Chapter XXXV: Appendix (1)

Roxburghe Ballads, I, 306 f; Ballad Society's reprint,
II, 281.

THE POLITICK MAID,
or,
A dainty new ditty,
Both pleasant and witty,
Wherein you may see
The maide's policie.

1
There was a knight was wine-drunke,
As he rode on the way,
And there he spide a bonny lasse,
Among the cocks of hay.
Sing loud, whistle in the winde,
Blow merry, merry,
Up and down in yonder dale,
With hey tro, nonney, nonney.

2
This gallant knight unto the lasse
Did present take his way,
But it seemd he had a shame-face,
He did not court and play.

3
When he came to this bonny lasse,
He found she was not coy;
His courtesie she did imbrace,
And did not say him nay.

4
If we should sit us downe here,
Upon the grasse so greene,
Here's neither sheet nor covering,
To keep our cloathing cleane.

5
'And if we should sit downe,' quoth he,
'Among the cockes of hay,
Then would come forth the king's pinder,
And take our steedes away.'

6
'I have rings on my fingers,
Made of the purest gold,
That will release our steedes againe
Out of the king's pinfold.

7
'Sir knight, if you will goe with me
Into my father's bowers,
There you may sit and talke with me
This three or foure houres.'

8
When she came to her father's bowers,
They were moted round about;
Then she slipt in at a wicket,
And left sir knight without.

9
'Now I am here, a maide, within,
And you, sir knight, without;
You may lay straw under your feete,
To keepe you from the gout.

10
'Henceforth when you doe meet a maide,
A mile out of the towne,
Sir knight, you must not be affraid
Of soyling of her gowne.

11
'And if you chance to meet a maid
Amongst the cockes of hay,
Sir knight, you must not be affraid
With her to court, and say
Sing loud, etc.

12
'It is a proverb, many say,
And truth it is in tryall,
He that will not when as he may
Shall after have denyall.

13
'And thus, sir knight, now fare you well,
To you I bid adieu;
And you hereafterwards may tell
How I have servëd you.'

R. C.

Printed at London for Thomas Lambert, at the signe of the
Hors-shoo in Smithfield.

Percy's Reliques, III, 238, 1765.

1
There was a knight was drunk with wine
A riding along the way, sir,
And there he met with a lady fine,
Among the cocks of hay, sir.

2
'Shall you and I, O lady faire,
Among the grass lye downe-a?
And I will have a special care
Of rumpling of your gowne-a.'

3
'Upon the grass there is a dewe,
Will spoil my damaske gowne, sir;
My gown and kirtle they are newe,
And cost me many a crowne, sir.'

4
'I have a cloak of scarlet red,
Upon the ground I'll throwe it;
Then, lady faire, come lay thy head;
We'll play, and none shall knowe it.'

5
'O yonder stands my steed so free,
Among the cocks of hay, sir,
And if the pinner should chance to see,
He'll take my steed away, sir.'

6
'Upon my finger I have a ring,
It's made of finest gold-a,
And, lady, it thy steed shall bring
Out of the pinner's fold-a.'

7
'O go with me to my father's hall;
Fair chambers there are three, sir;
And you shall have the best of all,
And I'll your chamberlain bee, sir.'

8
He mounted himself on his steed so tall,
And her on her dapple-grey, sir,
And then they rode to her father's hall,
Fast pricking along the way, sir.

9
To her father's hall they arrived strait;
'T was moated round about-a;
She slipped herself within the gate,
And lockt the knight without-a.

10
'Here is a silver penny to spend,
And take it for your pain, sir;
And two of my father's men I'll send,
To wait on you back again, sir.'

11
He from his scabbard drew his brand,
And whet it upon his sleeve-a,
And 'Cursed,' he said, 'be every man
That will a maid believe-a!'

12
She drew a bodkin from her haire,
And whipd it upon her gown-a:
'And curst be every maiden faire
That will with men lye down-a!

13
'A tree there is, that lowly grows,
And some do call it rue, sir;
The smallest dunghill cock that crows
Would make a capon of you, sir.

14
'A flower there is, that shineth bright,
Some call it marygold-a;
He that wold not when he might,
He shall not when he wold-a.'

15
The knight was riding another day,
With cloak and hat and feather;
He met again with that lady gay,
Who was angling in the river.

16
'Now, lady faire, I've met with you,
You shall no more escape me;
Remember how not long agoe
You falsely did intrap me.'

17
The lady blushed scarlet red,
And trembled at the stranger:
'How shall I guard my maidenhead
From this approaching danger!'

18
He from his saddle down did light,
In all his riche attyer,
And cryed, As I am a noble knight,
I do thy charms admyer.

19
He took the lady by the hand,
Who seemingly consented,
And would no more disputing stand;
She had a plot invented.

20
'Looke yonder, good sir knight, I praye,
Methinks I now discover,
A riding upon his dapple-grey,
My former constant lover.'

21
On tip-toe peering stood the knight,
Fast by the river brink-a;
The lady pusht with all her might:
'Sir knight, now swim or sink-a!'

22
Oer head and ears he plunged in;
The bottom faire he sounded;
Then rising up he cried amain,
Help, helpe, or else I'm drowned!

23
'Now fare you well, sir knight, adieu!
You see what comes of fooling;
That is the fittest place for you;
Your courage wanted cooling.'

24
Ere many days, in her father's park,
Just at the close of eve-a,
Again she met with her angry sparke,
Which made this lady grieve-a.

25
'False lady, here thou'rt in my powre,
And no one now can hear thee;
And thou shalt sorely rue the hour
That eer thou dar'dst to jeer me.'

26
'I pray, sir knight, be not so warm
With a young silly maid-a;
I vow and swear I thought no harm;
'Twas a gentle jest I playd-a.'

27
'A gentle jest in soothe,' he cry'd,
'To tumble me in and leave me!
What if I had in the river dy'd?
That fetch will not deceive me.

28
'Once more I'll pardon thee this day,
Tho injurd out of measure;
But then prepare without delay
To yield thee to my pleasure.'

29
'Well then, if I must grant your suit,
Yet think of your boots and spurs, sir;
Let me pull off both spur and boot,
Or else you cannot stir, sir.'

