Chapter VIII: Part 8

45
'I wat she is as leal a wight
As the moon shines on in a simmer night.

46
'I wat she is as leal a may
As the sun shines on in a simmer day.

47
'But your bonnie bride's in her bower,
Dreeing the mither's trying hour.'

48
Then out o his bridal bed he sprang,
An into his mither's bower he ran.

49
'O mither kind, O mither dear,
This is nae a maiden fair.

50
'The maiden I took to my bride
Has a bairn atween her sides.

51
'The maiden I took to my bower
Is dreeing the mither's trying hour.'

52
Then to the chamber his mother flew,
And to the wa the door she threw.

53
She stapt at neither bolt nor ban,
Till to that ladie's bed she wan.

54
Says, 'Ladie fair, sae meek an mild,
Wha is the father o yere child?'

55
'O mither dear,' said that ladie,
'I canna tell gif I sud die.

56
'We were sisters, we were seven,
We were the fairest under heaven.

57
'And it was a' our seven years wark
To sew our father's seven sarks.

58
'And whan our seven years wark was done,
We laid it out upon the green.

59
'We coost the lotties us amang,
Wha wad to the greenwode gang;

60
'To pu the lily but an the rose,
To strew witha' our sisters' bowers.

61
..... 'I was youngest,
..... my weer was hardest.

62
'And to the greenwode I bu[d] gae.
. . . . . . .

63
'There I met a handsome childe,
. . . . . . .

64
'Wi laigh-coled stockings and high-coled shoon,
He seemed to be some king's son.

65
'And was I weel or was I wae,
He keepit me a' the simmer day.

66
'Though for my hame-gaun I oft sicht,
He keepit me a' the simmer night.

67
'He gae to me a gay gold ring,
An bade me keep it aboon a' thing;

68
'Three lauchters o his yellow hair,
For fear that we suld neer meet mair.

69
'O mither, if ye'll believe nae me,
Break up the coffer, an there ye'll see.'

70
An ay she coost, an ay she flang,
Till her ain gowd ring came in her hand.

71
And scarce aught i the coffer she left,
Till she gat the knife wi the siller heft,

72
Three lauchters o his yellow hair,
Knotted wi ribbons dink and rare.

73
She cried to her son, 'Where is the ring
Your father gave me at our wooing,
An I gae you at your hunting?

74
'What did ye wi the cuttie knife,
I bade ye keep it as yere life?'

75
'O haud yere tongue, my mither dear;
I gae them to a lady fair.

76
'I wad gie a' my lands and rents,
I had that ladie within my brents.

77
'I wad gie a' my lands an towers,
I had that ladie within my bowers.'

78
'Keep still yere lands, keep still yere rents;
Ye hae that ladie within yere brents.

79
'Keep still yere lands, keep still yere towers;
Ye hae that lady within your bowers.'

80
Then to his ladie fast ran he,
An low he kneeled on his knee.

81
'O tauk ye up my son,' said he,
'An, mither, tent my fair ladie.

82
'O wash him purely i the milk,
And lay him saftly in the silk.

83
'An ye maun bed her very soft,
For I maun kiss her wondrous oft.'

84
It was weel written on his breast-bane
Childe Branton was the father's name.

85
It was weel written on his right hand
He was the heir o his daddie's land.

D

Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of
Scotland, I, 204.

1
We were sisters, sisters seven,
Bowing down, bowing down
The fairest women under heaven.
And aye the birks a-bowing

2
They kiest kevels them amang,
Wha woud to the grenewood gang.

3
The kevels they gied thro the ha,
And on the youngest it did fa.

4
Now she must to the grenewood gang,
To pu the nuts in grenewood hang.

5
She hadna tarried an hour but ane
Till she met wi a highlan groom.

6
He keeped her sae late and lang
Till the evening set and birds they sang.

7
He gae to her at their parting
A chain o gold and gay gold ring;

8
And three locks o his yellow hair;
Bade her keep them for evermair.

9
When six lang months were come and gane,
A courtier to this lady came.

10
Lord Dingwall courted this lady gay,
And so he set their wedding-day.

11
A little boy to the ha was sent,
To bring her horse was his intent.

12
As she was riding the way along,
She began to make a heavy moan.

13
'What ails you, lady,' the boy said,
'That ye seem sae dissatisfied?

14
'Are the bridle reins for you too strong?
Or the stirrups for you too long?'

15
'But, little boy, will ye tell me
The fashions that are in your countrie?'

16
'The fashions in our ha I'll tell,
And o them a' I'll warn you well.

17
'When ye come in upon the floor,
His mither will meet you wi a golden chair.

18
'But be ye maid or be ye nane,
Unto the high seat make ye boun.

19
'Lord Dingwall aft has been beguild
By girls whom young men hae defiled.

20
'He's cutted the paps frae their breast-bane,
And sent them back to their ain hame.'

21
When she came in upon the floor,
His mother met her wi a golden chair.

22
But to the high seat she made her boun:
She knew that maiden she was nane.

23
When night was come, they went to bed,
And ower her breast his arm he laid.

24
He quickly jumped upon the floor,
And said, 'I've got a vile rank whore.'

25
Unto his mother he made his moan,
Says, 'Mother dear, I am undone.

26
'Ye've aft tald, when I brought them hame,
Whether they were maid or nane.

27
'I thought I'd gotten a maiden bright;
I've gotten but a waefu wight.

28
'I thought I'd gotten a maiden clear,
But gotten but a vile rank whore.'

29
'When she came in upon the floor,
I met her wi a golden chair.

30
'But to the high seat she made her boun,
Because a maiden she was nane.'

31
'I wonder wha 's tauld that gay ladie
The fashion into our countrie.'

32
'It is your little boy I blame,
Whom ye did send to bring her hame.'

