwegian #M# by two "pilgrims;"[132] in Danish #A-F#, #L#, and Swedish #C# by two musicians, Danish #H#, Swedish #A#, #G#, one. Danish #G#, which is corrupted at the close, has three musicians, but these simply witness and report the drowning.

According to all complete and uncorrupted forms of the ballad, either some part of the body of the drowned girl is taken to furnish a musical instrument, a harp or a viol,[133] or the instrument is wholly made from the body. This is done in the Norse ballads by those who first find the body, save in Swedish #B#, where fishermen draw the body ashore, and a passing "speleman" makes the instrument. In English it is done by the miller, #A#; by a harper, #B#, #C#, #G#, #L b# (the _king's_ harper in #B#); by a fiddler, #D#, #E#, #I#, #L a# (?), #O#, #P# (the _king's_ fiddler, #O# (?), #P#); by both a fiddler and the king's harper, #H#; in #F# by the father's herdsman, who happens to be a fiddler.

Perhaps the original conception was the simple and beautiful one which we find in English #B# and both the Icelandic ballads, that the king's harper, or the girl's lover, takes three locks of her yellow hair to string his harp with. So we find three tets of hair in #D#, #E#, #I#, and three links in #F#, #P#, used, or directed to be used, to string the fiddle or the fiddle-bow, and the same, apparently, with Danish #A#. Infelicitous additions were, perhaps, successively made; as a harp-frame from the breast-bone in English #C#, and fiddle-pins formed of the finger-joints, English #F#, #O#, Danish #B#, #C#, #E#, #F#, #L#. Then we have all three: the frame of the instrument formed from the breast (or trunk), the screws from the finger-joints, the strings from the hair, Swedish #A#, #B#, #G#, Norwegian #A#, #C#, #M#. And so one thing and another is added, or substituted, as fiddle-bows of the arms or legs, Swedish #C#, #D#, Danish #H#, English #L a#; a harp-frame from the arms, Norwegian #B#, Färöe #A#; a fiddle-frame from the skull, Swedish #C#, or from the back-bone, English #L b#; a _plectrum_ from the arm, Färöe #B#; strings from the veins, English #A#; a bridge from the nose, English #A#, #L a#; "hørpønota" from the teeth, Norwegian #B#; till we end with the buffoonery of English #A# and #L a#.

Swedish #H# has nothing about the finding of the body. Music is wanted for the bridal, and a man from another village, who undertakes to furnish it, looks three days for a proper tree to make a harp of. The singer of this version supplied the information, lost from the ballad, that the drowned sister had floated ashore and grown up into a linden, and that this was the very tree which was chosen for the harp. (See, further on, a Lithuanian, a Slovak, and an Esthonian ballad.)

All the Norse ballads make the harp or fiddle to be taken to a wedding, which chances to be that of the elder sister with the drowned girl's betrothed.[134] Unfortunately, many of the English versions are so injured towards the close that the full story cannot be made out. There is no wedding-feast preserved in any of them. The instrument, in #A#, #B#, #C#, #H#, is taken into the king's presence. The viol in #A# and the harp in #H# are expressly said to speak. The harp is laid upon a stone in #C#, #J#, and plays "its lone;" the fiddle plays of itself in #L b#.[135] #B# makes the harper play, and #D#, #F#, #K#, #O#, which say the fiddle played, probably mean that there was a fiddler, and so perhaps with all the Norse versions; but this is not very material, since in either case the instrument speaks "with most miraculous organ."