30
He set him down upon the grass,
And begd her kind assistance;
'Now,' smiling thought this lovely lass,
'I'll make you keep your distance.'

31
Then pulling off his boots half-way,
'Sir knight, now I'm your betters;
You shall not make of me your prey;
Sit there like a knave in fetters.'

32
The knight when she had served soe,
He fretted, fum'd and grumbled;
For he could neither stand nor goe,
But like a cripple tumbled.

33
'Farewell, sir knight, the clock strikes ten,
Yet do not move nor stir, sir;
I'll send you my father's serving-men,
To pull off your boots and spurs, sir.

34
'This merry jest you must excuse;
You are but a stingless nettle;
You 'd never have stood for boots or shoes
Had you been a man of mettle.'

35
All night in grievous rage he lay,
Rolling upon the plain-a;
Next morning a shepherd past that way,
Who set him right again-a.

36
Then mounting upon his steed so tall,
By hill and dale he swore-a,
'I'll ride at once to her father's hall;
She shall escape no more-a.

37
'I'll take her father by the beard,
I'll challenge all her kindred;
Each dastard soul shall stand affeard;
My wrath shall no more be hindred.'

38
He rode unto her father's house,
Which every side was moated;
The lady heard his furious vows,
And all his vengeance noted.

39
Thought shee, sir knight, to quench your rage
Once more I will endeavor;
This water shall your fury swage,
Or else it shall burn forever.

40
Then, faining penitence and feare,
She did invite a parley:
'Sir knight, if you'll forgive me heare,
Henceforth I'll love you dearly.

41
'My father he is now from home,
And I am all alone, sir;
Therefore across the water come,
And I am all your own, sir.'

42
'False maid, thou canst no more deceive;
I scorn the treacherous bait-a;
If thou wouldst have me thee believe,
Now open me the gate-a.'

43
'The bridge is drawn, the gate is barrd,
My father has the keys, sir;
But I have for my love prepar'd
A shorter way and easier.

44
'Over the moate I've laid a plank,
Full seventeen feet in measure;
Then step across to the other bank,
And there we'll take our pleasure.'

45
These words she had no sooner spoke,
But strait he came tripping over;
The plank was sawd, it snapping broke,
And sousd the unhappy lover.

[180] Pepys, V, 169, No 162. An Excellent New Song, calld The Lady's Policy, or, The Baffled Knight. London, printed and sold by T. Moore, 1693. T. Moore printed 1689-93: Chappell.

Pepys, V, 170, No 163. An Answer to The Baffld Knight, or, The beautiful Lady's Second piece of policy, by which she preserved her Virginity and left the brisk Knight in Pickle. Printed for C. Bate, next the Crown Tavern in West Smithfield. C. Bates printed 1690-1702: Chappell.

Pepys, V, 171, No 164. The Third Part of the Baffld Knight, or, The Witty Lady's new Intreague, by which she left him fetterd in his Boots. Where he lay all Night in her Father's Park, Cursing his woful Misfortune. Printed for I. Deacon, at the Angel in Guilt Spur Street, without Newgate. Jonah Deacon printed 1684-95: Chappell.

I do not know that the Fourth Part was ever separately printed.

The Pepys copy is not at my disposal except for collation.

[181] "Bishop Percy found the subject worthy of his best improvements," says Ritson, for once with French neatness: Ancient Songs, p. 159.

[182] See, further on, the second Danish and the German ballad.

[183] #A#, #E#, #F# in Hardung's Romanceiro, I, 49-55, #B#, #C#, #D#, the same, pp. 59-67.

[184] As in 'Don Bueso,' Duran, I, lxv, A. de los Rios, in Jahrbuch für romanische u. englische Literatur, III, 282, two copies.

[185] "Curse women, and still more him that trusts them," says the knight at the end of Portuguese #A#, and so in English #A#.

[186] It has been contended that _malato_ signifies a peasant of low condition: see Braga, C. p. do Arch. açor., p. 399; but, on the other hand, Amador de los Rios, as above, VII, 433. Sense requires, if not the specific meaning _leprous_, at least something contagious, and sufficiently serious to make the knight tremble in his saddle, as he does in Portuguese #A#. Hardung aptly cites from Spanish #B#: "Fija soy de un malato _que tiene la malatia_." Compare the French ballads.

113

THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRY

Proceedings of The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,
I, 86, 1852. Communicated by the late Captain F. W. L.
Thomas, R. N.; written down by him from the dictation of
a venerable lady of Snarra Voe, Shetland.

This Shetland ballad[187] was reprinted in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, April, 1864, with spelling Scotticized, and two or three other uncalled-for changes.

"Finns," as they are for the most part called, denizens of a region below the depths of the ocean, are able to ascend to the land above by donning a seal-skin, which then they are wont to lay off, and, having divested themselves of it, they "act just like men and women." If this integument be taken away from them, they cannot pass through the sea again and return to their proper abode, and they become subject to the power of man, like the swan-maidens and mer-wives of Scandinavian and German tradition: Grimm's Mythologie, I, 354f. Female Finns, under these circumstances, have been fain to accept of human partners. The Great Selchie, or Big Seal, of Shul Skerry, had had commerce with a woman during an excursion to the upper world. See Hibbert's Description of the Shetland Islands, pp. 566-571, and Karl Blind in the Contemporary Review, XL, 404, 1881. A correspondent of Blind gives stanza 3 with a slight variation, thus:

I am a man, upo da land,
I am a selkie i da sea;
An whin I'm far fa every strand
My dwelling is in Shöol Skerry.

* * * * *

1
An eartly nourris sits and sings,
And aye she sings, Ba, lily wean!
Little ken I my bairnis father,
Far less the land that he staps in.

2
Then ane arose at her bed-fit,
An a grumly guest I'm sure was he:
'Here am I, thy bairnis father,
Although that I be not comelie.

3
'I am a man, upo the lan,
An I am a silkie in the sea;
And when I'm far and far frae lan,
My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.'

4
'It was na weel,' quo the maiden fair,
'It was na weel, indeed,' quo she,
'That the Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie
Suld hae come and aught a bairn to me.'

