Chapter XX: Part III: , p. 24, Part IV, p. xxxi, taken down from James Olver, (7)

P. 346, III, 516 a, IV, 481 b. =Italian.= Maria Carmi, Canti pop. Emiliani, Archivio, XII, 189. Brunetina, after she has been rescued by her lover, is informed, while she is dancing at a ball, that her mother is dead. Bury her, she replies, I will dress in complete red, and she goes on dancing. So of her father. But when told that her lover is dead, she says she will dress in complete black, and bids the music stop, for she wishes to dance no more. ‘La Ballerina,’ Nigra, No 107, p. 469, is no doubt the last half of this ballad corrupted at the conclusion. The woman will not stop dancing for the reported death of father, mother, brother, sister, husband, but when told that her boy is dead asks the players to cease, her legs are broken, she can dance no more.

In ‘Leggenda Marinesca’ (di Catanzaro), La Calabria, October, 1893, VI, 16, a wife (or perhaps an affianced young woman) is ransomed from pirates by her husband (or betrothed), after father, mother, and brother have refused. If her father, mother, brother, should die, she would deck her hair, dress in red, yellow, or white, bid the guitar strike up, and dance; but if her true-love died, she would put on black, cut her hair, and throw the guitar into the sea.

349. Mr Kaarle Krohn, of the University of Helsingfors, has favored me with the following study of the very numerous Finnish and Esthonian versions of this ballad, incorporating therein the researches of his father, Julius Krohn, already referred to at IV, 482 a. (Estlander’s discussion, which I had not seen, “Sången om den friköpta,” occupies pp. 331-356 of the tenth volume of Finsk Tidskrift.)

I. The West Finnish versions, dispersed over West and East Finland and Ingria. These are in the modern metre, which came into use hardly before the end of the seventeenth century, and it is in the highest degree probable that they were learned from the Swedes. About thirty copies known. Specimen, Reinholm’s collection, H 12, No 76, from the Nystad district northward from Åbo, in Southwest Finland; J. K., p. 11[120].

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid is sitting in a little room, less frequently in a ship’s cabin or a boat. 2. The father has three horses. 3. The mother has three cows. 4. The brother has three swords. 5. The sister has three crowns, or, in copies from further east, where crowns are not used for head-gear, three silk kerchiefs. 6. The lover has three ships, or almost as often three castles (mansions). There are variations, but rarely, as to the objects possessed, and sometimes exchanges, but only two cases are of importance. In one copy from the extreme of Southeast Finland, the father has three oxen, which seems to be the original disposition, the change to horses coming about from the circumstance that oxen are seldom employed for ploughing in Finland. In four copies from the most eastern part of Finland the sister has three sheep, perhaps owing to the influence of the East Finnish versions. 7. The imprecations and benedictions at the end occur regularly. May the horses be knocked up or die at ploughing-time; may the cows die, dry up, etc., at milking-time; the swords shiver in war-time; the crowns fall off or melt at wedding or dance (the silk kerchiefs tear, fade, spoil with wet); and on the other hand, may the ships sail well, do well, make money at trading-time; the castles rise, flourish in time of destitution, of bad crops. Etc.

II. The later Esthonian versions, Esthonia and Livonia, in modern metre, of more recent origin, probably, than in Finland. About twenty copies known. Specimen, J. Hurt, Vana Kannel, II, 365, No 367. Lilla is sitting in the little room in weary expectation. She sees her father walking on the sea-beach. ‘Dear father, beloved father, ransom me!’ ‘Wherewith ransom you, when I have no money?’ ‘You have three horses at home, and can pawn one.’ ‘I can do better without my Lilla than without my three horses; the horses are mine for all my life, Lilla for a short time.’ In like fashion, the mother is not willing to sacrifice one of her three cows, the brother one of his three swords, the sister one of her three rings. But the lover, who has three ships, says, I can better give up a ship than give up my dear Lilla; my ships are mine for a short time, but Lilla for all my life. Lilla breaks out in execrations: may her father’s horses fall dead when they are ploughing in summer, may her mother’s cows dry up in milking, her brother’s swords shiver in war, her sister’s rings break in the very act of marrying; but may her true-love’s ships long bring home precious wares.

Prevailing traits: 1. Lilla; in some copies from East Livonia, Roosi. 2. Little room; quite as often prison-tower. 3. The father has horses, the mother cows, the brother swords, as in the West Finnish versions. The independency of the Esthonian ballad is exhibited in the sister’s three rings. It must, as far as I can at present see, have been borrowed directly from the Swedish, not through the medium of the Finnish. The lover has always three ships, and it is often wished that these ships may sail well in storm and in winter. The maledictions occur regularly, as in the example cited. There are some divergences as to the items of property, mostly occasioned by the older Esthonian version: thus, the father has sometimes oxen or corn-lofts, the brother horses, the sister brooches.

III. The older Esthonian versions, disseminated in Esthonia and Livonia, and also among the orthodox Esthonians beyond Pskov. These are in the old eight-syllable measure of the runes (and of Kalevala). More than a hundred copies have been obtained.

a. Best preserved and of most frequent occurrence in the island of Ösel. Twenty copies. Specimen from J. Hurt’s manuscript collections. Anne goes into the cow-house and soils her cap. She proceeds to the sea-beach to wash her cap. Ships come from Russia, from Courland. Anne is made captive. She weeps, and begs that the ship may be stopped; she wishes to take a look homewards. Her father has three oxen, one of which has silver horns, another copper, the third golden, but he will give none of them for her. Her mother has three cows, with silver, copper, golden udders; her brother, three horses, with the same variety of manes; her sister, three sheep, with wool of the three sorts; a neighbor’s son, three lofts full of wheat, rye, barley. She wishes that the oxen may die in ploughing-time, the cows in milk-time, the horses at wooing-time, the sheep at wool-time; but may the corn-lofts of the neighbor’s son grow fuller in the direst famine-time.

