CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN
The Text is from Kinloch’s MSS., where it was written down from the recitation of Mary Barr: it is entitled ‘The Earl of Rosslyn’s Daughter.’
The Story is the converse of A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded, in which the maid wins a husband by riddles; in the present one the captain out-riddles the maid. Similar tales are very popular in many lands, being found in Persia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Lithuania, East Siberia, etc.
Most of the lady’s riddles are found in an old English song, and its traditional derivatives. The song, which is given below, is found in Sloane MS. 2593, which contains other carols and ballads (see [pp. 123-8]). From this is derived the nursery song beginning—
‘I had four brothers over the sea’
(with many variations:— ‘four sisters,’ ‘six lovers,’ ‘a true lover’), and with a curious half-Latin refrain which varies between
Para-mara, dictum, domine,
and
Peri-meri, dixi, domine.
The following is the song referred to above. It was twice printed by T. Wright from the fifteenth-century MS.
1.
1.3 ‘drowryis’ = druries, keepsakes.
I have a yong suster
fer beyondyn the se;
Many be the drowryis
that che sente me.
2.
2.3 ‘dowe,’ dove.
Che sente me the cherye,
withoutyn ony ston,
And so che dede [the] dowe,
withoutyn ony bon.
3.
3.1 ‘brere,’ brier: here perhaps the ‘hip’ of the dog-rose (see 7.1).
3.3 ‘lemman,’ sweetheart.
Sche sente me the brere,
withoutyn ony rynde,
Sche bad me love my lemman
withoute longgyng.
4.
4.1 etc. ‘xuld’ = should.
How xuld ony cherye
be withoute ston?
And how xuld ony dowe
ben withoute bon?
5.
How xuld any brere
ben withoute rynde?
How xuld I love my lemman
without longyng?
6.
Quan the cherye was a flour,
than hadde it non ston;
Quan the dowe was an ey,
than hadde it non bon.
7.
6.3 ‘ey,’ egg.
7.3 ‘hayt that che lovit,’ has what she loves.
Quan the brere was onbred,
than hadde it non rynd;
Quan the mayden hayt that che lovit,
che is without longing.