5
Now he has taen a purse of goud,
And he has pat it upo her knee,
Sayin, Gie to me my little young son,
An tak thee up thy nourris-fee.

6
An it sall come to pass on a simmer's day,
When the sin shines het on evera stane,
That I will tak my little young son,
An teach him for to swim the faem.

7
An thu sail marry a proud gunner,
An a proud gunner I'm sure he'll be,
An the very first schot that ere he schoots,
He'll schoot baith my young son and me.

* * * * *

6^2. Quhen.

[187] The ballad was pointed out to me by Mr Macmath, and would have followed No 40 had I known of it earlier.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

VOL. I.

1. Riddles Wisely Expounded.

I, 2 b. Russian riddle-songs: Trudy, III, 314, No 44; V, 1073, No 208, 1190, No 6.

The Russian riddle-ballad of the merchant's son. Add: Shein, Russkiya Narodnuiya Pyesni, Plyasovuiya, Dance Songs, Nos 88, 87, 89, p. 233 f.

2. The Elfin Knight.

P. 8 a, second paragraph. Russian ballad of Impossibilities propounded reciprocally by youth and maid (including a shirt): Shein, Russkiya N. P., Plyasovuiya, Nos 85, 86, p. 231 f.

13. Another Clever Wench, in Hurwitz's Hebrew Tales, New York, 1847, p. 154, Nos 61, 62; or Sagen der Hebräer aus dem Englischen, u. s. w., Leipzig, 1828, p. 129, Nos 56, 57.

14 a, line 16. The Rusalka ballad, also in Trudy, III, 190, No 7.

14 a, the first paragraph. In the third or "Forest" book of the Mahā-bhārata, chapters 311-313, is a story that bears marks of being an ancient part of the compilation. Yudhishthira and his four younger brothers are distressed with thirst. The eldest sends these one after another in quest of water. Each reaches a lake and hears a voice of a sprite in the air, "I have the first claim on this lake. Do not drink till you have answered my questions," drinks notwithstanding, and falls as if dead. At last Yudhishthira goes himself, answers the questions, and is offered boons by the sprite. He is very modest, and asks the life of one of his two half-brothers only, not that of either of his full brothers. Whereupon the sprite rewards his virtue by bringing all four to life.

The riddles and questions are spun out at great length, and many are palpable interpolations. A few examples may be given. What is weightier (more reverend) than the earth? One's mother. What is loftier than the heavens? One's father. What is fleeter than the wind? The mind. What are more numerous than the blades of grass? Thoughts. What does not close its eyes while asleep? A fish. What is that which does not move after birth? An egg. What is that which is without heart? A stone. And so on. A paraphrase of parts of these chapters is given by Ed. Arnold, Indian Idylls, Boston, 1883, pp. 212-235.

Similarly, in the Kathā-sarit-sāgara, chapter v, a man escapes death by resolving an ogre's riddle. See Tawney's translation, I, 26, and especially the note, where Benfey is cited as comparing Mahā-bhārata, XIII, 5883 ff.

14 b. Legend of St Andrew: Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, 1881, p. 8.

18. A variety of #F#, #G#, Bruce and Stokoe, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 79. 'Whittingham Fair,' popular in the north and west of the county of Northumberland; usually sung as a nursery-ballad.

1
'Are you going to Whittingham fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there;
For once she was a true-love of mine.

2
'Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without any seam or needlework.

3
'Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where never spring-water nor rain ever fell.

4
'Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born.'

5
'Now he has asked me questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
I hope he will answer as many for me;
For once he was a true-love of mine.

6
'Tell him to find me an acre of land
Betwixt the salt water and the sea-sand.

7
'Tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper-corn.

8
'Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.

9
'When he has done, and finished his work,
O tell him to come, and he 'll have his shirt.'

Another variety of #F#, #G#, communicated by Mr Frank Kidson, Leeds, 1884; from tradition.

1
'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair.'
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme
'Remember me to a lass who lives there;
For once she was a true lover of mine.

2
'And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Without a needle or thread or ought else;
And then she shall be a true lover of mine.

3
'And tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Where water neer sprung nor a drop of rain fell;
And then, etc.

4
'And tell her to hang it on yonder stone,
Where moss never grew since Adam was born.

5
'And when she has finished and done, her I'll repay,
She can come unto me and married we'll be.'

6
'Oh where are you going?' 'To Scarbro fair.'
'Remember me to a lad who lives there;
For once he was a true lover of mine.

7
'And tell him to buy me an acre of land
Between the wide ocean and the sea-sand;
And then he, etc.

8
'And tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
And sow it all over with one pepper-corn.

9
'And tell him to reap't with a sickle of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.

10
'And when he has finished, and done his work,
He can come unto me for his cambric shirt.'

Variations in a fragment of the same, remembered by another person: F. Kidson.

1^1
Oh are you going to...

7
Tell her ...
Sow it all over with sand.

9
Reap it with ...
And tie it ...
And then she shall be ...

3(after 9):

And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Where no water sprung nor a drop of rain fell,
And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Or never be a true lover of mine.

3. The Fause Knight upon the Road.

P. 21, note, and p. 485. "Die Windsbraut soil man brav schelten, sich selber aber bekreuzigen, dann weicht sie. Sie ist des Teufels Braut. Wo eine Windsbraut auffährt, ist eine Hexe aufgesprungen." Birlinger u. Buck, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben, I, 192, No 304. G. L. K.

21. Finnur is a trold in a corresponding Icelandic story, Árnason, Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur, I, 58. G. L. K.

See, for Finn and Finns, Karl Blind in The Contemporary Review, XL, 402ff., 1881; also, 'The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry,' No 113, II, 494.

4. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight.

P. 24. May Colvin in Ireland. According to a Connemara story given briefly in Once a Week, II, 53 f, July 2, 1864, one Captain Webb was wont to ill-use young women, and then strip them and throw them into the Murthering Hole, not far from Maarn. At last a girl induced him to turn his back, and then thrust him into the Hole. P. Z. Round.