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid’s name is Anne. 2. The pirates are Russians (10 times), Poles (6), Courlanders (2), Swedes (1), Germans (1), English (1). 3. The father has commonly oxen; the mother, cows always; the brother, almost always horses; the sister, sheep, six times, oftener than anything else; the lover, ordinarily corn-lofts. 4. The cursing occurs ten times. There are in a few cases exchanges of the sorts of property (thus, the father has corn-lofts, the sister has brooches, each four times), and in two instances the lover is omitted. The ballad has perhaps been affected by another (see II, 347 f.) in which a girl receives information that she has been sold by her relations: by her father for a pair of oxen (25 cases) or for a horse (18), by her mother for a cow, by her brother for a horse (24) or for a pair of oxen (14), by her sister for a brooch; and she curses all that they have got by the sale.

b. Less perfect and not so well preserved on the Esthonian mainland. About 100 copies, more or fewer. Specimens, Neus, p. 109, No 34, Hurt, Vana Kannel, I, 166, No 103, II, 310, No 442.

Prevailing traits: 1. The name of the maid, Anne, and the introduction linked to it, are often dropped, especially in the southeast of the Esthonian district, and a passage about a young conscript who wishes to be bought off from serving is substituted. The maid, whose brothers have hidden away, is pressed instead of them, and sent into service. As she is driven by the house of her parents in the military wagon she entreats her guards not to make sail! 2. The kidnapper is most frequently a Russian, then Pole, Swede, less commonly German, Courlander. In the northeast of the Esthonian district, on the border of Ingria, Karelian, four times. 3. The father often keeps the oxen, but almost as often has horses; the brother, in these last cases, has seldom oxen, generally horses as well as the father. The alteration is in part owing to the same material occasion as in the West Finnish versions; sometimes an influence from the ballad of the maiden who has been sold by her relatives may be suspected (in which ballad it is not easy to say whether the oxen belong originally to father or brother). Frequently the father has corn-lofts, the lover, to whom these would belong, having dropped out. The mother has almost always cows; in the northeast, on the Ingrian border, three times, aprons. The brother has generally horses, five times oxen, with other individual variations. The sister has preserved the sheep only four times; eight times she has brooches, and in one of these cases the ballad of the maid sold by her relatives is blended with ours, while in the remainder the influence of that ballad is observable. In six cases she has rings, perhaps under the influence of the later Esthonian versions. In the southeast she has chests seven times, and in most of these cases the lover has the rings. Other variations occur from one to four times. The lover has his corn-lofts nine times. Eight times he has horses, and in half of these instances he has exchanged with the brother, or both have horses. Twice he has ships, through the influence of the later Esthonian versions; or rings, in which cases the father ordinarily has the corn-lofts. 4. The imprecation in the conclusion is but rarely preserved.

IV. The East Finnish versions. Diffused in Ingria, East Finland, and Russian Karelia. In the old rune-measure, about forty copies. Specimen, Ahlqvist’s collection, from East Finland, No 351: see J. K., p. 11.

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid is in a boat on the Neva. 2. The kidnapper is a Russian. 3. The father has a horse, the mother a cow, the brother a horse, the sister a sheep (each with an epithet). 4. The imprecation is almost without exception preserved. This version arose from a blending of the West Finnish, I, the older Esthonian, III, and the ballad of the maid sold by her relatives. This latter occurs in West Ingria in the following shape: The maid gets tidings that she has been sold. The father has received for her a gold-horse (may it founder when on the way to earn gold!), the mother a portly cow (may it spill its milk on the ground!), the brother a war-horse (may the horse founder on the war-path!), the sister a bluish sheep (may wolf and bear rend it!). In some copies the father or the brother has oxen (may they fall dead in ploughing!), as in the Esthonian ballad, from which the Ingrian is borrowed. The sister’s sheep instead of brooch shows perhaps the influence of the older Esthonian ballad of the maid begging to be ransomed, or it may be an innovation.

The ballad of the maid sold by her family occurs in West Ingria independently, and also as an introduction to the other, and has been the occasion for the changes in the possessions of the relatives. North of St Petersburg the combination is not found, though it has left its traces in the course of the spreading of the ballad from Narva to St Petersburg.

The maid’s sitting in a boat may come as well from the older Esthonian as from the West Finnish version, although it is more common in the latter for her to be sitting in the “little room.” The Russian as the kidnapper is a constant feature in the older Esthonian version, but occurs also three times in the West Finnish (once it is the red-headed Dane, in the copy in which the oxen are preserved). Besides Russian, the kidnapper is once called Karelian in West Ingria, often in East Finland, and this denomination also occurs in Northeast Esthonia. The influence of the older Esthonian versions is shown again in some copies preserved in West Ingria which are not mixed up with the ballad of the maid that has been sold; the mother having three aprons in two instances, as in some Northeast Esthonian copies.

The river Neva as a local designation is preserved in East Finland, and shows that the version in which it occurs migrated from Ingria northwards. In the course of its migration (which ends in Russian Karelia) this version has become mixed with the West Finnish in multiform ways. The prelude of the East Finnish has attached itself to the West Finnish, notwithstanding the different metre. The trilogy of the latter has made its way into the former, and has spoiled the measure. It is no doubt owing to the influence of the Western version that, in North Ingria and Karelia, the brother, more frequently the lover, has a war-sword, the lover once a sea-ship, or the brother a red boat or war-boat.

Finally it may be noted that in those West Ingrian copies in which the ballads of the maid sold and the maid ransomed are blended the ransomer is a son-in-law, and possesses “a willow castle” (wooden strong-house?), the relation of which to the castle in the West Finnish version is not clear.

If we denote the West Finnish versions by =a=, the older Esthonian by =b=, the ballad of the maid sold by her family by =c=, the status of the East-Finnish versions may be exhibited thus:

In West Ingria, =b= + =c= + =a=. In North Ingria, =b= + =c= + =a= + =a=. In Karelia, =b= + =c= + =a= + =a= + =a=.

That is to say, there has been a constantly increasing influence exerted by the West Finnish versions upon the East Finnish Ingrian versions, and reciprocally. This circumstance has caused it to be maintained that the East Finnish versions were derived from the West Finnish, in spite of the difference of the metre.