33
Then to the lady she did go,
And said, 'O Lady, let me know

34
'Who has defiled your fair bodie:
Ye're the first that has beguiled me.'

35
'O we were sisters, sisters seven,
The fairest women under heaven.

36
'And we kiest kevels us amang,
Wha woud to the grenewood gang;

37
'For to pu the finest flowers,
To put around our summer bowers.

38
'I was the youngest o them a';
The hardest fortune did me befa.

39
'Unto the grenewood I did gang,
And pu'd the nuts as they down hang.

40
'I hadna stayd an hour but ane
Till I met wi a highlan groom.

41
'He keeped me sae late and lang
Till the evening set and birds they sang.

42
'He gae to me at our parting
A chain of gold and gay gold ring;

43
'And three locks o his yellow hair;
Bade me keep them for evermair.

44
'Then for to show I make nae lie,
Look ye my trunk, and ye will see.'

45
Unto the trunk then she did go,
To see if that were true or no.

46
And aye she sought, and aye she flang,
Till these four things came to her hand.

47
Then she did to her ain son go,
And said, 'My son, ye'll let me know,

48
'Ye will tell to me this thing:
What did you wi my wedding-ring?'

49
'Mother dear, I'll tell nae lie:
I gave it to a gay ladie.

50
'I would gie a' my ha's and towers,
I had this bird within my bowers.'

51
'Keep well, keep well your lands and strands;
Ye hae that bird within your hands.

52
'Now, my son, to your bower ye'll go:
Comfort your ladie, she's full o woe.'

53
Now when nine months were come and gane,
The lady she brought hame a son.

54
It was written on his breast-bane
Lord Dingwall was his father's name.

55
He's taen his young son in his arms,
And aye he praisd his lovely charms.

56
And he has gien him kisses three,
And doubled them ower to his ladie.

E

Elizabeth Cochrane's Song-Book, p. 146, No 112.

1
Lord Benwall he's a hunting gone;
Hey down, etc.
He's taken with him all his merry men.
Hey, etc.

2
As he was walking late alone,
He spyed a lady both brisk and young.

3
He keeped her so long and long,
From the evening late till the morning came.

4
All that he gave her at their parting
Was a pair of gloves and a gay gold ring.

5
Lord Benwall he's a wooing gone,
And he's taken with him all his merry men.

6
As he was walking the Haleigh throw,
He spy'd seven ladyes all in a row.

7
He cast a lot among them all;
Upon the youngest the lot did fall.

8
He wedded her and brought her home,
And by the way she made great moan.

9
'What aileth my dearest and dayly flower?
What ails my dear, to make such moan?

10
'Does the steed carry you too high?
Or does thy pillow sit awry?

11
'Or does the wind blow in thy glove?
Or is thy heart after another love?'

12
'The steed does not carry me too high,
Nor does my pillow sit awry.

13
'Nor does the wind blow in my glove,
Nor is my heart after another love.'

14
When they were doun to supper set,
The weary pain took her by the back.

15
'What ails my dearest and dayly flower?
What ails my dearest, to make such moan?'

16
'I am with child, and it's not to thee,
And oh and alas, what shall I doe!'

17
'I thought I had got a maid so mild;
But I have got a woman big with child.

18
'I thought I had got a dayly flower;
I have gotten but a common whore.'

* * * * * * *

19
'Rise up, Lord Benwall, go to your hall,
And cherrish up your merry men all.'

* * * * * * *

20
'As I was walking once late alone,
I spy'd a lord, both brisk and young.

21
'He keeped me so long and long,
From the evening late till the morning came.

22
'All that he gave me at our parting
Was a pair of gloves and a gay gold ring.

23
'If you will not believe what I tell to thee,
There's the key of my coffer, you may go and see.'

24
His mother went, and threw and flang,
Till to her hand the ring it came.

25
'Lord Benwall, wilt thou tell to me
Where is the ring I gave to thee?'

26
'Now I would give all my lands and tower,
To have that lady in my bower.

27
'I would give all my lands and rents,
To have that lady in my tents.'

28
'You need not give all your lands and tower,
For you have that lady in your power.

29
'You need not give all your lands and rents,
For you have that lady in your tents.'

30
Now it was written on the child's breast-bone
Lord Benwall's sirname and his name.

31
It was written on the child's right hand
That he should be heir of Lord Benwall's land.

32
'Canst cloath my lady in the silk,
And feed my young son with the milk.'

F

#a.# Motherwell's MS., p 219. From the recitation of Mrs
Thomson, February, 1825. #b.# Motherwell's Minstrelsy,
Appendix, p. xvi, the first stanza only.

1
There were three sisters in a bouir,
Eh down and Oh down
And the youngest o them was the fairest flour.
Eh down and O down

2
And we began our seven years wark,
To sew our brither John a sark.

3
When seven years was come and gane,
There was nae a sleeve in it but ane.

4
But we coost kevils us amang
Wha wud to the green-wood gang.

5
But tho we had coosten neer sae lang,
The lot it fell on me aye to gang.

6
I was the youngest, and I was the fairest,
And alace! my wierd it was aye the sairest.

7
. . . . . . .
Till I had to the woods to gae.

8
To pull the cherrie and the slae,
And to seek our ae brither, we had nae mae.

9
But as I was walking the leas o Lyne,
I met a youth gallant and fine;

10
Wi milk white stockings and coal black shoon;
He seemed to be some gay lord's son.

11
But he keepit me there sae lang, sae lang,
Till the maids in the morning were singing their sang.

12
Would I wee or would I way,
He keepit me the lang simmer day.

13
Would I way or would I wight,
He keepit me the simmer night.

14
But guess what was at our parting?
A pair o grass green gloves and a gay gold ring.

15
He gave me three plaits o his yellow hair,
In token that we might meet mair.

16
But when nine months were come and gane,
This gallant lord cam back again.

17
He's wed this lady, and taen her wi him;
But as they were riding the leas o Lyne,

18
This lady was not able to ride,
. . . . . . .

19
'O does thy saddle set thee aside?
Or does thy steed ony wrang way ride?