24 b. The Flemish ballad is given by Fétis, Histoire Générale de la Musique, V, 59, "d'après un texte ancien qui a deux strophes de plus que celui de Willems." G. L. K.

28 b. 'Ásu kvaeði' in Íslenzk fornkvæði, II, 226, No 60, #A-M#: this copy #D# (#E-M#). Published in 1885.

41, and p. 487 f. Russian form, corrupted.

On the oaken bridge stood Galya, there Galya stood and drew water, she drew water and spoke with Marko. "O Marko mine, what dost thou say to me? Come wander with me, youth; let us wander on foot through the dark night." One field traversed, a second they crossed, and in the third lay down on the grass to sleep. The rain began to sprinkle, the fierce rain to fall, and Marko began to slumber. "O Marko mine, sleep not while with me; bare your sword and fight with me." Young Galya vanquished Marko; she conquered Marko, and rode, she mounted and rode over the level field. Galya arrives at the new gate; there stands Marko's mother, more beautiful than gold. "Young Galya, what can I say? Have you seen Marko near my house?" "Oh, hush, mother; weep not, mourn not. Thy Marko has married in the field; he has taken to himself a fine young lady, a grave in the meadow." Trudy, V, 425, No 816.

A man beguiles a girl with tales of a land where the rivers are of honey, where pears grow on willows, and maidens are clothed in gold. Trudy, V, 335, No 660.

In one version of this ballad a cuckoo flies up and bids the maid not listen to the Cossack's tales: "I have flown all over the world, and I have never seen golden mountains, nor eaten pears from willow-trees, nor beheld maidens clad in gold."

41 a, and 487 a. A maid going to the ford for water meets Marko, and suggests that he should propose for her; if her mother will not consent, they will roam. They cross one field and two, and lie down on the grass in a third. He is falling asleep, when she wakes him with a cry that they are pursued. Marko is overtaken and his head cut off. Trudy, V, 226, No 454. No 548, p. 278, is nearly the same. No 690, p. 352, resembles in part No 454, and partly Golovatsky, I, 116.

42 a and 488 a, #A#. A lover takes his love by her white hands, leads her to the Danube, seizes her by the white sides, and flings her in. She asks whether she is ugly, or whether it is her ill fate. Trudy, V, 166, No 339.

In Poésies pop. de la France, MS., VI, 278, Poésies pop. de la Corrèze, a ballad called 'Chanson du brave Altizar' is mentioned as a variant of 'Dion et la Fille du Roi,' and, fol. 321 of the same volume, a version from Mortain, Basse Normandie, is said to have been communicated, which, however, I have not found. These may both belong with the French ballads at II, 356.

43 a. #E#. Another copy in Guillon, Chansons pop. de l'Ain, p. 85.

Add #I#: 'Monsieur de Savigna,' Decombe, Chansons pop. d'Ille-et-Vilaine, p. 264, No 92. The ballad begins like #A#, #B#, but the conclusion is inverted. The fair one is thrown into a pond; M. Savigna cuts away with his sword the plant she seizes when she comes up from the bottom the fourth time; she asks, If you ever go back, where will you say you left me? and he answers, In the big wood full of robbers.

59. #F.# In the catalogue of the British Museum, "London? 1710?"

60.

G

British Museum, MS. Addit. 20094. 'The Knight and the
Chief's Daughter,' communicated to Mr T. Crofton Croker
in 1829, as remembered by Mr W. Pigott Rogers, and
believed by Mr Rogers to have been learned by him from an
Irish nursery-maid.

1
'Now steal me some of your father's gold,
And some of your mother's fee,
And steal the best steed in your father's stable,
Where there lie thirty three.'

2
She stole him some of her father's gold,
And some of her mother's fee,
And she stole the best steed from her father's stable,
Where there lay thirty three.

3
And she rode on the milk-white steed,
And he on the barb so grey,
Until they came to the green, green wood,
Three hours before it was day.

4
'Alight, alight, my pretty colleen,
Alight immediately,
For six knight's daughters I drowned here,
And thou the seventh shall be.'

5
'Oh hold your tongue, you false knight villain,
Oh hold your tongue,' said she;
''T was you that promised to marry me,
For some of my father's fee.'

6
'Strip off, strip off your jewels so rare,
And give them all to me;
I think them too rich and too costly by far
To rot in the sand with thee.'

7
'Oh turn away, thou false knight villain,
Oh turn away from me;
Oh turn away, with your back to the cliff,
And your face to the willow-tree.'

8
He turned about, with his back to the cliff,
And his face to the willow-tree;
So sudden she took him up in her arms,
And threw him into the sea.

9
'Lie there, lie there, thou false knight villain,
Lie there instead of me;
'T was you that promised to marry me,
For some of my father's fee.'

10
'Oh take me by the arm, my dear,
And hold me by the hand,
And you shall be my gay lady,
And the queen of all Scotland.'

11
'I'll not take you by the arm, my dear,
Nor hold you by the hand;
And I won't be your gay lady,
And the queen of all Scotland.'

12
And she rode on the milk-white steed,
And led the barb so grey,
Until she came back to her father's castle,
One hour before it was day.

13
And out then spoke her parrot so green,
From the cage wherein she lay:
Where have you now been, my pretty colleen,
This long, long summer's day?

14
'Oh hold your tongue, my favourite bird,
And tell no tales on me;
Your cage I will make of the beaten gold,
And hang in the willow-tree.'

15
Out then spoke her father dear,
From the chamber where he lay:
Oh what hath befallen my favourite bird,
That she calls so loud for day?

16
'T is nothing at all, good lord,' she said,
''T is nothing at all indeed;
It was only the cat came to my cage-door,
And I called my pretty colleen.'

5. Gil Brenton.

P. 67 a, line 14. Add the Icelandic versions of 'Torkild Trundesøn' recently printed: Íslenzk fornkvæði, II, 281, No 62, #A# 42 f, #B# 42, #C# 29.

6. Willie's Lady.

P. 85 b, the third paragraph. "Bei der Entbindung... muss man alle Schlösser im Hause an Thüren und Kisten aufmachen: so gebiert die Frau leichter." Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube, p. 355, No 574, ed. 1869. G. L. K.