353 a. =F= was communicated by Rev. W. Findlay: Findlay MSS, I, 100.

353. =H. c.= Mrs Bacheller, of Jacobstown, North Cornwall (sister of Mrs Gibbons, from whom 78 =H= was derived, see IV, 474 b), gave Rev. S. Baring-Gould the following version of the tale, taught her by a Cornish nursery maid, probably the same mentioned at the place last cited.

“A king had three daughters. He gave each a golden ball to play with, which they were never to lose. The youngest lost hers, and was to be hung on the gallows-tree if it were not found by a day named. Gallows ready, all waiting to see the girl hung. She sees her father coming, and cries:@

‘Father, father, have you found my golden ball,
And will you set me free?’

‘I’ve not found your golden ball,
And I can’t set you free;
But I am come to see you hanged
Upon the gallows-tree.’

The same repeated with every relationship, brother, sister, etc.; then comes the lover:

‘Lover, lover, have you found the golden ball,’ etc.

‘Yes, I have found your golden ball,
And I can set you free;
I’m not come to see you hung
Upon the gallows-tree.’”@

* * * * *

354, IV, 481 f.

K

‘The Prickly Bush,’ Mr Heywood Sumner, in English County Songs, by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, p. 112. From Somersetshire.

1
‘O hangman, hold thy hand,’ he cried,
‘O hold thy hand awhile,
For I can see my own dear father
Coming over yonder stile.

2
‘O father, have you brought me gold?
Or will you set me free?
Or be you come to see me hung,
All on this high gallows-tree?’

3
‘No, I have not brought thee gold,
And I will not set thee free,
But I am come to see thee hung,
All on this high gallows-tree.’

4
‘Oh, the prickly bush, the prickly bush,
It pricked my heart full sore;
If ever I get out of the prickly bush,
I’ll never get in any more.’

The above is repeated three times more, with the successive substitution of ‘mother,’ ‘brother,’ ‘sister,’ for ‘father.’ Then the first two stanzas are repeated, with ‘sweetheart’ for ‘father,’ and instead of 3 is sung:

5
‘Yes, I have brought thee gold,’ she cried,
‘And I will set thee free,
And I am come, but not to see thee hung
All on this high gallous-tree.’
‘Oh, the prickly bush,’ etc.

In this version, a man is expressly delivered by a maid, contrary to the general course of tradition. So apparently in =J=, IV, 481, as understood by Dr. Birkbeck Hill.

96. The Gay Goshawk.

P. 355. M. G. Lewis, in a letter of May 29, 1800 (Letters at Abbotsford, I, No 30), refers to a copy of this ballad (and one of ‘Brown Adam’) which he had furnished Scott. This might perhaps be the “MS. of some antiquity” (printed, IV, 482).

As to the bird’s part in this ballad, compare the following passage. A son, in prison, sending a letter to his mother by a bird, gives this charge:

Quando giugnerete alla porta mia,
Là sta un ulivo.
Posati su quell’ ulivo,
V’agita e dibatti l’ali,
Ché di te caderà il foglio di carta.

De Rada, Rapsodie d’un poema Albanese, I, canto xvi, p. 29.

P. 356 a, III, 517 a, IV, 482 a. =French.= Add: ‘La belle qui fait la morte,’ ‘La fille du duc de Montbrison,’ Pineau, Le Folk-Lore du Poitou, p. 311, p. 389 (each, six stanzas); ‘La belle dans la tour,’ six copies (besides Belle Idoine repeated), M. Wilmotte in Bulletin de Folklore, Société du Folklore Wallon, 1893, p. 35.

356 b, 3d paragraph, III, 517 a. Add: A copy of ‘Les trois capitaines,’ in Mélusine, VI, 52, 183; Wallonia, I, 38; “Fréd. Thomas, La Mosäique du Midi, V, 1841; C. Beauquier, Mém. de la Soc. d’Émulation du Doubs, 1890,” Mélusine, VI, 220, where also a Catalan version, which had escaped my notice, Milà y Fontanals, Romancerillo, p. 259, No 264, is registered by M. Doncieux. A Breton version, Mélusine, VI, 182.

99. Johnie Scot.

P. 379. =A.= Considering that Sir Walter Scott professes to have derived some variations from recitation in the south of Scotland (see the note, IV, 387), the copy in “Scottish Songs” may be fully collated, small as will be the value of the result.

‘John the Little Scott,’ fol. 24.

1
John the Scot was as brave a knight
As ever shook a speir,
And he is up to fair England,
The king’s braid banner to bear.

2
And while he was in fair England,
Sae fair his hap did prove
That of the king’s ae daughter dear
He wan the heart and love.

3
But word is gane to the English king,
And an angry man was he,
And he has sworn by salt and bread
They should it dear abye.

* * * * *

4 _wanting._

5^1. Then Johny’s gane.

5^{2,4}. I wot.

5^3. the English.

6^{3,4}.

To hear some news from his true love,
Least she had sufferd wrang.

7^2. That will win hose and shoon.

7^3. will gang into.

8^1. Then up there.

9 _wanting._

10^3. to grass growing.

11^1. And when: to the king’s castle.

11^3. saw that fair ladye.

12^2, 13^2. ain sel.

12^4. And speer na your father’s.

13^1. Here take.

13^3. to feir Scotland.

13^4. Your true love waits.

14^1. The ladie turned her round about.

14^4. Unless.

15^2. In prison pinching cold.

15^3. My garters are of.

15^4. the silk and gold.

16^3. And hie thee back to yon Scottish knight.

17^1. quickly sped.

18^1. He told him then that ladie’s words.

18^2. He told him.

18^{3,4}.

But ere the tale was half said out
Sae loudly to horse he did ca.

19^4. That should have been my bride.

20^1. And spak his mither dear.

20^3. For gin you’re taen.

20^4. ye’ll.

21^1. and spak.

21^2. And Johny’s true.

21^4. And his surety I will.

22.