20
'Or thinkst thou me too low a groom?
. . . . . . .

21
'Or hast thou musing in thy mind
For the leaving of thy mother kind?'

22
'My saddle it sets not me aside,
Nor does my steed ony wrang way ride.

23
'Nor think I thee too low a groom
. . . . . . .

24
'But I hae musing in my mind
For the leaving of my mother kind.'

25
'I'll bring thee to a mother of mine,
As good a mother as eer was thine.'

26
'A better mother she may be,
But an unco woman she'll prove to me.'

27
But when lords and ladies at supper sat,
Her pains they struck her in the back.

28
When lords and ladies were laid in bed,
Her pains they struck her in the side.

29
'Rise up, rise up, now, Lord Brangwill,
For I'm wi child and you do not know't.'

30
He took up his foot and gave her sic a bang
Till owre the bed the red blood sprang.

31
He is up to his mother's ha,
Calling her as hard as he could ca.

32
'I went through moss and I went through mure,
Thinking to get some lily flouir.

33
. . . . . . .
'But to my house I have brocht a hure.

34
'I thocht to have got a lady baith meek and mild,
But I've got a woman that's big wi child.'

35
'O rest you here, Lord Brangwill,' she said,
'Till I relieve your lady that lyes so low.'

36
'O daughter dear, will you tell to me
Who is the father of your babie?'

37
'Yes, mother dear, I will tell thee
Who is the father of my babie.

38
'As I was walking the leas o Lyne,
I met a youth gallant and fine;

39
'With milk-white stockings and coal-black shoon;
He seemd to be sum gay lord's son.

40
'He keepit me sae lang, sae lang,
Till the maids in the morning were singing their sang.

41
'Would I wee or would I way,
He keepit me the lang simmer day.

42
'Would I way or would I wight,
He keepit me the simmer night.

43
'But guess ye what was at our parting?
A pair of grass green gloves and a gay gold ring.

44
'He gave me three plaits o his yellow hair,
In token that we might meet mair.'

45
'O dochter dear, will ye show me
These tokens that he gave to thee?'

46
'Altho my back should break in three,
Unto my coffer I must be.'

47
'Thy back it shall not break in three,
For I'll bring thy coffer to thy knee.'

48
Aye she coost, and aye she flang,
Till these three tokens came to her hand.

49
Then she is up to her son's ha,
Calling him hard as she could ca.

50
'O son, O son, will you tell me
. . . . . . .

51
'What ye did wi the grass green gloves and gay gold ring
That ye gat at your own birth-een?'

52
'I gave them to as pretty a may
As ever I saw in a simmer day.

53
'I wud rather than a' my lands sae broad
That I had her as sure as eer I had.

54
'I would rather than a' my lands sae free
I had her here this night wi me.'

55
'I wish you good o your lands sae broad,
For ye have her as sure as eer ye had.

56
'I wish ye good o your lands sae free,
For ye have her here this night wi thee.'

57
'Gar wash my auld son in the milk,
Gar deck my lady's bed wi silk.'

58
He gave his auld son kisses three,
But he doubled them a' to his gay ladye.

G

Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 244; ed.
1776, I, 83.

1
As Bothwell was walking in the lowlands alane,
Hey down and a down
He met six ladies sae gallant and fine.
Hey down and a down

2
He cast his lot amang them a',
And on the youngest his lot did fa.

3
He's brought her frae her mother's bower,
Unto his strongest castle and tower.

4
But ay she cried and made great moan,
And ay the tear came trickling down.

5
'Come up, come up,' said the foremost man,
'I think our bride comes slowly on.'

6
'O lady, sits your saddle awry,
Or is your steed for you owre high?'

7
'My saddle is not set awry,
Nor carries me my steed owre high;

8
'But I am weary of my life,
Since I maun be Lord Bothwell's wife.'

9
He's blawn his horn sae sharp and shrill,
Up start the deer on evry hill.

10
He's blawn his horn sae lang and loud,
Up start the deer in gude green-wood.

11
His lady mother lookit owre the castle wa,
And she saw them riding ane and a'.

12
She's calld upon her maids by seven,
To mak his bed baith saft and even.

13
She's calld upon her cooks by nine,
To make their dinner fair and fine.

14
When day was gane, and night was come,
'What ails my love on me to frown?

15
'Or does the wind blow in your glove?
Or runs your mind on another love?'

16
'Nor blows the wind within my glove,
Nor runs my mind on another love;

17
'But I nor maid nor maiden am,
For I'm wi bairn to another man.'

18
'I thought I'd a maiden sae meek and sae mild,
But I've nought but a woman wi child.'

19
His mother's taen her up to a tower,
And lockit her in her secret bower.

20
'Now, doughter mine, come tell to me,
Wha's bairn this is that you are wi.'

21
'O mother dear, I canna learn
Wha is the faither of my bairn.

22
'But as I walkd in the lowlands my lane,
I met a gentleman gallant and fine.

23
'He keepit me there sae late and sae lang,
Frae the evning late till the morning dawn.

24
'And a' that he gied me to my propine
Was a pair of green gloves and a gay gold ring;

25
'Three lauchters of his yellow hair,
In case that we shoud meet nae mair.'

26
His lady mother went down the stair:
. . . . . . .

27
'Now son, now son, come tell to me,
Where's the green gloves I gave to thee?'

28
'I gied to a lady sae fair and so fine
The green gloves and a gay gold ring.

29
'But I wad gie my castles and towers,
I had that lady within my bowers.

30
'But I wad gie my very life,
I had that lady to be my wife.'

31
'Now keep, now keep your castles and towers,
You have that lady within your bowers.