7. Earl Brand.

P. 96 b, line 1. In England the north side of the burial-ground is appropriated to unbaptized children, suicides, etc. Brand's Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, II, 214-218.

97 b. Add: #Portuguese.# Roméro, Cantos pop. do Brazil, No 4, 'D. Duarte e Donzilha,' I, 9: sicupira and collar.

#Romaic.# Chasiotis, p. 169, No 5, lemon and cypress; Aravandinos, p. 284 f, Nos 471, 472, cypress and reed.

97 b, and 489 b. #Russian.# Bezsonof, Kalyeki Perekhozhie, I, 697-700, Nos 167, 168 (Ruibnikof): Vasily is laid on the right, Sophia on the left; golden willow and cypress. The hostile mother pulls up, breaks down, the willow; cuts down, pulls up, the cypress.

Trudy, V, 711, No 309, #A#, man buried under church, wife under belfry; green maple and white birch. #B-J#, other copies with variations. V, 1208, No 50, a Cossack blossoms into a thorn, a maid into an elder; his mother goes to pull up the thorn, hers to pluck up the elder. "Lo, this is no thorn! it is my son!" "Lo, this is no elder! it is my daughter!"

489 b, eighth line from below, read, for laburnum, silver willow, and golden willow in the next line but one; and also for No 285.

98 a. #Magyar.# In Ungarische Revue, 1883, pp. 756-59, these three and one more.

#Chinese.# Hanpang has a young and pretty wife named Ho, whom he tenderly loves. The king, becoming enamored of her, puts her husband in prison, where he kills himself. Ho throws herself from a high place, leaving a letter to the king, in which she begs that she may be buried in the same tomb as her husband; but the king orders them to be put in separate graves. In the night cedars spring up from their tombs, which thrive so extraordinarily that in ten days their branches and their roots are interlocked. A. de Gubernatis, La Mythologie des Plantes, II, 53, from Schlegel, Uranographie chinoise, p. 679. (Already cited by Braga.)

9. The Fair Flower of Northumberland.

P. 116 a, #C# 5^1. Bed-head should certainly be bed-stock: cf. #B# 3^1.

10. The Twa Sisters.

P. 119 b. Färöe versions. Seven are now known, and one is printed, from the manuscript collection of Färöe ballads made by Svend Grundtvig and Jørgen Bloch, in Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, No 7, p. 23, 'Harpu rima.'

124 b. Waldau, Böhmische Granaten, II, 97. R. Köhler. (I have never been able to get the second volume.)

125 a.

'Siffle, berger, de mon haleine!
Mon frère m'a tué sous les bois d'Altumène,
Pour la rose de ma mère, que j'avais trouvée,' etc.

Poésies pop. de la France, MS., VI, 193 _bis_; popular in Champagne: Mélusine, I, col. 424.

125 b, second paragraph. (7), also in Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau, II, 126, No 353. Add to stories of this group, 'La Flute,' Bladé, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, II, 100-102. G. L. K.

The last paragraph. De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, I, 195, cites other similar stories: Afanasief, Skazki, V, 71, No 17, and two varieties, VI, 133, No 25; the twentieth story of Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, II, 325. G. L. K.

11. The Cruel Brother.

P. 143 b, line 27. Add #D# 3, and the Swedish ballad at p. 203, stanzas 14-17.

12. Lord Randal.

P. 151 a. Lt.-Col. W. F. Prideaux, of Calcutta, has kindly informed me that #E# was printed in The Universal Magazine, 1804. It is there said to have been sung, to a very simple and very ancient Scotch tune, by a peasant-girl at the village of Randcallas, Perthshire. See, also, Notes and Queries, Sixth Series, XII, 134.

152 b. Italian #A# is translated in the Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco's Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs, p. 219.

156 b, at the end of the second paragraph. The Čelakovský and the Sakharof ballad are the same. Add: Trudy, V, 432, No 822; p. 915, No 481.

13. Edward.

P. 168 b. #B# is translated also in Seckendorf's Musenalmanach für das Jahr 1808, p. 7, and by Du Méril, Histoire de la Poésie scandinave, p. 467.

14. Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie.

P. 172 b. #Färöe.# Four versions are known; Lyngbye's is repeated in Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, No 13, p. 45, 'Torkils døtur.'

173. 'La Fille d'un Cabaretier,' Guillon, Chansons pop. de l'Ain, p. 165, has some of the circumstances of No 14. A girl is stopped by three "libertins" in a wood. She gives them her ring and her chain, to ransom her person. They say they will have that too, and kill her when she resists. They then go for breakfast to her father's tavern, and while they are paying their scot the ring falls and is recognized by her mother. The youngest confesses, and they are taken to the forest and burned.

In a Russian ballad the only sister of nine [seven] brothers is given in marriage to a rich merchant, who lives at a distance from her home. After three years the married pair undertake a journey to her native place. On their way they are attacked by nine robbers, who kill her husband, throw her child into the sea, and act their pleasure with her. One of the nine, entering into talk with the woman, discovers that she is his sister. Sakharof, translated in Ralston's Songs of the Russian People, p. 49 f; Ruibnikof, Part III, p. 340, No 62, Part IV, p. 99, No 19; Hilferding, col. 149, No 28, col. 844, No 167, col. 1154, No 248, col. 1265, No 294; Trudy, V, 910, No 479, #A-H#.

15. Leesome Brand.

P. 181 b, line 12. Montanus is Vincenz von Zuccalmaglio; the ballad-editor is Wilhelm.

#French.# Add #C#, Decombe, No 96, p. 275, 'Le fils du roi d'Espagne.'

182 a, second paragraph, line 6 ff. Say: No 102, 'Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter;' No 103, 'Rose the Red and White Lily;' No 64, 'Fair Janet',' #C# 7, #D# 1; No 63, 'Child Waters,' #J# 39; No 24, 'Bonnie Annie,' #A# 10, #B# 6, 7.

A man's help refused in travail. Add: Sir Beues of Hamtoun, p. 132, v. 3449 ff (Maitland Club).