Then when they cam to English ground
They gard the mass be sung,
And the firsten town that they cam to
They gard the bells be rung.

23^1. And the nextin: cam to.

23^4. Were.

24^1. And when: the high castle.

24^2. rode.

25^3. Or is it.

26^1. I’m not.

26^2. James our.

26^3. But Johny Scot, the little Scot.

27^1. is thy name.

27^3. eer.

28^1. and spak the gallant.

28^3. hundred.

28^4. That will die or.

29^1. and spak.

29^2. And sae scornfully leugh he.

29^3. my bower.

30^1. boon, said the little Scot.

30^2. Bring forth your.

30^3. falls.

30^4. I hae.

31
Out then cam that Italian knight,
A griesly sight to see;
Between his een there was a span,
Between his shoulders three and three.

And forth then came brave John the Scot,
He scarcely reachd his knee,
Yet on the point of Johny’s brand
The Italian knight did die.

32
And syne has he waved his bludie glaive,
And slait it on the plain;
‘Are there any more Italian dogs
That you wish to be slain?’

33
‘A clerk, a clerk,’ the king he cried,
‘To register this deed;’
‘A priest, a priest,’ Pitnochtan cried,
‘To marry us wi speed.’

34 _wanting._

384. A copy of =D= was sent by Motherwell to C. K. Sharpe with a letter of December 6, 1824, in which many of the variations of =b= were introduced into =a=.

101. Willie o Douglas Dale.

P. 407. =A.= Collated with the copy in the Abbotsford MS. “Scottish Songs,” as to which see the note at IV, 387.@

‘Willie of Douglas-dale,’ fol. 16.

1^1, was a gallant squire.

2^1. the English court.

2^3. When.

2^4. But her he neer could.

3^1. once.

3^2. the _wanting_.

3^4. By the _ae_.

4^1. louted low.

4^2. His cap low in his.

4^3. I greet ye well, ye gentle knight.

4^4. your cap.

5^1. knight, fair dame.

5^2. Nor eer can hope.

5^3. am but a humble squire.

5^4. That serves.

6^1. Gae.

6^2. baith night.

6^3. tempting _written before_ face _and struck out_.

6^4. ever I.

7 _wanting._

8^2. He watchd that ladye’s.

8^3. passd the twa between.

9^1. O narrow is my gown, Willy.

9^3. And short are my petticoats.

9^4. sae wide.

9^6. is laid.

10^1. gin my father get wit.

10^2. never eat.

10^{3,5}. get wit.

10^4. gae.

10^6. Ah, Willy, you’ll.

11^1. O gin ye’ll.

11^2. gang.

11^3. into.

12 _wanting._

14^1. day was come.

14^2. den.

14^3. That gentle ladye.

14^4. While the.

15^{3,4}, Or lack ye ony tender love
That may assuage your pain.

16^1. wan na.

16^2. for my.

16^3. And alas, alas.

17^1. He’s felld the thorn in.

17^2. And blawn it to a flame.

17^3. He’s strewd it.

17^4. To cheer that lovely dame.

18^1. He’s: in gude.

18^2. And laid the fair ladye.

18^3. he’s happed her oer wi withered.

18^4. his coat and goun.

19 _wanting._

20^1. branch red.

20^2. grew in gude grene wood.

20^3. And brought her a draught.

20^4. I wot they did her good.

21-23 _wanting._

24^1. to shoot.

24^2. has he _wanting_.

25 (_after_ 30).

26^{1,2}.

Syne has he sought the forest through,
Sum woman’s help to gain.

26^3. he came to a bonny.

27^1. O will ye leave the sheep, he says.

27^2. And come.

27^3. ye.

27^4. give.

28^2. She fell down.

28^3. fair dame.

28^4. For a.

29^2. but _wanting_.

29^3. ye: flocks.

29^4. And gang to fair.

30^3. for you.

30^4. marry _wanting_: Scottish man.

_After_ 30 (see 25):

O taen has she the bonny knave-boy
And washd him in the milke,
And she has tended the sick lady,
And rowd her in the silk.

31^1. maid.

31^3. took to fair.

32^1. an _wanting_.

32^3. they gat safe.

32^4. Himself was lord therein.

411. From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 33, ‘Willie of Duglass Daill.’ The Dame Oliphant of the other versions is somewhat disguised in the old lady’s writing as Demelefond, Demelofen, etc.

D

1
Willie was a rich man’s son,
A rich man’s son was he;
Hee thought his father lake to sair,
An his mother of mine digree,
An he is on to our English court,
To serve for meatt an fee.

2
He hadno ben in our king’s court
A tuall-month an a day,
Till he fell in love we Mary, Dem [Ele]fon,
An a great buity was she.

3
He hadno ben in our king’s court
A tuall-month an a houre,
Till he dreamed a lady of buty bright
Gave him a rosey flour.

4
The lady touk her mantell her about,
Her gooun-teall in her hand,
An she is on to gued grean woud,
As fast as she could gang.

5
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
An ther she spayed a gellant knight,
Kamen his yallou hear.

6
‘What is yer name, sir knight?
For a knight I am sure ye be;’
‘I am called Willie of Duglas Dall,
Did ye never hear of me?’
‘If ye be Willie of Duglass Daill,
I afft have heard of thee.’

7
‘What is yer name, ye lovely dame?
For a lady I trou ye be;’
‘I am called Mary, Dem Elefond,
Did ye never hear of me?’

8
‘In ye be Mary, Dem Elefon,
As I trust well ye be,
. . . . . . .
My heart ye haa ye we.’

9
The lady was fair an rear,
The knight’s heart had she;
The knight was tall an straght withall,
The lady’s hart had he.

10
It fell ance upon a day
Dem Elofen thought lang,
An she is on to Willie’s bour,
As fast as she could gang.

11
‘Narrou is my pettecot, Willie,
It ance was saa wide,
An narrou is my stays, Willie,
Att ance wer saa wide,
An paill is my chikes, Willie,
An laigh, laigh is my pride.

12
‘. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
An the knights of my father’s court gat word of this,
I feer they wad gare ye diee.’