32
'Now keep, now keep your very life,
You have that lady to be your wife.'

33
'O row my lady in sattin and silk,
And wash my son in the morning milk.'

H

Kinloch MSS, V, 335, in the handwriting of Dr John Hill
Burton.

1
We were seven sisters in a bower,
Adown adown, and adown and adown
The flower of a' fair Scotland ower.
Adown adown, and adown and adown

2
We were sisters, sisters seven,
The fairest women under heaven.

3
There fell a dispute us amang,
Wha would to the greenwood gang.

4
They kiest the kevels them amang,
O wha would to the greenwood gang.

5
The kevels they gied thro the ha,
And on the youngest it did fa.

6
The kevel fell into her hand,
To greenwood she was forced to gang.

7
She hedna pued a flower but ane,
When by there came an earl's son.

8
'And was he well or was he wae,
He keepet me that summer's day.'

9
And was he weel or was he weight,
He keepet her that summer's night.

10
And he gave her a gay goud ring
His mother got at her wedding.

* * * * * * *

11
'Oh is yer stirrup set too high?
Or is your saddle set awry?

12
'Oh is yer stirrup set too side?
Or what's the reason ye canna ride?'

* * * * * * *

13
When all were at the table set,
Then not a bit could this lady eat.

14
When all made merry at the feast,
This lady wished she were at her rest.

* * * * * * *

* * * * *

#A. a.#

_In the MS. two lines are written continuously, and two of
these double lines numbered as one stanza._

19^1, 23^1, 69^2, 71^2, _perhaps ~gate~, ~gates~ in MS._

54^1, _MS._ be a nae.

56.^1 _~casket~ in MS.?_

#b. 1.#

Chil Brenton has sent oer the faem,
Chil Brenton's brought his lady hame.

#B.#

_Printed by Scott in four-line stanzas. 7, 55, 56, 58, 61,
seem to be the stanzas transferred from Herd, but only the
last without change._

#C.#

_The stanzas are not divided in Cromek. Between 14 and 15
the following nineteen couplets have been omitted._

First blew the sweet, the simmer wind,
Then autumn wi her breath sae kind,
Before that eer the guid knight came
The tokens of his luve to claim.
Then fell the brown an yellow leaf
Afore the knight o luve shawed prief;
Three morns the winter's rime did fa,
When loud at our yett my luve did ca.
'Ye hae daughters, ye hae seven,
Ye hae the fairest under heaven.
I am the lord o lands wide,
Ane o them maun be my bride.
I am lord of a baronie,
Ane o them maun lie wi me.
O cherry lips are sweet to pree,
A rosie cheek's meet for the ee;
Lang brown locks a heart can bind,
Bonny black een in luve are kind;
Sma white arms for clasping's meet,
Whan laid atween the bridal-sheets;
A kindlie heart is best of a',
An debonnairest in the ha.
Ane by ane thae things are sweet,
Ane by ane in luve they're meet;
But when they a' in ae maid bide,
She is fittest for a bride.
Sae be it weel or be it wae,
The youngest maun be my ladie;
Sae be it gude, sae be it meet,
She maun warm my bridal-sheet.

Little kend he, whan aff he rode,
I was his tokend luve in the wood;
Or when he gied me the wedding-token,
He was sealing the vows he thought were broken.
First came a page on a milk-white steed,
Wi golden trappings on his head:
A' gowden was the saddle lap,
And gowden was the page's cap.

_15-21 have been allowed to stand principally on account
of 18._

_There is small risk in pronouncing 24, 25, 42, 43, 80, 81
spurious, and Cunningham surpasses his usual mawkishness
in 83._

#E#

_is written in four-line stanzas_.

19. mother, _in the margin_.

20. lady, _in the margin_.

#F. a.#

7^2. _MS_. Till [Still?].

_7^2 and 8, 17 and 18^1, 20^1 and 21, 23^1 and 24, 32 and
33^2, 50^1 and 51, are respectively written as a stanza in
the MS._

12^1, 41^1. _Motherwell conjectures_

Would I wait, or would I away.

13^1, 42^1. _Motherwell conjectures_

Would I away, or would I wait.

14^2, 43^2. _MS. ~green sleeves~: but see 51^1, and also
#E# 22^1, #G# 24^2, 28^2._

29^2, _above you do not know't is written know ~not who
till~, apparently a conjecture of Motherwell's._

30^2, _sometimes recited_

Till owre the bed this lady he flang.

53^1. _MS._ abroad.

#b.1.#

Seven ladies livd in a bower,
Hey down and ho down
And aye the youngest was the flower.
Hey down and ho down

#G.#

_The stanzas are not divided in Herd._

#H.#

_4 is crossed through in the MS., but no reason given._

[94] In his note-book, p. 117, Motherwell writes, with less than his usual discretion: "The ballad of Bothwell, Cospatric, or Gil Brenton, appears to be copied from an account of the birth of Makbeth given by Wintown." The substance of this account is, that Macbeth's mother had a habit of repairing to the woods for wholesome air, and that, during one of her rambles, she fell in with a fair man, really the Devil, who passed the day with her, and got on her a son.

"And of that dede in taknyng
He gave his lemman thare a ryng,
And bad hyr that scho suld kepe that wele,
And hald for hys luve that jwele."

_Cronykil_, Book VI, ch. xviii, 57-90.

[95] Scott says: "Cospatrick, Comes Patricius;" but Cos- (Gos-)patrick is apparently Servant of Patrick, like Gil-patrick (Kil-patrick). Mr Macmath suggests to me that Gil Brenton may have originally been Gil-brandon, which seems very likely. See Notes and Queries, 5th S., x, 443.