Beues is seruise gan hire bede,
To helpe hire at the nede.
'For Godes loue,' she seide, 'nai!
Leue sire, thow go the wai;
For forbede, for is pite,
That no wimmanis priuite
To no man thourgh me be kouthe,'

16. Sheath and Knife.

P. 185. As an arrow-shot is to fix the place for a grave here and in 'Robin Hood's Death,' so, in many popular tales, arrows are shot to determine where a wife is to be sought: see a Hindoo tale, Asiatic Journal, 1833, XI, 207, Benfey, Pantschatantra, I, 261; Hahn, Griechische Märchen, No 67, II, 31, 285; Afanasief, I, 346, No 23, cited by Ralston, The Nineteenth Century, IV, 1004, 1878; Jagić, in Archiv für slavische Philologie, II, 619, and R. Köhler's notes at p. 620.

17. Hind Horn.

P. 194. The warning by a dream, the preternaturally rapid transportation, and the arrival in time to prevent a second marriage taking effect are found in the story of Aboulfaouaris, Cabinet des Fées, XV, 336 ff, Les Mille et un Jours, Paris, 1840, 228 ff. Rohde, Der griechische Roman, p. 182: F. Liebrecht.

196. Recognition by a ring dropped into a drinking-vessel. See Nigra, Romania, XIV, 255 f, note 2: but Willems and Coussemaker are cited in this book, I, 195 a (3).

197 b, second paragraph. Wernhart von Strätlingen: see the note to I, 350, of Birlinger and Buck, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben.

198 a. The story of the return, by marvellous means, of the seven years abroad husband, in Leskien u. Brugman, Litauische Volkslieder u. Märchen, No 22, p. 437 f: Wollner's notes, p. 571. G. L. K.

198 b, third paragraph. Add: Victor Smith, 'Le Retour du Mari,' Chants pop. du Velay et du Forez, in Romania, IX, 289; Tarbé, Romancero de Champagne, II, 122: "E. Muller, Chansons de mon village, journal Le Mémorial de la Loire du 19 septembre, 1867; Daymard, Collection de vieilles chansons, p. 220 du Bulletin de la Société des éludes du Lot, 1879" (V. Smith). Imperfect copies of this ballad in Guillon, Chansons pop. de l'Ain, p. 95, 'Les deux Maris,' p. 39, 'Ma pauvre Elise.'

As a tale in Bladé, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, I, 43. The seigneur is conveyed from the Holy Land by the devil, appears as a beggar, and produces one half of his marriage contract, which fits the half left with his wife. G. L. K.

200 a, second paragraph. Say, in the fourth line, three, six, or twelve. Dobrynya and Nastasya in Hilferding, Nos 23, 26, 33, 38, 43, columns 131, 144, 160, 176, 211, and twenty other places; Ruibnikof, I, 169, No 27, III, 90, No 18; Miss Hapgood's Epic Songs of Russia, Dobrynya and Alyosha, p. 253.

18. Sir Lionel.

P. 209 a. A king's daughter is to be given to the man that rids the country of a boar: Diarmaid and the Magic Boar, Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands, III, 81.

19. King Orfeo.

P. 216 a, first paragraph. The Bodleian copy, #B#, also refers to the lay of Orpheus at the end. G. L. K. So the Lai de l'Espine, Roquefort, Poésies de Marie de France, I, 556, v. 185, and Floire et Blanceflor, ed. Du Méril, p. 231, v. 71: Zielke, Sir Orfeo, p. 131.

For correspondences between Sir Orfeo and the Irish epic tale of the Wooing of Etain, see Kittredge, in The American Journal of Philology, VII, 191 ff.

20. The Cruel Mother.

P. 219 b. Add to the German versions: #M#, #O#. Knoop, Volkssagen, Erzählungen, u. s. w., aus dem östlichen Hinterpommern, Posen, 1885, pp. x, xi: 'Es trieb ein Schäfer mit Lämmlein raus.' Fr. Schönwerth, Aus der Oberpfalz, I, 234, gives a prose tale which is evidently founded on the ballad of 'The Cruel Mother' (three children, one in the water, one in dung, one in the wood). R. Köhler.

225.

N

Percy Papers, with no account of the derivation.

1
There was a duke's daughter lived at York,
All alone and alone a
And she fell in love with her father's clarke.
Down by the greenwood side a, side a,
Down, etc.

2
She loved him seven long years and a day,
Till at last she came big-bellied away.

3
She set her back against a thorn,
And there she had two pretty babes born.

4
She took out a penknife long and short,
And she pierc'd these pretty babes to the tender heart.

5
So as she was walking in her father's hall,
She saw three pretty babes playing at ball.

6
The one was clothed in purple, the other in pall,
And the other was cloathed in no cloths at all.

7
'O pretty babes, pretty babes, will you be mine?
You shall be clothed in scarlet so fine,
And ye shall drink ale, beer and wine.'

8
'We are three angels, as other angels be,
And the hotest place in hell is reserved for thee.'

O

Pepys Ballads, V, 4, No 2, from a transcript in the Percy
Papers.

1
There was a duke's daughter lived in York,
Come bend and bear away the bows of yew
So secretly she loved her father's clark.
Gentle hearts, be to me true.

2
She loved him long and many a day,
Till big with child she went away.

3
She went into the wide wilderness;
Poor she was to be pitied for heaviness.

4
She leant her back against a tree,
And there she endurd much misery.

5
She leant her back against an oak,
With bitter sighs these words she spoke.

6
She set her foot against a thorne,
And there she had two pretty babes born.

7
She took her filliting off her head,
And there she ty'd them hand and leg.

8
She had a penknife long [and] sharp,
And there she stuck them to the heart.

9
She dug a grave, it was long and deep,
And there she laid them in to sleep.

10
The coldest earth it was their bed,
The green grass was their coverlid.

11
As she was a going by her father's hall,
She see three children a playing at ball.

12
One was drest in scarlet fine,
And the other[s was naked] as ere they was born.

13
'O mother, O mother, if these children was mine,
I wold dress them [in] scarlet fine.'

14
'O mother, O mother, when we was thine,
You did not dress [us] in scarlet fine.

15
'You set your back against a tree,
And there you endured great misery.