13
He touke . . . . . . . . .
The lady by the hand,
An they are one to gued green woud,
As fast as they coud gang.

14
It fell ance upon a day
Strong travileng came her tell,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .

15
‘Ye take your boue on yer shoulder,
Yer arrous in yer hand,
An ye gaa farr throu green woud,
An shout some veneson.

16
‘Fan ye hear me loud cray,
Bide far awaa fra me,
Bat fan ye hear me laying still
Ye may come back an see.’

17
Fan he hard her loud cray,
He bad far awaa,
Bat fan he heard her laying still
He did come an see,
An he got her
An her young son her wee.

18
He milked the goats,
An feed his young son wee,
And he made a fire of the oken speals,
An warmed his lady wee.

19
It fell ance upon a day
The lady though[t] lang:
‘An ye haa any place in fair Scotland, Willie,
I wiss ye wad haa me hame.’

20
‘. . . . . . .
I ha lands an reants saa friee,
The bonny lands of Duglass Daill,
They a’ lay bread an friee.’

21
He’s taen the knight-bairn in his arms,
His lady by the hand,
An he is out throu gued green woud,
As fast as they coud gang.

22
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
Till they came to a maid kepping her goats,
. . . . . . . .

23
‘Hallë, ye maid,
For a maid ye seem to be;
Will ye live your goats kepping
An goo we me?

24
‘I cannot live my father, I canno live my midder,
Nor yet my brethren three;
I cannot live my goats kepping,
An goo along we the.

25
‘Fatt is your name, ye lovely dame?
For a lady I am shour ye be;’
‘I am called Mary, Dem Elifond,
Did ye never hear of me?’

26
‘If ye be Mary, Dem Elifond,
As I trust well ye be,
I will live my goats kepping
An goo along we the.

27
‘For I will live my father, an I will live my mother,
An my brothers three,
An I will live my goats,
An go along we thee.’

28
The maid touke the knight-bairn in her ar[m]s,
An his lady took he,
An they are to gued ship-bourd,
And took God to be ther foresteed, an didne fear to droun.

29
An they landed att Duglas Dalle,
Far the lands was braid an frie,
An the knight-bairn was Black Sir James of Duglas Dall,
An a gallant knight was hee.

* * * * *

_Written, like all the other pieces in the collection, without division into stanzas or verses._

2^3. Demefon; _contracted at the edge_.

9^3. was tell.

11^2. _Read_ side?

14^2. _Perhaps_ her tee.

105. The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington.

P. 426 f. Of the Italian ballad there are many more versions, but it is needless to cite them. Add for =Spanish=: ‘La Ausencia,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, Nos 31, 32, p. 152 f.

107. Will Stewart and John.

P. 433 b, 2d paragraph. Beating of daughters.

Elizabeth Paston, a marriageable woman, was “betyn onys in the weke, or twyes, and som tyme twyes on a day, and hir hed broken in to or thre places.” (1449.) Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, I, 90.

110. The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter.

P. 457, IV, 492. From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 34, ‘Earl Richerd,’==Skene, =M=.

N

1
Ther was a sheperd’s daughter
Keeped hogs upon yon hill,
An by came [t]her a gentell knight,
An he wad haa his will.

2
Fan his will
Of her he had taiin,
‘Kind sir, for your curtisy,
Will ye tell me yer name?’

3
‘Some they caa me Joke,
An some caa me John,
Bat fan I am in our king’s court
Hichkoke is my name.’

4
The lady being well book-read
She spealled it our agen:
‘Hichkoke in Latin
Is Earl Richerd att heam.’

5
He patt his liag out-our his stead
An to the gate has gain;
She kilted up her green clathing
An fast folloued she.

6
‘Turn back, ye carl’s dother,
An dinnë follou me;
It setts no carl’s dothers
King’s courts to see.’

7
‘Perhaps I am a carle’s dother,
Perhaps I am nean,
Bat fan ye gat me in free forest
Ye sud haa latten alean.’

8
Fan they came to yon wan water
That a’ man cas Glide,
He luked our his left shoulder,
Says, Fair maid, will ye ride?

9
‘I learned it in my mother’s bour,
I watt I learned it well,
Fan I came to wan water
To soum as dos the eall.

10
‘I learned it in my mother’s bour,
I wiss I had learned it better,
Fan I came to wan watter
To sume as dos the otter.’

11
She touk a golden comb,
Combed out her yallou hear,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .

12
‘Far gatt ye that, ye carl’s dother,
I pray ye tell to me;’
‘I gatt it fra my mither,’ she says,
‘To begulle sick sparks as ye.’

13
‘Gin ye be a carl’s gett,
As I trou well ye be,
Far gatt ye a’ that fine clothing,
To cloath yer body we?’

14
‘My mother was an ill woman,
An ill woman was she,
An she gatt a’ that fine clathing,
Frae sick chaps as ye.’

15
Fan they came to our king’s court,
She fell lou doun on her knee:
‘Win up, ye fair may,
What may ye want we me?’
‘Ther is a knight in your court
This day has robbed me.’

16
‘Has he robbed you of your goud?
Or of your whit monie?
Or of your meadnhead,
The flour of your body?’

17
‘He has no robbed me of my goud,
Nor yet of my fiee,
Bat he has robed me of my madinhead,
The flour of my body.’

18
‘Wad ye keen the knight,
If ye did him see?’
‘I wad keen him well by his well-fared face
An the blieth blink of his eay.’
An sighan says the king,
I wiss it binë my brother Richie!

19
The king called on his merry men a’,
By an, by tua, by three;
Earl Richerd had ay ben the first,
Bat the last man was he.

20
By that ye might a well kent
The gulty man was he;
She took him by the hand,
Says, That same is hee.

21
Ther was a brand laid doun to her,
A brand batt an a ring,
Three times she minted to the brand,
Bat she took up the ring;
A’that was in the court
’S counted her a wise woman.

22
‘I will gee ye five hundred pound,
To make yer marrage we,
An ye gie hame, ye carl’s dother,
An fash na mare we me.’