[96] A fragment in Rancken's 'Några Prof af Folksång,' p. 14 f, belongs not to 'Riddar Olle,' as there said, but to 'Herr Äster och Fröken Sissa,' though the burden is 'Riddar Olof.' Other verses, at p. 16, might belong to either. 'Riddar Ola,' E. Wigström's Folkdiktning, p. 37, No 18, belongs with the Danish 'Guldsmedens Datter,' Grundtvig No 245.

[97] The inquiry seems to refer to the morning gift. "Die Morgengabe ist ein Geschenk des Mannes als Zeichen der Liebe (in signum amoris), für die Uebergabe der vollen Schönheit (in honore pulchritudinis) und der Jungfräulichkeit (pretium virginitatis)." Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen in dem Mittelalter, S. 270.

[98] And again, "Is it the saddle, your horse, or your true-love?" almost exactly as in our #B#, #E#, #F#, Grundtvig, 40 #C#, #E#, #F#, Afzelius, 91, Landstad, 45, 52. So the Scottish ballad, 'The Cruel Brother,' #B# 15 f.

[99] The auld belly-blind man in 'Earl Richard,' 44^3, 45^1, Kinloch's A. S. Ballads, p. 15, retains the bare name; and Belly Blind, or Billie Blin, is the Scotch name for the game of Blindman's-buff.

[100] Gisbertus Voetius, De Miraculis, Disput., II, 1018. Cited also by Schmeller, Bayerisches Wörterbuch, from J. Prætorius's Alectryomantia, p. 3.

[101] Merlin, in Layamon, V. 17130 ff (as pointed out by Grundtvig, I, 274), says that his mind is balewise, "mi gæst is bæliwis," and that he is not disposed to gladness, mirth, or good words.

6

WILLIE'S LADY

#a.# 'Willie's Lady,' Fraser-Tytler MS.

#b.# 'Sweet Willy,' Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.

#a#, 'Willie's Lady,' was No 1 in the manuscript of fifteen ballads furnished William Tytler by Mrs Brown in 1783, and having been written down a little later than #b# may be regarded as a revised copy. This manuscript, as remarked under No 5, is not now in the possession of the Fraser-Tytler family, having often been most liberally lent, and, probably, at last not returned. But a transcript had been made by the grandfather of the present family of two of the pieces contained in it, and 'Willie's Lady' is one of these two.

Lewis had access to William Tytler's copy, and, having regulated the rhymes, filled out a gap, dropped the passage about the girdle, and made other changes to his taste, printed the ballad in 1801 as No 56 of his Tales of Wonder. The next year Scott gave the "ancient copy, never before published," "in its native simplicity, as taken from Mrs Brown of Falkland's MS.,"--William Tytler's,--in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, II, 27, but not with literal accuracy. Jamieson, in 1806, gave 'Sweet Willy,' almost exactly according to the text of his Brown manuscript, in an appendix to the second volume of his collection, p. 367, and at p. 175 of the same volume, a reconstruction of the ballad which might have been spared.

#b# lacks altogether the passage which makes proffer of the cup, #a#, stanzas 5-11, and substitutes at that place the girdle of #a# 21-28. The woodbine in #a# 36, 41, is also wanting, and the concluding stanza. A deficiency both in matter and rhyme at #a# 32, is supplied by #b# 25, 26, but not happily:

'An do you to your mither then,
An bid her come to your boy's christnen;

'For dear's the boy he's been to you:
Then notice well what she shall do.'

Again, the transition in #a#, from st. 33 to st. 34, is abrupt even for a ballad, and #b# introduces here four stanzas narrating the execution of the Billy Blind's injunctions, and ending,

And notic'd well what she did say,

whereby we are prepared for the witch's exclamations.[102]

Danish versions of this ballad are numerous: #A-I#, 'Hustru og Mands Moder' ['Fostermoder,' 'Stifmoder'], Grundtvig, No 84, II, 404 ff; #J-T#, 'Hustru og Mands Moder,' Kristensen, II, 111 ff, No 35: #U-X#,'Barselkvinden,' Kristensen, I, 201 ff, No 74; #Y#, 'Hustru og Slegfred,' Grundtvig, No 85, II, 448 ff: in all twenty-five, but many of Kristensen's copies are fragments. Grundtvig's 84 #A#, #B#, and 85 #a# are from manuscripts of the sixteenth century. 84 #F-I# and several repetitions of 85 are of the seventeenth. Grundtvig's 84 #C#, #D#, #E#, and all Kristensen's versions, are from recent oral tradition. Some of these, though taken down since 1870, are wonderfully well preserved.

The Danish ballads divide into two classes, principally distinguished by their employing or not employing of the artifice of wax children. (There is but one of these in #N#, #R#, Kristensen's #E#, #I#, II, 116, 122, and in the oldest Swedish ballad, as in the Scottish: but children in Scandinavian ballads are mostly born in pairs.) Of the former class, to which our only known copy belongs, are #F-I#, #N-T#, #X# (Grundtvig, 84 #F-I#, Kristensen, II, No 35, #E-L#, I, No 74 #D#). #N# and #I# furnish, perhaps, the most consistent story, which, in the former, runs thus: Sir Peter married Ellen (elsewhere Mettelille, Kirstin, Tidelil, Ingerlil), and gave her in charge to his mother, a formidable witch, and, as appears from #F#, violently opposed to the match. The first night of her marriage Ellen conceived twins. She wrapped up her head in her cloak and paid a visit to her mother-in-law, to ask how long women go with child. The answer was,

'Forty weeks went Mary with Christ,
And so each Danish woman must.

'Forty weeks I went with mine,
But eight years shalt thou go with thine.'

The forty weeks had passed, and Ellen began to long for relief. Sir Peter besought aid of his sister Ingerlin. If I help your young bride, she said, I must be traitor to my mother. Sir Peter insisted, and Ingerlin moulded a fine child of wax,[103] wrapped it in linen, and exhibited it to her mother, who, supposing that her arts had been baffled, burst out into exclamations of astonishment. She had thought she could twist a rope out of flying sand, lay sun and moon flat on the earth with a single word, turn the whole world round about! She had thought all the house was spell-bound, except the spot where the young wife's chest stood, the chest of red rowan, which nothing can bewitch! The chest was instantly taken away, and Ellen's bed moved to the place it had occupied; and no sooner was this done than Ellen gave birth to two children.