There are three strings made from the girl's hair in Icelandic #A#, #B#, English #B# [veins, English #A#], and the three tets or links in English #D#, #E#, #F#, #I#, #P# were no doubt taken to make three strings originally. Corresponding to this are three enunciations of the instrument in English #A#, #B#, #C#, Icelandic #A#, Färöe #A#,[136] #B#, Swedish #A#, #B#, #C#, #E#, #G#, #H#, Danish #A#, #D#, #F#, #I#. These are reduced to two in Icelandic #B#, Danish #B#, #C#, #H#, #L#, Swedish #D#, and even to one in English #D#, #F#, #I#, #K#, #O#, but some of these have suffered injury towards the conclusion. The number is increased to four in Norwegian #B#, to five in Norwegian #A#, #D#, and even to six in Norwegian #C#, #K#, #M#. The increase is, of course, a later exaggeration, and very detrimental to the effect. In those English copies in which the instrument speaks but once,[137] #D#, #F#, #K#, #O#, and we may add #P#, it expresses a desire for vengeance: Hang my sister, #D#, #F#, #K#; Ye'll drown my sister, as she's dune me, #O#; Tell him to burn my sister, #P#. This is found in no Norse ballad, neither is it found in the earliest English versions. These, and the better forms of the Norse, reveal the awful secret, directly or indirectly, and, in the latter case, sometimes note the effect on the bride. Thus, in Icelandic #B#, the first string sounds, The bride is our sister; the second, The bride is our murderer. In Danish #B# the first fiddle plays, The bride is my sister; the second, The bridegroom is my true-love; in #C#, #H#, the first strain is, The bride has drowned her sister, the second, Thy sister is driven [blown] to land. Färöe #A#, #B#, have: (1) The bride was my sister; (2) The bride was my murderer; (3) The bridegroom was my true-love. The bride then says that the harp disturbs her much, and that she lists to hear it no more. Most impressive of all, with its terse, short lines, is Icelandic #A#:

The first string made response:
'The bride was my sister once.'

The bride on the bench, she spake:
'The harp much trouble doth make.'

The second string answered the other:
'She is parting me and my lover.'

Answered the bride, red as gore:
'The harp is vexing us sore.'

The canny third string replied:
'I owe my death to the bride.'

He made all the harp-strings clang;
The bride's heart burst with the pang.

This is the wicked sister's end in both of the Icelandic ballads and in Färöe #A#, #B#. In Swedish #A#, #G#, at the first stroke on the harp she laughs; at the second she grows pale [has to be undressed]; upon the third she lay dead in her bed [falls dead on the floor]. She is burned in Danish #A#, #B#, #C#, #F#, #G#, Swedish #B#, Norwegian #A#, #B#, #C#, #I#, #M#. In Norwegian #K#, #L#, the younger sister (who is restored to life) begs that the elder may not be burned, but sent out of the country (cf. English #R b c#); nevertheless, she is buried alive in #L#, which is her fate also in #E#, and in other unprinted versions. A prose comment upon Danish #I# has her stabbed by the bridegroom.

Norwegian #B# 21 makes the bride, in her confusion at the revelations of the harp, ask the bridegroom to drive the fiddler out of the house. So far from complying, the bridegroom orders him mead and wine, and the bride to the pile. In Norwegian #C# the bride treads on the harper's foot, then orders the playing to stop; but the bridegroom springs from the table, and cries, Let the harp have its song out, pays no regard to the lady's alleging that she has so bad a head that she cannot bear it, and finally sends her to the pile. So, nearly, Norwegian #A#. In Danish #A#, #C#, #D#, #H#, #L#, vainly in the first two, the bride tries to hush the fiddler with a bribe. He endeavors to take back what he has said in #D#, #L#, declaring himself a drunken fool (the passage is borrowed from another ballad): still in #L#, though successful for the nonce, she comes to the stake and wheel some months after. In #H# the fiddler dashes the instrument against a stone, seemingly to earn his bribe, but this trait belongs to versions which take the turn of the Norwegian. In #C# 15 the bride springs from the table, and says, Give the fiddlers a trifle, and let them go. This explains the last stanza of English #A# (cf., Norwegian #B# 21):

Now pay the miller for his payne,
And let him bee gone in the divel's name.

Swedish #F# has an entirely perverted and feeble conclusion. "A good man" takes the younger sister from the water, carries her to his house, revives her, and nurses her till the morrow, and then restores her to her father, who asks why she is so pale, and why she had not come back with her sister. She explains that she had been pushed into the water, "and we may thank this good man that I came home at all." The father tells the elder that she is a disgrace to her country, and condemns her to the "blue tower." But her sister intercedes, and a cheerful and handsome wedding follows.