23
‘Ye keep yer five hundred pound,
To make yer marreg we,
For I will ha nathing bat yer sell,
The king he promised me.’

24
‘I ill gee ye a thousand poun,
To make yer marrage we,
An ye gae hame, ye carl’s gett,
An fash na mare we me.’

25
‘Ye keep yer thousand pound,
To make yer marreg we,
For I ill ha nathing batt yer sell,
The king he promised me.’

26
He toke her doun
An clothed her in green;
Fan she cam up,
She was fairer then the quin.

27
Fan they gaid to Mary Kirk,
The nettels grue by dike:
‘O gin my midder war hear,
Sai clean as she wad them peak!’

28
He drue his hat out-our his eayn,
The tear blinded his eay;
She drue back her yallou loaks,
An a light laughter luke she.

29
Fan she came by yon mill-toun,
. . . . . .
‘O well may the mill goo,
An well matt she be!
For aften ha ye filled my poke
We the whit meall an the gray.’

30
‘I wiss I had druken the water
Fan I drank the aill,
Or any carl’s dother
Suld ha tald me siken a teall.’

31
‘Perhaps I am a carl’s dother,
Perhaps I am nean;
Fan ye gatt me in frie forest,
Ye sud ha latten alean.

* * * * * * *

32
‘Take awa yer silver spons,
Far awa fra me,
An ye gee me t[he] ram-horn [s]pons,
Them I am best used we.

33
‘Ye take awa yer tabel-cloths,
Far awa fra me,
An ye gee me a mukell dish
I am best used we.

34
‘For if I had my mukel dish hear,
An sayn an it war fou,
I wad sup till I war sared,
An sayn lay doun my head an slep like ony sou.

35
‘Ye take away yer hollan shits,
Far awa fra me,
An ye bring me a cannas,
It’s the thing I ben eased we.’

36
Fan bells wer rung, an mess was sung,
An a’ man boun to bed,
Earl Richerd an the carl’s dother
In a bed [were laid].

37
‘Lay yond, lay yond, ye carl’s dother,
Your hot skin . . me;
It setts na carl’s dothers
In earls’ beds to be.’

38
‘Perhaps I am a carl’s dother,
Perhaps I am nean;
Bat fan ye gat me in free forest
Ye might a latten alean.’

39
Up starts the Bellie Blind,
Att ther bed-head:
‘I think it is a meatt marrage
Betuen the ane an the eather,
The Earl of Heartfourds ae daughter
An the Quien of England’s brother.’

40
‘If this be the Earl of Heartfourd’s ae doughter,
As I trust well it be,
Mony a gued hors have I redden
For the love of the.’

* * * * *

2^2. ha had.

8^2. cas es: _perhaps_ caes _was meant_.

9^4. to eull.

18^5. sigh an.

21^3. courts.

32^3. t _with an imperfect letter, for_ the.

37^2. _Perhaps_ we.

39^5, 40^1. _The_ t _is not crossed in_ Heartfourd, _and_ Hearlfourd _may be meant_.

O

Kidson’s Traditional Tunes, p. 20, from Mr Benjamin Holgate, Leeds.

1
There was a shepherd’s daughter
Who kept sheep on yon hill;
There came a young man riding by,
Who swore he’d have his will.
Fol lol lay
Fol lol di diddle lol di day

* * * * *

2^{1,2}.

He took her by the lilly-white hand
And by her silken sleeve,

3^4.

Or tell to me your name.

4

‘Oh, some they call me Jack, sweetheart,
And some they call me Will,
But when I ride the king’s high-gate
My name is Sweet William.’

4^4. But name.

P

Findlay’s MSS, I, 208, from Mr McKenzie, Advie, Morayshire.

1
‘T is said a shepherd’s ae daughter
Kept sheep upon a hill,
An by there cam a courteous knight,
An he wad hae his will.

2
He’s taen her by the milk-white hand
An by the grass-green sleeve,
He’s laid her doon at the fit o a bush,
An neer ance speired her leave.

112. The Baffled Knight.

P. 480 a, 4th paragraph. ‘The Politick Maid’ was entered to Thomas Lambert, 16th May, 1637: Arber, Stationers’ Registers, IV, 385.

481 b, III, 518 a, IV, 495 a. Tears. ‘Chasseur, mon beau chasseur,’ Pineau, Le Folk-Lore du Poitou, p. 251.

Varieties. ‘La jolie Couturière,’ Pineau, p. 285.

483 b. ‘La jolie Batelière,’ Romania, XIII, 410; La Tradition, VII, 110.

VOL. III.

117. A Gest of Robyn Hode.

P. 40 b. References to Robin Hood in the 15th century.

And many men speken of Robyn Hood
And shotte nevere in his bowe.

Reply of Friar Dow Topias, in Wright’s Poetical Poems and Songs relating to English History, II, 59, dated by Wright 1401, which may be rather too early. The proverbial phrase shows that Robin Hood had long been familiar to the English People.

120. Robin Hood’s Death.

P. 103 a, note *. ‘Give me my God’ is not perhaps too bold a suggestion. We have ‘yeve me my savyour’ in the Romance of the Rose, Morris, v. 6436, translating ‘le cors nostre seigneur.’

132. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood.

P. 155. The following copy, entitled ‘Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar,’ is from a garland in a collection of folio sheet-ballads mostly dated 1775, in the British Museum, 1346. m. 7(9). The Museum catalogue assigns the ballads to Edinburgh. I owe my knowledge of this piece to Mr P. Z. Round.

1
There was a proud pedlar, a fine pedlar,
a proud pedlar he seemd to be,
And he’s taen his pack upon his back,
and went linking over the lee.

2
Where he met two troublesome men,
troublesome men they seemd to be,
The one of them was Robin Hood,
the other Little John so free.

3
‘O what is that into thy pack?
thou pedlar proud now tell to me;’
‘There’s seven suits of good green silk,
and bow-strings either two or three.’