16
'You set your foot against a thorne,
And there you had us pritty babes born.

17
'You took your filliting off your head,
And there you bound us, hand to leg.

18
'You had a penknife long and sharp,
And there you stuck us to the heart.

19
'You dug a grave, it was long and deep,
And there you laid us in to sleep.

20
'The coldest earth it was our bed,
The green grass was our coverlid.

21
'O mother, mother, for your sin
Heaven-gate you shall not enter in.

22
'O mother, mother, for your sin
Hell-gates stands open to let you in.'

23
The lady's cheeks lookd pale and wan,
'Alass I,' said she, 'what have I done!'

24
She tore her silken locks of hair,
And dy'd away in sad despair.

25
Young ladies all, of beauty bright,
Take warning by her last good-night.

The Duke's Daughter's Cruelty, or, The Wonderful
Apparition of two Infants who she murtherd and buried in
a Forrest for to hide her Shame. Printed for J. Deacon at
the Sign of the Angel in Guil[t]-spur Street.

_Either the printer or the transcriber was careless._

5^2. sights.

11^1. gowing.

12^2. was naked _inserted by Percy_.

16^1. you foot; throne, _and perhaps also in_ 6^1.

20^1. coldeth.

23^1. wand.

25^2. waring.

_After 10 is introduced, absurdly, this stanza, derived
from_ 'The Famous Flower of Serving-Men:'

She cut her hair, changed her name
From Fair Elinor to Sweet William.

21. The Maid and the Palmer.

P. 228 a. The Färöe version, 'Mariu visa,' is No 9 of Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, p. 35.

22. St Stephen and Herod.

P. 234. The Färöe 'Rudisar vísa' is No 11 of Hammershaimb's Færøsk Anthologi, p. 39. Three copies are now known.

238 b. A description of San Domingo de la Calzada, with a narration of the miracle of St James, is cited by Birlinger from a manuscript of travels by a young German, 1587-93, in Alemannia, XIII, 42-44. The traveller had heard "the fable" in Italy, too, and had seen a painting of it at Savona. R. Köhler.

De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, II, 283 f, note 2, after citing the legend of San Domingo de la Calzada, adds: A similar wonder is said, by Sigonio, to have taken place in the eleventh century in the Bolognese; but instead of St James, Christ and St Peter appear to perform miracles. G. L. K.

239. In The Ely Volume, or, The Contributions of our Foreign Missions to Science, etc., 2d ed., Boston, 1885, the editor, Dr Laurie, discoursing of the Yezidees, says they speak of Satan as Melek Taoos, King Peacock, and the cawals (a sort of circuit-riders), "carry round with them brazen images of a bird on a sort of Oriental candlestick, as vouchers for their mission, and a means of blessing to their followers. One of them gave Dr Lobdell the following account of the origin of this name [Melek Taoos]. In the absence of his disciples, Satan, in the form of a dervish, took Christ down from the cross and carried him to heaven. Soon after the Marys came and asked the dervish where Christ was. They would not believe his reply, but promised to do so if he would restore the chicken he was eating to life. He did so, and when he told them who he was they adored him. When he left them he promised always to appear to them as a beautiful bird, and so the peacock became his symbol." P. 315. G. L. K.

241 a and 505.

Em dezembro, vintecinco,
Meio da noite chegado,
Um anjo ia no ar
A dizer: Elle é já nado.
Pergunta lo boi: Aonde?
La mula pergunta: Quem?
Canta lo gallo: Jesus.
Diz la ovelha: Bethlem.

Azevedo, Romanceiro do Archipelago da Madeira, p. 3. R. Köhler.

The Taking of Stamboul, in Bezsonof, Kalyeki Perekhozhie, I, 617, No 138.

25. Willie's Lyke-Wake.

P. 249 f. The story of #A#, #B#, #C# in a tale, 'La Furnarella,' A. de Nino, Usi e Costumi abruzzesi, III, 198, No 37. R. Köhler.

#C.# Russian, in Trudy, V, 113, No 249.

29. The Boy and the Mantle.

P. 269 b. Stones. Add the Magnet, Orpheus de Lapidibus, Leipsic, 1764, Hamberger, p. 318, translated by Erox, De Gemmis, cap. 25; and the Agate, "Albertus Magnus, De Mineralibus, 1. II, sect, ii, c. 7:" cited by Du Méril, Floire et Blanceflor, p. clxvi. G. L. K.

269 b, third paragraph. See the English Flor and Blancheflor, ed. Hausknecht, 1885, p. 189, vv. 715-20.

270 b, the first paragraph. Add: Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 931, ed. 1876. "Ebenso trägt die indische Mariatale, so lang ihre Gedanken rein sind, ohne Gefäss das zu Kugeln geballte Wasser:" Kinderund Hausmärchen, III, 264, 9, ed. 1856. See Benfey, Orient und Occident, I, 719 ff, II, 97. F. Liebrecht. For the Mariatale story (from P. Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes Orientales, etc.), see 'Paria,' in Goethes lyrische Gedichte, erläutert von H. Düntzer, II, 449 ff, ed. 1875.

The dragon kept by the priests of Lanuvian Juno ate honey-cakes from the hands of pure maids who went down into its cave, but twined round the unchaste and bit them: Aelian, Hist. An., xi, 6, Propertius, IV (V), 8. See Die Jungfernprobe in der Drachenhöhle zu Lanuvium, C. A. Böttiger's Kleine Schriften, I, 178 ff. G. L. K.

Note [254]. In the English 'Virgilius' it is a brass serpent with the same property: Thoms, A Collection of Early Prose Romances, II, p. 34 of Virgilius, ed. 1827: cited by Sir Walter Scott, 'Sir Tristrem,' p. 432, ed. 1833, apropos of the trick of the shameless Ysonde. G. L. K.

271 a. Aqua potationis domini: see, also, Konrad von Fussesbrunnen, Die Kindheit Jesu, ed. Kochen-dörffer, Quellen u. Forschungen, XLIII, p. 81 f, vv. 573-88, 617-21, 673 ff. G. L. K.