In the ballads of the other class, the young wife, grown desperate after eight years of suffering, asks to be taken back to her maiden home. Her husband's mother raises objections: the horses are in the meadow, the coachman is in bed. Then, she says, I will go on my bare feet. The moment her husband learns her wish, the carriage is at the door, but by the arts of the mother it goes to pieces on the way, and the journey has to be finished on horseback. The joy of her parents at seeing their daughter approaching was quenched on a nearer view: she looked more dead than quick. She called her family about her and distributed her effects. A great wail went up in the house when two sons were cut from the mother's side. (#C#, #J#, #K#, #L#, #W#: Grundtvig, 84 #C#; Kristensen, II, No 35 #A#, #B#, #C#; I, No 74 #C#.)

The first son stood up and brushed his hair:
'Most surely am I in my ninth year.'

The second stood up both fair and red:
'Most sure we'll avenge our dear mother dead.'[104]

Several of the most important ballads of the first class have taken up a part of the story of those of the second class, to the detriment of consistency. #F#, #G#, #H#, #O#, #P# (Grundtvig, 84 #F#, #G#, #H#, Kristensen, II, No 35 #F#, #G#), make the wife quit her husband's house for her father's, not only without reason, but against reason. If the woman is to die, it is natural enough that she should wish to die with the friends of her early days, and away from her uncongenial mother-in-law; but there is no kind of occasion for transferring the scene of the trick with the wax children to her father's house; and, on the other hand, it is altogether strange that her husband's mother and the rowan-tree chest (which sometimes appears to be the property of the mother, sometimes that of the wife) should go with her.

#Y#, 'Hustru og Slegfred,' Grundtvig, 85, agrees with the second class up to the point when the wife is put to bed at her mother's house, but with the important variation that the spell is the work of a former mistress of the husband; instead of his mother, as in most of the ballads, or of the wife's foster-mother, as in #C#, #D#, #J#, #K#, #M# (Grundtvig, 84 #C#, #D#, Kristensen, II, No 35 #A#, #B#, #D#), or of the wife's step-mother as in #A# only. The conclusion of 'Hustru og Slegfred' is rather flat. The wife, as she lies in bed, bids all her household hold up their hands and pray for her relief, which occurs on the same day. The news is sent to her husband, who rejoins his wife, is shown his children, praises God, and burns his mistress. Burning is also the fate of the mother-in-law in #B#, #I#, #O#, #P#, whereas in #F# she dies of chagrin, and in #G# bursts into a hundred flinders (flentsteene).

This ballad, in the mixed form of #O#, #P# (Kristensen, II, 35 #F#, #G#), has been resolved into a tale in Denmark, a few lines of verse being retained. Recourse is had by the spell-bound wife to a cunning woman in the village, who informs her that in her house there is a place in which a rowan-tree chest has stood, and that she can get relief there. The cunning woman subsequently pointing out the exact spot, two boys are born, who are seven years old, and can both walk and talk. Word is sent the witch that her son's wife has been delivered of two sons, and that she herself shall be burned the day following. The witch says, "I have been able to twine a string out of running water. If I have not succeeded in bewitching the woman, she must have found the place where the damned rowan chest stood." (Grundtvig, III, 858, No 84 #b#.)

Three Swedish versions of the ballad have been printed. #A#, #B#, from tradition of this century, are given by Arwidsson, II, 252 ff, 'Liten Kerstins Förtrollning,' No 134. These resemble the Danish ballads of the second class closely. Liten Kerstin goes to her mother's house, gives birth to two children, and dies. In #A# the children are a son and daughter. The son stands up, combs his hair, and says, "I am forty weeks on in my ninth year." He can run errands in the village, and the daughter sew red silk. In #B# both children are boys. One combs his hair, and says, "Our grandmother shall be put on two wheels." The other draws his sword, and says, "Our mother is dead, our grandmother to blame. I hope our mother is with God. Our grandmother shall be laid on seven wheels." The other copy, #C#, mentioned by Grundtvig as being in Cavallius and Stephens' manuscript collection, has been printed in the Svenska Fornminnesföreningens Tidskrift, vol. ii, p. 72 ff, 1873-74. It dates from the close of the sixteenth century, and resembles the mixed ballads of the Danish first class, combining the flitting to the father's house with the artifice of the wax children. The conclusion of this ballad has suffered greatly. After the two sons are born, we are told that Kirstin, before unmentioned, goes to the chest and makes a wax child. If the chest were moved, Elin would be free of her child. And then the boy stands up and brushes his hair, and says he has come to his eighth year.

Three stanzas and some of the incidents of a #Norwegian# version of this ballad have been communicated to Grundtvig, III, 858 f, No 84 c, by Professor Sophus Bugge. The only place which was unaffected by a spell was where Signelíti's bride-chest stood, and the chest being removed, the birth took place. The witch was a step-mother, as in Danish #A#.