Swedish #C# and nearly all the Norwegian ballads[138] restore the drowned girl to life, but not by those processes of the Humane Society which are successfully adopted by the "arlig man" in Swedish #F#. The harp is dashed against a stone, or upon the floor, and the girl stands forth "as good as ever." As Landstad conceives the matter (484, note 7), the elder sister is a witch, and is in the end burned _as such_. The white body of the younger is made to take on the appearance of a crooked log, which the fishermen (who, by the way, are angels in #C#, #E#) innocently shape into a harp, and the music, vibrating from her hair "through all her limbs, marrow and bone," acts as a disenchantment. However this may be, the restoration of the younger sister, like all good endings foisted on tragedies, emasculates the story.

English #F# 9 has the peculiarity, not noticed elsewhere, that the drowning girl catches at a broom-root, and the elder sister forces her to let go her hold.[139] In Swedish #G# she is simply said to swim to an alder-root. In English #G# 8 the elder drives the younger from the land with a switch, in #I# 8 pushes her off with a silver wand.

English #O# introduces the _ghost_ of the drowned sister as instructing her father's fiddler to make a string of her hair and a peg of her little finger bone, which done, the first spring the fiddle plays, it says,

'Ye'll drown my sister as she's dune me.'

#P#, which is disordered at the end, seems to have agreed with #O#. In #Q# the ghost sends, by the medium of the miller and his daughter, respects to father, mother, and true-love, adding a lock of yellow hair for the last. The ghost is found in #N#, Pinkerton's copy, as well, but there appears to the lover at dead of night, two days after the drowning. It informs him of the murder, and he makes search for the body. This is a wide departure from the original story, and plainly a modern perversion. Another variation, entirely wanting in ancient authority, appears in #R#, #S#. The girl is not dead when she has floated down to the mill-dam, and, being drawn out of the water by the miller, offers him a handsome reward to take her back to her father [#S#, to throw her in again!]. The miller takes the reward, and pushes the girl in again, for which he is hanged.[140]

#Q# has a burden partly Gaelic,

... ohone and aree (alack and O Lord),
On the banks of the Banna (White River), ohone and aree,

which may raise a question whether the Scotch burden Binnorie (pronounced Bínnorie, as well as Binnórie) is corrupted from it, or the corruption is on the other side. Mr Campbell notices as quaint the reply in stanza 9:

'I did not put you in with the design
Just for to pull you out again.'

We have had a similar reply, made under like circumstances, in Polish versions of No 4: see p. 40, note.

All the Norse versions of this ballad are in two-line stanzas, and all the English, except #L b# and in part #L a#.

Some of the traits of the English and Norse story are presented by an Esthonian ballad, 'The Harp,' Neus, Ehstnische Volkslieder, No 13, p. 56. Another version is given in Rosenplänter's Beiträge zur genauern Kenntniss der ehstnischen Sprache, Heft 4, 142, and a third, says Neus, in Ch. H. J. Schlegel's Reisen in mehrere russische Gouvernements, V, 140. A young woman, who tells her own story, is murdered by her sisters-in-law and buried in a moor. She comes up as a birch, from which, with the jaw-bone of a salmon, the teeth of a pike, and her own hair (the account is somewhat confused) a harp is made. The harp is taken to the hall by the murdered girl's brother, and responds to his playing with tones of sorrow like those of the bride who leaves father and mother for the house of a husband.[141]

A Slovak ballad often translated (Talvj, Historical View, etc., p. 392; Wenzig's Slawische Volkslieder, p. 110, Westslawischer Märchenschatz, 273, and Bibliothek Slavischer Poesien, p. 134; Lewestam, Polnische Volksagen und Märchen, p. 151) comes nearer in some respects. A daughter is cursed by her mother for not succeeding in drawing water in frosty weather. Her bucket turns to stone, but she to a maple. Two fiddlers come by, and, seeing a remarkably fine tree, propose to make of it fiddles and fiddle-sticks. When they cut into the tree, blood spirts out. The tree bids them go on, and when they have done, play before the mother's door, and sing, Here is your daughter, that you cursed to stone. At the first notes the mother runs to the window, and begs them to desist, for she has suffered much since she lost her daughter.