A stunned white elephant will be resuscitated if touched by the hand of a chaste woman. A king's eighty thousand wives, and subsequently all the women in his capital, touch the elephant without effect. A serving-woman, devoted to her husband, touches the elephant, and it rises in sound health and begins to eat. Kathā-sarit-sāgara, Book VII, ch. 36, Tawney's translation, p. 329 f: H. H. Wilson's Essays, II, 129 f. ("In the 115th Tale of the Gesta Romanorum, we read that two chaste virgins were able to lull to sleep and kill an elephant that no one else could approach." Tawney's note.) C. R. Lanman.

30. King Arthur and King Cornwall.

P. 277 a, second paragraph. Brags: see Miss Hapgood's Epic Songs of Russia, p. 300; also pp. 48, 50, 61, 65, 161, etc.

280 b, the last paragraph. Färöe #A# is printed by Hammershaimb in Færøsk Anthologi, p. 139, No 20.

31. The Marriage of Sir Gawain.

P. 289. Miss Martha Carey Thomas, in her Dissertation on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc., Zürich, 1883, pp. 62-64, has shown that the ugly woman in the English romances is probably derived from 'La damoisele hydeuse,' in the Perceval of Chrestien de Troyes, vv. 5996-6015.

32. King Henry.

P. 298, note. So of a frog, Colshorns, p. 139, No 42.

298 b, second paragraph. "In an unpublished story of the Monferrato, communicated to me by Dr Ferraro, a beautiful girl, when plucking up a cabbage, sees under its roots a large room, goes down into it, and finds a serpent there, who promises to make her fortune if she will kiss him and sleep with him. The girl consents. After three months the serpent begins to assume the legs of a man, then a man's body, and finally the face of a handsome youth, the son of a king, and marries his young deliverer." De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, II, 418. G. L. K.

34. Kemp Owyne.

P. 307 f. Caspar Decurtius, Märchen aus dem Bündner Oberlande, nach dem Räto-Romanischen erzählt, Jecklin, Volksthümliches aus Graubünden, Zürich, 1874, p. 126, has a tale of a Schlangenjungfrau who is a maid by day and a serpent by night, and is disenchanted by three kisses. G. L. K.

311. The Rev. Robert Lambe sent Percy, under date of January 29, 1768, "the best copy of 'The Laidley Worm' that he could procure from many incorrect, imperfect, and nonsensical ones." There are differences between this and the copy printed in Hutchinson,[188] but one is about as good as the other. In this earlier copy 2 follows 3 and 37 is wanting. 6 and 7 read:

O up then spake the queen herself:
Who's this that welcoms me?
A lord replied, The king's daughter,
The flower of the North Country.

'Wo be to thee, thou gray-haird man,
Thou mightst have excepted me;
Before the morn at this same time
I'll bring her to low degree.'

And 17, 22:

He straightway built a bonny ship,
And set her on the sea;
Her sails were made of silk so fine,
Her masts of rowan-tree.

The hags came back, finding their charms
Most powerfully withstood;
For warlocks, witches, cannot work
Where there is rowan-tree wood.

Duncan Frasier does not appear in the last stanza:

Now this fact, as it happened, is
For their good sung in rhime,
Lest they should some important part
Forget of it in time.

Along with this earlier copy of Lambe's is found another, undescribed, which shows both agreements and variations: 2 follows 3, and 6, 7 and the final stanza are the same. 17 and 22 are wanting, and there are, therefore, no witches and no rowan-tree. Instead of 21-23, we have this very bad stanza:

'Run, run, my men, my sailors send
Aboard yon ship so tall,
And bid them drown the Child of Wind;
But he soon slew them all.'

In the same parcel there is a copy of 'The Laidley Worm' which is somewhat more in the popular tone than the one already printed. It was sent in an undated letter [1775?] to J. Bulman, Esq., of Sheepwash, Morpeth, by E. G., that is, Captain E. Grow. "The above," says E. G., "is the Haggworm as I collected it from an old woman. I wrote to the Revrd Mr Lamb for his ballad, and directed him to send to you.... I think the inclosed more original then his, for Mr Lamb, tho a good antiquarian, is but a bad poet, and above the one half is his own composing." Mr J. Bulman appears to have transmitted this version to Percy, to whom, upon another occasion, May 25, 1775, he sends "a bold imitation of the song, now lost, of the Laidler Worm (written by Duncan Frazier, the monk on Cheviot, in 1270), by a lady, Miss Graham of Gloriorum, in Northumberland:" of which nothing need be said.

'The Hagg Worm,' obtained from an old woman by Captain E.
Grow.

1
Bambrough Castle's a bonny place,
Built on a marble stone,
But long, long did the lady look
Eer her father came home.

2
She knotted the keys upon a string,
And with her she has them taen;
She cast them oer her left shoulder,
And to the gates she is gaen.

3
It fell out on a day the king
Brought his new lady home,
And all the lordling[s] in his realm
To welcome them did come.

4
'You'r welcome, father,' the lady cries,
'To your halls and your towers,
And so are you, good queen,' said she,
'For all that's here is yours.'

5
'O who is this,' said the queen,
'That welcomes me so high?'
Up then spake a greyhaird man,
An ill dead may he dee!
'Tis the kinges aie daughter,
The flower of the North Country.

6
'O woe betyde the[e], greyhaired man,
An ill dead may thou dee!
Had she been fairer then she is,
You might have excepted me.

7
'I'll liken her to a laidley worm,
That warps about the stone,
And not till Child of Wynd comes back
Shall she again be wonne.'

8
The lady stood at her bower-door,
A loud laughter took she:
'I hope your prayers will have no pith;
You took not God with ye.'

9
She calld on her waiting-maid--
They calld her Dorothy--
The coffer that my gold lies in,
I leave to thee the key.

10
'Her hellish spells seize on my heart,
And quick will alter me;
For eer the seting sun is down
A laidler worm I'll be.'

11
Word's gone east, and word's gone west,
And word's gone oer the sea,
There's a laidler worm in Spindlestone Heughs
Will destroy the North Countree.

12
For seven miles east and seven miles west,
And seven miles north and south,
Nea blade of grass or corn will grow,
For the venom of her mouth.