4
‘If there’s seven suits of good green silk,
and silken bow-strings two or three,
Then be my sooth,’ says Little John,
‘there’s some of them must fall to me.’

5
Then he’s taen his pack off his back,
and laid it low down by his knee:
‘Where’s the man fit to drive me frae’t?
then pack and all to him I’ll gie.’

6
Then Little John pulld out his sword,
the pedler he pulld out his brand,
They swapped swords till they did sweat;
‘O pedlar fine, now hold thy hand!’

7
‘O fy! O fy!’ said Robin Hood,
‘O fy! O fy! that must not be,
For I’ve seen a man in greater strait
than to pay him and pedlars three.’

8
‘Then try him, try him, master,’ he said,
‘O try him now, master,’ said he,
‘For by me sooth,’ said Little John,
‘master, ’tis neither you nor me.’

9
Bold Robin pulld out his sword,
the pedlar he pulld out his brand,
They swapped swords till they did sweat;
‘O pedlar fine, now hold thy hand!

10
‘O what’s thy name,’ says Robin Hood,
‘now, pedlar fine, come tell to me;’
‘No, be my sooth, that will I not,
till I know what your names may be.’

11
‘The one of us[’s] calld Robin Hood,
the other Little John so free,
And now it lies into thy breast
whether thou’lt tell thy name to me.’

12
‘I’m Gamwell gay, of good green wood,
my fame is far beyond the sea;
For killing a man in my father’s land
my native land I was forcd to flee.’

13
‘If thou be Gamwell of the green wood,
thy fame is far beyond the sea;
And be my sooth,’ said Little John,
‘my sister’s son thou needs must be.

14
‘But what was that was on thy back?
O, cousin Gamwell, tell unto me;’
‘It is seven sarks and three gravats,
is all the kitt that I carry.’

15
They smoothd their words and sheathd their swords,
and kissd and clapt most tenderly;
To a tavern then they went to dine,
and drank about most heartily.

July, 1775.

* * * * *

Captain Delany’s Garland, containing five new songs, ... II, Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar.

6^2, 6^4, 9^4. padler.

152. Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow.

P. 223. Letter shot to its address on an arrow. Afanasief, Russian Popular Tales, V, 183.

155. Sir Hugh, or, The Jew’s Daughter.

P. 233, IV, 497.

T

‘Little Sir William,’ Miss M. H. Mason’s Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46.

1
Easter Day was a holiday,
Of all days in the year,
And all the little schoolfellows went out to play,
Bat Sir William was not there.

2
Mamma went to the Jew’s wife’s house,
And knockëd at the ring,
Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there,
Oh, let your mother in!

3
The Jew’s wife opened the door and said,
He is not here to-day;
He is with the little schoolfellows out on the green,
Playing some pretty play.

4
Mamma went to the Boyne water,
That is so wide and deep,
Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there,
Oh, pity your mother’s weep!

5
‘How can I pity your weep, mother,
And I so long in pain?
For the little penknife sticks close in my heart,
And the Jew’s wife has me slain.

6
‘Go home, go home, my mother dear,
And prepare my winding sheet,
For tomorrow morning before eight o’clock
You with my body shall meet.

7
‘And lay my Prayer-Book at my head,
And my grammar at my feet,
That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by
May read them for my sake.’

U

Notes and Queries, Eighth Series, II, 43, July, 1842. ‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ communicated by Mr C. W. Penny, as repeated to his brother, the vicar of Stixwould, Lincolnshire, by one of the oldest women in the parish. “A song sung by his nurse to a Lincolnshire gentleman, now over sixty years of age.”

1
You toss your ball so high,
You toss your ball so low,
You toss your ball into the Jew’s garden,
Where the pretty flowers grow.

2
Out came one of the Jew’s daughters,
Dressed all in green:
‘Come hither, pretty little dear,
And fetch your ball again.’

3
She showed him a rosy-cheeked apple,
She showed him a gay gold ring,
She showed him a cherry as red as blood,
And that enticed him in.

4
She set him in a golden chair,
She gave him kisses sweet,
She threw him down a darksome well,
More than fifty feet deep.

156. Queen Eleanor’s Confession.

P. 259. =B.= Here given as it stands in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 6.

1
Our quin’s seek, an very seek,
She’s seek an leak to dee,
An she has sent for the friears of France,
To speak we her spedely.

2
‘Ye’ll pit on a frier’s robe,
An I’ll put one anether,
An we’ll goo to madam the Quin,
Leak frayers bath together.’

3
‘God forbid,’ sayes Earl Marchell,
‘That ever the leak sud be,
That I sud begule madam the Quin;
I wad be hangëd hei.’

4
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
The King suar by the croun an the septer roun
Eearl Marchell sudne dei.

5
The king pat on a frier’s rob,
Eearl Marchell on anether,
The’r on to the Quin,
Like frayers bath together.

6
‘Gin ye be the frayers of France,’ she says,
‘As I trust wiell ye be,
Bat an ye be ony eather men
Ye sall be hangëd he.’

7
The king he turned him roun,
An by his troth suare he,
‘We ha na sung masse
San we came fra the sea.’

8
‘The first sin ever I did,
An a very grat sin it was tee,
I gaa my medenhead to Earl Marchell,
Below a green-wood tree.’

9
‘That was a sin, an a very grate sin,
Bat pardoned it man be;’
‘We menement,’ said Earl Marchell,
Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he.

10
‘The nist sin ever I did,
An a grat sin it was tee,
I pusned Lady Rosomon,
An the King’s darling was she.’

11
‘That was a sin, an a grat sin,
Bat pardoned it may be;’
‘We menement,’ said King Henry,
Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he.

12
‘The nist sin I ever did,
An a grat sin it was tee,
I keepet pusin in my bosom seven year
To pusin him King Henre.’

13
‘That was a sin, an a grat sin,
Bat pardoned it may be;’
‘We menement,’ sa[i]d King Henrie,
Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he.

14
‘O see ye na yon bony boys,
As they play att the baa?
An see ye na Earl Merchal’s son?
I lee him best of all.