The soul of a dead girl speaks through a tree, again, in a Lithuanian ballad, Nesselmann, Littauische Volkslieder, No 378, p. 320. The girl is drowned while attempting to cross a stream, carried down to the sea, and finally thrown ashore, where she grows up a linden. Her brother makes a pipe from a branch, and the pipe gives out sweet, sad tones. The mother says, That tone comes not from the linden; it is thy sister's soul, that hovers over the water. A like idea is met with in another Lithuanian ballad, Rhesa, Dainos, ed. Kurschat, No 85, p. 231. A sister plucks a bud from a rose-bush growing over the grave of her brother, who had died from disappointed love. How fragrant! she exclaims. But her mother answers, with tears, It is not the rosebud, but the soul of the youth that died of grief.

Though the range of the ballad proper is somewhat limited, popular tales equivalent as to the characteristic circumstances are very widely diffused.

A Polish popular tale, which is, indeed, half song, Wojcicki, Klechdy, ed. 1851, II, 15 (Lewestam, p. 105), Kolberg, Pieśni ludu Polskiego, p. 292, No 40 #a#, #b#, #c#, approaches very close to the English-Norse ballad. There were three sisters, all pretty, but the youngest far surpassing the others. A young man from the far-off Ukraine fell in with them while they were making garlands. The youngest pleased him best, and he chose her for his wife. This excited the jealousy of the eldest, and a few days after, when they were gathering berries in a wood, she killed the youngest, notwithstanding the resistance of the second sister, buried her, and gave out that she had been torn to pieces by wolves. When the youth came to ask after his love, the murderess told him this tale, and so won him by her devoted consolations that he offered her his hand. A willow grew out of the grave of the youngest, and a herdsman made a pipe from one of its boughs. Blow as he would, he could get no sound from the pipe but this:

'Blow on, herdsman, blow! God shall bless thee so.
The eldest was my slayer, the second tried to stay her.'

The herdsman took the pipe to the house of the murdered girl. The mother, the father, and the second sister successively tried it, and the pipe always sang a like song, Blow, mother, blow, etc. The father then put the pipe into the eldest sister's hands. She had hardly touched it, when blood spattered her cheeks, and the pipe sang:

'Blow on, sister, blow: God shall wreak me now.
Thou, sister, 't was didst slay me, the younger tried to stay thee,'
etc.

The murderess was torn by wild horses.

Professor Bugge reports a Norwegian tale, Grundtvig, III, 878, which resembles the ballad at the beginning. There were in a family two daughters and a son. One sister was wasteful, the other saving. The second complained of the first to her parents, and was killed and buried by the other. Foliage covered the grave, so that it could not be seen, but on the trees under which the body lay, there grew "strings." These the brother cut off and adapted to his fiddle, and when he played, the fiddle said, My sister is killed. The father, having heard the fiddle's revelation, brought his daughter to confess her act.

There is a series of tales which represent a king, or other personage, as being afflicted with a severe malady, and as promising that whichever of his children, commonly three sons, should bring him something necessary for his cure or comfort should be his heir: (1) 'La Flor del Lililá,' Fernan Caballero, Lágrimas, cap. 4; (2) 'La caña del riu de arenas,' Milá, Observaciones sobre la poesia popular, p. 178, No 3; (3) 'Es kommt doch einmal an den Tag,' Müllenhof, Sagen, u. s. w., p. 495, No 49; (4) 'Vom singenden Dudelsack,' Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Märchen, I, 329, No 51. Or the inheritance is promised to whichever of the children finds something lost, or rich and rare, a griffin's feather, a golden branch, a flower: (5) 'Die Greifenfeder,' Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol, p. 143, No 51; (6) 'La Flanuto,' Bladé, Contes et proverbes populaires recueillis en Armagnac, p. 3, No 1; (7) Wackernagel, in Haupt's Zeitschrift, III, 35, No 3, == 'Das Todtebeindli,' Colshorn, C. u. Th., Märchen u. Sagen, p. 193, No 71, == Sutermeister, Kinder-u.-Hausmärchen aus der Schweiz, p. 119, No 39. Or a king promises his daughter to the man who shall capture a dangerous wild beast, and the exploit is undertaken by three brothers [or two]: (8) 'Der singende Knochen,' Grimms, K. u. H. märchen, I, 149, No 28 (1857); (9) 'Die drei Brüder,' Curtze, Volksüberlieferungen aus dem Fürstenthum Waldeck, p. 53, No 11; (10) 'Der Rohrstengel,' Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande, u. s. w., p. 225, No 42. With these we may group, though divergent in some respects, (11) 'Der goldene Apfel,' Toeppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren, p. 139.[142] In all these tales the youngest child is successful, and is killed, out of envy, by the eldest or by the two elder. [There are only two children in (6), (7), (8); in (4) the second is innocent, as in the Polish tale.] Reeds grow over the spot where the body is buried (1), (2), (10), (11), or an elder bush (3), out of which a herdsman makes a pipe or flute; or a white bone is found by a herdsman, and he makes a pipe or horn of it (5-9); or a bag-pipe is made of the bones and skin of the murdered youth (4). The instrument, whenever it is played, attests the murder.