There are two familiar cases of malicious arrest of childbirth in classic mythology,--those of Latona and Alcmene. The wrath of Juno was the cause in both, and perhaps the myth of Alcmene is only a repetition of an older story, with change of name. The pangs of Latona were prolonged through nine days and nights, at the end of which time Ilithyia came to her relief, induced by a bribe. (Hymn to the Delian Apollo, 91 ff.) Homer, Il. xix, 119, says only that Hera stopped the delivery of Alcmene and kept back Ilithyia. Antoninus Liberalis, in the second century of our era, in one of his abstracts from the Metamorphoses of Nicander, a poem of the second century B. C., or earlier, has this account: that when Alcmene was going with Hercules, the Fates and Ilithyia, to please Juno, kept her in her pains by sitting down and folding their hands; and that Galinthias, a playmate and companion of Alcmene, fearing that the suffering would drive her mad, ran out and announced the birth of a boy, upon which the Fates were seized with such consternation that they let go their hands, and Hercules immediately came into the world. (Antoninus Lib., Metam. c. xxix.) Ovid, Metamorphoses, ix, 281-315, is more circumstantial. After seven days and nights of torture, Lucina came, but, being bribed by Juno, instead of giving the aid for which she was invoked, sat down on the altar before Alcmene's door, with the right knee crossed over the left, and fingers interlocked, mumbling charms which checked the processes of birth. Galanthis, a servant girl _media de plebe_, was shrewd enough to suspect that Juno had some part in this mischief; and besides, as she went in and out of the house, she always saw Lucina sitting on the altar, with her hands clasped over her knees. At last, by a happy thought, she called out, "Whoever you are, wish my mistress joy; she is lighter, and has her wish." Lucina jumped up and unclasped her hands, and the birth followed instantly. Pausanias, ix, 11, tells a similar but briefer story, in which Historis, daughter of Tiresias, takes the place of Galanthis. See, for the whole matter, 'Ilithyia oder die Hexe,' in C. A. Böttiger's Kleine Schriften, I, 76 ff.

Apuleius, in his Metamorphoses, mentions a case of suspended childbirth, which, curiously enough, had lasted eight years,[105] as in the Danish and Swedish ballads. The witch is a mistress of her victim's husband, as in Grundtvig, 85, and as in a story cited by Scott from Heywood's 'Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels,' p. 474. "There is a curious tale about a Count of Westeravia [Vestravia, in diocesi Argentoratensi], whom a deserted concubine bewitched upon his marriage, so as to preclude all hopes of his becoming a father. The spell continued to operate for three years, till one day, the count happening to meet with his former mistress, she maliciously asked him about the increase of his family. The count, conceiving some suspicion from her manner, craftily answered that God had blessed him with three fine children; on which she exclaimed, like Willie's mother in the ballad, 'May Heaven confound the old hag by whose counsel I threw an enchanted pitcher into the draw-well of your palace!' The spell being found and destroyed, the count became the father of a numerous family."

A story like that of the ballad is told as a fact that took place in Arran within this century. A young man forsook his sweetheart and married another girl. When the wife's time came, she suffered excessively. A pack-man who was passing suspected the cause, went straight to the old love, and told her that a fine child was born; when up she sprang, and pulled out a large nail from the beam of the roof, calling out to her mother, "Muckle good your craft has done!" The wife was forthwith delivered. (Napier, in The Folklore Record, II, 117.)

In the #Sicilian# tales, collected by Laura Gonzenbach, Nos 12 and 15, we have the spell of folded hands placed between the knees to prevent birth, and in No 54 hands raised to the head.[106] In all these examples the spell is finally broken by telling the witch a piece of false news, which causes her to forget herself and take away her hands. (Sicilianische Märchen aus dem Volksmund gesammelt, Leipzig, 1870.)

We find in a #Roumanian# tale, contributed to Das Ausland for 1857, p. 1029, by F. Obert, and epitomized by Grundtvig, III, 859, No 84 d, a wife condemned by her offended husband to go with child till he lays his hand upon her. It is twenty years before she obtains grace, and the son whom she then bears immediately slays his father. A #Wallachian# form of this story (Walachische Märchen von Arthur u. Albert Schott, No 23) omits the revenge by the new-born child, and ends happily.

With respect to the knots in st. 34, it is to be observed that the tying of knots (as also the fastening of locks), either during the marriage ceremony or at the approach of parturition was, and is still, believed to be effectual for preventing conception or childbirth. The minister of Logierait, Perthshire, testifies, about the year 1793, that immediately before the celebration of a marriage it is the custom to loosen carefully every knot about bride and bridegroom,--garters, shoe-strings, etc. The knots are tied again before they leave the church. (Statistical Account of Scotland, V, 83.) So among the Laps and Norwegians, when a child is to be born, all the knots in the woman's clothes, or even all the knots in the house, must be untied, because of their impeding delivery. (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 322, who also cites the Statistical Account of Scotland.)

* * * * *

Willie's Lady is translated by Schubart, p. 74, Talvj, p. 555, and by Gerhard, p. 139. Grundtvig, 84 H (== Syv, 90, Danske Viser, 43), is translated by Jamieson, Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 344, and by Prior, No 89.

A

#a.# A copy, by Miss Mary Fraser Tytler, of a transcript
made by her grandfather from William Tytler's manuscript.
#b.# Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.

1
Willie has taen him oer the fame,
He's woo'd a wife and brought her hame.

2
He's woo'd her for her yellow hair,
But his mother wrought her mickle care.

3
And mickle dolour gard her dree,
For lighter she can never be.

4
But in her bower she sits wi pain,
And Willie mourns oer her in vain.

5
And to his mother he has gone,
That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

6
He says: 'My ladie has a cup,
Wi gowd and silver set about.

7
'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,
And let her be lighter o her young bairn.'

8
'Of her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,
Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

9
'But she shall die and turn to clay,
And you shall wed another may.'

10
'Another may I'll never wed,
Another may I'll neer bring home.'

11
But sighing says that weary wight,
'I wish my life were at an end.'

12
'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,
That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

13
'And say your ladie has a steed,
The like o'm's no in the lands of Leed.

14
'For he [i]s golden shod before,
And he [i]s golden shod behind.

15
'And at ilka tet of that horse's main,
There's a golden chess and a bell ringing.

16
'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,
And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

17
'O her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,
Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

18
'But she shall die and turn to clay,
And ye shall wed another may.'