15
‘But see ye na King Henry’s son?
He is headed leak a bull an baked like a bore,
I leak him warst of a’:’
‘An, by my soth,’ says him King Henry,
‘I leak him best of the twa.’

16
The king he turned him roun,
Pat on the coat of goud,
The Quin turned her roun,
The king to behald.

17
‘. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Gin I had na sworn by the croun an the septer roun,
Eearl Marchell sud ben gared dee.’

* * * * *

_Written without division into stanzas or verses._

2^2. An ye’ll.

157. Gude Wallace.

P. 265. From C. K. Sharpe’s “first collection,” p. 18.

I

“An old song shewing how Sir Wm Wallace killed thirty Englishmen.” This copy resembles =C=.

‘Decencey’ in 8^2 is the reciter’s rendering of the bencite (benedicite) of =C= 6^2.

1
‘I wish I had a king,’ brave Wallace he said,
That every brave Scotsman might leave by his oun,
For between me and my sovreign leige
I think I see some ill [seed] sowen.’

2
Brave Wallace out-oer yon river he lap,
And he lighted low down on the plain,
And he came to a gay lady,
As she was at the well washing.

3
‘Some tidings, some tidings,’ brave Wallace he said,
‘Some tidings ye most tell unto me;
Now since we are met here togither on the plain,
Some tidings ye most tell unto me.’

4
‘O go ye down to yon wee ale-house,
And there is fifeteen Englishmen,
And they are seeking for good Wallace,
And him to take and him for to hang.’

5
‘I wish I had a penny in my pocket,’ he says,
‘Or although it were but a bare baubee,
And I wad away to the wee ale-house,
The fifeteen Englishmen to see.’

6
She’s put hir hand in hir left pocket,
And fifeteen shillings to him she told down:
‘If ever I live to come back this way,
The money’s be well paid agein.’

7
He louted twafauld oer a stick,
And he louted threefauld oer a tree,
And he’es gane awa to the wee ale-house,
The fifeteen Englishmen to see.

8
When he came to the wee ale-house,
He walked ben, says, Decencey be there!
The Engilish proud captain he awnsered him,
And he awnsered him with a graid domineer.

9
‘Why, where wast thou born, thou old crooked carle?
Where and of what country?’
‘I am a true Scotsman bred and born,
And an auld crooked carle, just sic as ye may see.’

10
‘I wad gee fifeteen shillings,’ the captain he said,
‘To an auld crooked carle, just sic a ane as thee,
If ye wad tell me of Willie Wallace,
For he’s the man I wad fain see.’

11
‘O hold your hand,’ brave Wallace he said,
‘And let me see if yeer coin be good;
If ye wad give fifeteen shillings more,
Ye never bade a better boad.’

12
He’s tean the captain out-oer the chaft-blade,
Till a bitt of meat he never did eat mair;
He stickit a’ the reste as the sat aroun the table,
And he left them all a spraulling there.

13
‘Get up, get up, goodwife,’ he says,
‘Get up and get me some denner in haste,
For it is now three days and nights
Since a bit of meat my mouth did taste.’

14
The denner was not well made ready,
Nor was it on the table sett,
Till other fifeteen English men
Were a’perading about the yett.

15
‘Come out, come out now, Wallace,’ they crys,
‘For this is the place ye’es sure for [to] die;’
‘I lippen not sae little to good,’ he says,
‘Although I be but ill-wordie.’

16
The goodman ran butt, the goodwife ran ben,
They put the house in such a fever!
Five of them he sticket where they stood,
And other five he smoddered in the gitter.

17
Five of them he folowd to the merry greenwood,
And these five he hangt on a grain,
And gin the morn at ten o’clock
He was wi his mirry men at Lochmaben.

* * * * *

6^2. 15.

8^2. _Perhaps we should read_ be here, _as in_ =A= 10^2, _but other copies have_ bad ... there, _and it is likely enough that there is a confusion of the oblique and the direct form_.

14^4. =a.=

265 b, note †. ‘Let me see if your money be good, and if it be true and right, you’ll maybe get the downcome of Robinhood,’ from a recited copy, in the preface to Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, XV.]

158. Hugh Spencer’s Feats in France.

P. 276. What is narrated of Walter in the Chronicon Novalese is likewise told of Ogier by Alexander Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, ed. T. Wright, p. 261 ff. (see also the note at p. lvi), in a copy of Turpin’s Chronicle, Ward, Catalogue of Romances, I, 579 f., and (excepting the monastery) in La Chevalerie Ogier, ed. Barrois, v. 10390 ff.; of Heimir, Saga Ðiðriks af Bern, c. 429 ff., Unger, p. 361 ff.; and in part in the ballad of ‘Svend Felding,’ Grundtvig, No 31, I, 398. See Grundtvig’s preface to No 15, I, 216 ff.; Ward, as above; Voretzsch, Ueber die Sage von Ogier dem Dänen, p. 113 ff.

161. The Battle of Otterburn.

P. 289, IV, 499. From C. K. Sharpe’s “first collection,” p. 21. Tradition in this copy, as in Herd’s, =B=, ascribes the death of Douglas to an offended and treacherous page.

1
It was about the Lammes time,
When moorland men do win their hay,
Brave Earl Douglass, in armer bright,
Marchd to the Border without delay.

2
He hes tean wi him the Lindseys light,
And sae hes he the Gordons gay,
And the Earl of Fife, without all strife,
And Sir Heugh Montgomery upon a day.

3
The hae brunt Northumberland,
And sae have [the] Northumbershire,
And fair Cluddendale they hae brunt it hale,
And he’s left it all in fire fair.

4
Ay till the came to Earl Percy’s castle,
Earl Percey’s castle that stands sae high:
‘Come dowen, come dowen, thou proud Percey,
Come down and talk one hour with me.

5
‘Come down, come down, thou proud Percey,
Come down and talk one hour with me;
For I hae burnt thy heritage,
And sae will I thy building high.’

6
‘If ye hae brunt my heritage,
O dule, O dule, and woe is me!
But will ye stay at the Otter burn
Untill I gather my men to me?’