Among the tales of the South African Bechuana, there is one of a younger brother, who has been killed by an older, immediately appearing as a bird, and announcing what has occurred. The bird is twice killed, and the last time burnt and its ashes scattered to the winds, but still reappears, and proclaims that his body lies by a spring in the desert. Grimms, K. u. H. m. III, 361. Liebrecht has noted that the fundamental idea is found in a Chinese drama, 'The Talking Dish,' said to be based on a popular tale. An innkeeper and his wife kill one of their guests for his money, and burn the body. The innkeeper collects the ashes and pounds the bones, and makes a sort of mortar and a dish. This dish speaks very distinctly, and denounces the murderers. Journal Asiatique, 1851, 4th Series, vol. 18, p. 523.

* * * * *

Danish #A#, #E# are translated by Prior, I, 381, 384. English #B#, with use of #C#, is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 104, No 15; #C#, by Afzelius, III, 22. #C#, by Talvj, Versuch, u. s. w., p. 532; by Schubart, p. 133; by Gerhard, p. 143; by Doenniges, p. 81; Arndt, p. 238. #C#, with use of Aytoun's compounded version, by R. Warrens, Schottische V. L. der Vorzeit, p. 65; Allingham's version by Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 180.

A

#A. a.# Broadside "printed for Francis Grove, 1656,"
reprinted in Notes and Queries, 1st S., V, 591. #b.# Wit
Restor'd, 1658, "p. 51," p. 153 of the reprint of 1817.
#c.# Wit and Drollery, ed. 1682, p. 87,== Dryden's
Miscellany, Part 3, p. 316, ed. 1716. #d.# Jamieson's
Popular Ballads, I, 315.

1
There were two sisters, they went playing,
With a hie downe downe a downe-a
To see their father's ships come sayling in.
With a hy downe downe a downe-a

2
And when they came unto the sea-brym,
The elder did push the younger in.

3
'O sister, O sister, take me by the gowne,
And drawe me up upon the dry ground.'

4
'O sister, O sister, that may not bee,
Till salt and oatmeale grow both of a tree.'

5
Somtymes she sanke, somtymes she swam,
Until she came unto the mill-dam.

6
The miller runne hastily downe the cliffe,
And up he betook her withouten her life.

7
What did he doe with her brest-bone?
He made him a violl to play thereupon.

8
What did he doe with her fingers so small?
He made him peggs to his violl withall.

9
What did he doe with her nose-ridge?
Unto his violl he made him a bridge.

10
What did he doe with her veynes so blew?
He made him strings to his violl thereto.

11
What did he doe with her eyes so bright?
Upon his violl he played at first sight.

12
What did he doe with her tongue so rough?
Unto the violl it spake enough.

13
What did he doe with her two shinnes?
Unto the violl they danc'd Moll Syms.

14
Then bespake the treble string,
'O yonder is my father the king.'

15
Then bespake the second string,
'O yonder sitts my mother the queen.'

16
And then bespake the strings all three,
'O yonder is my sister that drowned mee.'

17
'Now pay the miller for his payne,
And let him bee gone in the divel's name.'