19
'Another may I['ll] never wed,
Another may I['ll] neer bring hame.'

20
But sighing said that weary wight,
'I wish my life were at an end.'

21
'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,
That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

22
'And say your ladie has a girdle,
It's red gowd unto the middle.

23
'And ay at every silver hem,
Hangs fifty silver bells and ten.

24
'That goodlie gift has be her ain,
And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

25
'O her young bairn she's neer be lighter,
Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

26
'But she shall die and turn to clay,
And you shall wed another may.'

27
'Another may I'll never wed,
Another may I'll neer bring hame.'

28
But sighing says that weary wight,
'I wish my life were at an end.'

29
Then out and spake the Belly Blind;
He spake aye in good time.

30
'Ye doe ye to the market place,
And there ye buy a loaf o wax.

31
'Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like,
And in twa glassen een ye pit;

32
'And bid her come to your boy's christening;
Then notice weel what she shall do.

33
'And do you stand a little fore bye,
And listen weel what she shall say.'

34
'Oh wha has loosed the nine witch knots
That was amo that ladie's locks?

35
'And wha has taen out the kaims of care
That hangs amo that ladie's hair?

36
'And wha's taen down the bush o woodbine
That hang atween her bower and mine?

37
'And wha has killd the master kid
That ran beneath that ladie's bed?

38
'And wha has loosed her left-foot shee,
And lotten that ladie lighter be?'

39
O Willie has loosed the nine witch knots
That was amo that ladie's locks.

40
And Willie's taen out the kaims o care
That hang amo that ladie's hair.

41
And Willie's taen down the bush o woodbine
That hang atween her bower and thine.

42
And Willie has killed the master kid
That ran beneath that ladie's bed.

43
And Willie has loosed her left-foot shee,
And letten his ladie lighter be.

44
And now he's gotten a bonny young son,
And mickle grace be him upon.

* * * * *

#a.#

_The stanzas are not regularly divided in the MS., nor
were they so divided by Scott._

41^2. hung (?) beneath: _but see 36^2._

_Scott's principal variations are_:

12^1. Yet gae ye.

14^1. For he is silver shod.

15.
At every tuft of that horse main
There's a golden chess and a bell to ring.

21^1. Yet gae ye.

21^2. o rankest kind.

22^2. It's a' red gowd to.

24^1. This gudely gift sall be.

26^1. For she.

28^2. my days.

30^1. Yet gae ye.

30^2. there do buy.

31^1. Do shape.

31^2. you'll put.

32^1. And bid her your boy's christening to.

33^1. a little away.

33^2. To notice weel what she may saye.

35^2. That were amang.

38^2. And let.

39^1. Syne Willie.

40^2. That were into.

41^1, 42^1, 43^1. And he.

41^2. Hung atween her bour and the witch carline.

44^2. a bonny son.

#b.#

_Divided in Jamieson's MS. into stanzas of four verses,
two verses being written in one line: but Jamieson's_
8==#a# 14-16.

1^1. Sweet Willy's taen.

5-11, _wanting. Instead of the cup, the girdle occurs
here_:==#a# 21-28.

12^1. He did him till.

12^2. wilest kin.

13^1. An said, My lady.

14^{1, 2}. he is.

16^2. An lat her be lighter o her young bairn.

18^1. go to clay.

#a# 21^1==b 5^1. Now to his mither he has gane.

18^2. kin.

#a# 22^1==b 6^1. He say[s] my lady.

22^2. It's a' red.

#a# 23^1==b 7^1. at ilka.

23^2. Hings.

#a# 24^1==b 8^1. gift sall be your ain.

24^2. lat her ... o her.

#a# 29==b 22. Then out it spake the belly blin; She spake
ay in a good time.

#a# 32==b 25, 26.

An do you to your mither then, An bid her come to your boy's
christnen;
For dear's the boy he's been to you: Then notice well what
she shall do.

_Between #a# 33 and #a# 34 occurs in #b# (28-31)_:

He did him to the market place, An there he bought a loaf o wax.
He shap'd it bairn and bairnly like, An in't twa glazen een he pat.
He did him till his mither then, An bade him (_sic_) to his boy's
christnen.
An he did stan a little forebye, An notic'd well what she did say.

#a# 35^2==#b# 33^2. hang amo.

36. _wanting in #b#._

37^2. aneath.

39^2==#b# 36^2. hang amo his.

40^1. kemb o care.

40^2. his lady's.

41. _wanting in #b#._

42^2==#b# 38^2. ran aneath his.

44. _wanting in #b#._

#b# _22^2 makes the Billy Blind feminine. This is not so
in #a#, or in any other ballad, and may be only an error
of the transcriber, who has not always written carefully._

[102] The Jamieson-Brown copy contains seventy-eight verses; Scott's and the Tytler copy, eighty-eight. Dr Anderson's, Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 176, counts seventy-six instead of eighty-eight; but, judging by the description which Anderson has given of the Alexander-Fraser-Tytler-Brown MS., at p. 179, he is not exact. Still, so large a discrepancy is hard to explain.

[103] The sister does this in #F-I# and #S#: in #O#, #P#, the husband "has" it done.

[104] Grundtvig, 84 #D#, #E#; Kristensen, I, No 74 #A#, #B#, #C#; II, No 35 #A#, #B#, #C#.

[105] Eadem amatoris sui uxorem, quod in eam dicacule probrum dixerat, jam in sarcina prægnationis, obsæpto utero et repigrato fetu, perpetua prægnatione damuavit, et, ut cuncti numerant, jam octo annorum onere misella illa velut elephantum paritura distenditur. I, 9.

[106] We may suppose with closed fingers, or clasping the head, though this is not said. Antique vases depict one or two Ilithyias as standing by with hands elevated and _open_, during the birth of Athene from the head of Zeus. Welcker, Kleine Schriften, III, 191, note 12.

7

EARL BRAND