B

#a.# Jamieson-Brown MS., fol. 39. #b.# Wm. Tytler's Brown
MS., No 15. #c.# Abbotsford MS., "Scottish Songs," fol.
21. #d.# Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 48.

1
There was twa sisters in a bowr,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
There was twa sisters in a bowr,
Stirling for ay
There was twa sisters in a bowr,
There came a knight to be their wooer.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay

2
He courted the eldest wi glove an ring,
But he lovd the youngest above a' thing.

3
He courted the eldest wi brotch an knife,
But lovd the youngest as his life.

4
The eldest she was vexed sair,
An much envi'd her sister fair.

5
Into her bowr she could not rest,
Wi grief an spite she almos brast.

6
Upon a morning fair an clear,
She cried upon her sister dear:

7
'O sister, come to yon sea stran,
An see our father's ships come to lan.'

8
She's taen her by the milk-white han,
An led her down to yon sea stran.

9
The younges[t] stood upon a stane,
The eldest came an threw her in.

10
She tooke her by the middle sma,
An dashd her bonny back to the jaw.

11
'O sister, sister, tak my han,
An Ise mack you heir to a' my lan.

12
'O sister, sister, tak my middle,
An yes get my goud and my gouden girdle.

13
'O sister, sister, save my life,
An I swear Ise never be nae man's wife.'

14
'Foul fa the han that I should tacke,
It twin'd me an my wardles make.

15
'Your cherry cheeks an yallow hair
Gars me gae maiden for evermair.'

16
Sometimes she sank, an sometimes she swam,
Till she came down yon bonny mill-dam.

17
O out it came the miller's son,
An saw the fair maid swimmin in.

18
'O father, father, draw your dam,
Here's either a mermaid or a swan.'

19
The miller quickly drew the dam,
An there he found a drownd woman.

20
You coudna see her yallow hair
For gold and pearle that were so rare.

21
You coudna see her middle sma
For gouden girdle that was sae braw.

22
You coudna see her fingers white,
For gouden rings that was sae gryte.

23
An by there came a harper fine,
That harped to the king at dine.

24
When he did look that lady upon,
He sighd and made a heavy moan.

25
He's taen three locks o her yallow hair,
An wi them strung his harp sae fair.

26
The first tune he did play and sing,
Was, 'Farewell to my father the king.'

27
The nextin tune that he playd syne,
Was, 'Farewell to my mother the queen.'

28
The lasten tune that he playd then,
Was, 'Wae to my sister, fair Ellen.'

C

Scott's Minstrelsy, 1802, II; 143. Compounded from #B b#
and a fragment of fourteen stanzas transcribed from the
recitation of an old woman by Miss Charlotte Brooke.

1
There were two sisters sat in a bour;
Binnorie, O Binnorie
There came a knight to be their wooer.
By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie

2
He courted the eldest with glove and ring,
But he loed the youngest aboon a' thing.

3
He courted the eldest with broach and knife,
But he loed the youngest aboon his life.

4
The eldest she was vexed sair,
And sore envied her sister fair.

5
The eldest said to the youngest ane,
'Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?'

6
She's taen her by the lilly hand,
And led her down to the river strand.

7
The youngest stude upon a stane,
The eldest came and pushed her in.

8
She took her by the middle sma,
And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw.

9
'O sister, sister, reach your hand,
And ye shall be heir of half my land.'

10
'O sister, I'll not reach my hand,
And I'll be heir of all your land.

11
'Shame fa the hand that I should take,
It's twin'd me and my world's make.'

12
'O sister, reach me but your glove,
And sweet William shall be your love.'

13
'Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,
And sweet William shall better be my love.

14
'Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair
Garrd me gang maiden evermair.'

15
Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam,
Until she came to the miller's dam.

16
'O father, father, draw your dam,
There's either a mermaid or a milk-white swan.'

17
The miller hasted and drew his dam,
And there he found a drowned woman.

18
You could not see her yellow hair,
For gowd and pearls that were sae rare.

19
You could na see her middle sma,
Her gowden girdle was sae bra.

20
A famous harper passing by,
The sweet pale face he chanced to spy.

21
And when he looked that ladye on,
He sighed and made a heavy moan.

22
He made a harp of her breast-bone,
Whose sounds would melt a heart of stone.

23
The strings he framed of her yellow hair,
Whose notes made sad the listening ear.

24
He brought it to her father's hall,
And there was the court assembled all.

25
He laid this harp upon a stone,
And straight it began to play alone.

26
'O yonder sits my father, the king,
And yonder sits my mother, the queen.

27
'And yonder stands my brother Hugh,
And by him my William, sweet and true.'

28
But the last tune that the harp playd then,
Was 'Woe to my sister, false Helen!'

D

Kinloch's MSS, II, 49. From the recitation of Mrs
Johnston, a North-country lady.

1
There lived three sisters in a bouer,
Edinbruch, Edinbruch
There lived three sisters in a bouer,
Stirling for aye
There lived three sisters in a bouer,
The youngest was the sweetest flowr.
Bonnie St Johnston stands upon Tay

2
There cam a knicht to see them a',
And on the youngest his love did fa.

3
He brought the eldest ring and glove,
But the youngest was his ain true-love.

4
He brought the second sheath and knife,
But the youngest was to be his wife.

5
The eldest sister said to the youngest ane,
'Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?'

6
And as they walked by the linn,
The eldest dang the youngest in.

7
'O sister, sister, tak my hand,
And ye'll be heir to a' my land.'

8
'Foul fa the hand that I wad take,
To twin me o my warld's make.'

9
'O sister, sister, tak my glove,
And yese get Willie, my true-love.'

10
'Sister, sister, I'll na tak your glove,
For I'll get Willie, your true-love.'

11
Aye she swittert, and aye she swam,
Till she cam to yon bonnie mill-dam.

12
The miller's dochter cam out wi speed,
It was for water, to bake her bread.

13
'O father, father, gae slack your dam;
There's in't a lady or a milk-white swan.'

* * * * * * *

14
They could na see her coal-black eyes
For her yellow locks hang oure her brees.

15
They could na see her weel-made middle
For her braid gowden girdle.

* * * * * * *

16
And by there cam an auld blind fiddler,
And took three tets o her bonnie yellow hair.

* * * * * * *

17
The first spring that the bonnie fiddle playd,
'Hang my cruel sister, Alison,' it said.

E

Sharpe's Ballad Book, No 10, p. 30.

1
There livd twa sisters in a bower,
Hey Edinbruch, how Edinbruch!
There lived twa sisters in a bower,
Stirling for aye!
The youngest o them O she was a flower!
Bonny Sanct Johnstoune that stands upon Tay!

2
There cam a squire frae the west,
He loed them baith, but the youngest best.

3
He gied the eldest a gay gold ring,
But he loed the youngest aboon a' thing.

4
'O sister, sister, will ye go to the sea?
Our father's ships sail bonnilie.'

5
The youngest sat down upon a stane;
The eldest shot the youngest in.

6
'O sister, sister, lend me your hand,
And you shall hae my gouden fan.

7
'O sister, sister, save my life,
And ye shall be the squire's wife.'

8
First she sank, and then she swam,
Untill she cam to Tweed mill-dam.

9
The millar's daughter was baking bread,
She went for water, as she had need.

10
'O father, father, in our mill-dam
There's either a lady, or a milk-white swan.'

11
They could nae see her fingers small,
Wi diamond rings they were coverd all.

12
They could nae see her yellow hair,
Sae mony knots and platts were there.

13
They could nae see her lilly feet,
Her gowden fringes war sae deep.

14
Bye there cam a fiddler fair,
And he's taen three taits o her yellow hair.

F

Motherwell's MS., p. 383. From the recitation of Agnes
Lyle, Kilbarchan, 27th July, 1825.

1
There was two ladies livd in a bower,
Hey with a gay and a grinding O
The youngest o them was the fairest flower
About a' the bonny bows o London.

2
There was two ladies livd in a bower,
An wooer unto the youngest did go.

3
The oldest one to the youngest did say,
'Will ye take a walk with me today,
And we'll view the bonny bows o London.

4
'Thou'll set thy foot whare I set mine,
Thou'll set thy foot upon this stane.'