FOOTNOTES:
[126] Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 126, 1862.
[127] Jamieson, in his Popular Ballads, II, 315, prints the ballad, with five inconsiderable variations from the broadside, as from Musarum Deliciæ, 2d edition, 1656. The careful reprint of this book, and of the same edition, in "Facetiæ," etc., 1817, does not contain this piece, and the first edition, of 1655, differed in no respect as to contents, according to the editor of "Facetiæ." Still it is hardly credible that Jamieson has blundered, and we may suppose that copies, ostensibly of the same edition, varied as to contents, a thing common enough with old books.
[128] Cunningham has re-written Scott's version, Songs of Scotland, II, 109, 'The Two Fair Sisters.' He says, "I was once deeply touched with the singing of this romantic and mournful song.... I have ventured to print it in the manner I heard it sung." There is, to be sure, no reason why he should not have heard his own song sung, once, and still less why he should not have been deeply touched with his own pathos. Cunningham adds one genuine stanza, resembling the first of G, J, P:
Two fair sisters lived in a bower,
Hey ho my nonnie O
There came a knight to be their wooer.
While the swan swims bonnie O
[129] English M is confused on this point. The sisters live in a hall. The burden in st. 1 makes them love a miller-lad; but in 14, 15, calls the drowned girl "the bonnie miller's-lass o Binorie."
[130] The sisters, D, I, walk by, up, a linn; G, go to a sand [strand]; Q, go to the stream; R a, walk on the bryn.
[131] Swedish H begins, "Dear sister, come follow me to the clapping-stone:" "Nay, I have no foul clothes." So F 6, 7, G 4, 5, Färöe A 6, nearly; and then follows the suggestion that they should wash themselves. Another of Rancken's copies begins, "Two sisters went to the bucking-stone, to buck their clothes snow-white," H; and so Rancken's S nearly.
[132] There are, besides the two fishermen, in Norwegian A, two "twaddere," i.e., landloupers, possibly (Bugge) a corruption of the word rendered pilgrims, Färöe vallarar, Swedish vallare. The vallarar in these ballads are perhaps more respectable than those whose acquaintance we shall make through the Norse versions of 'Babylon,' and may be allowed to be harmless vagrants, but scarcely better, seeing that they are ranked with "staff-carls" in Norges Gamle Love, cited by Cleasby and Vigfusson at 'vallari.'
[133] A harp in the Icelandic and Norwegian ballads, Färöe A, B, C, Swedish A, B, D, G, H; a harp in English B, C, G, J. A harp is not named in any of the Danish versions, but a fiddle is mentioned in C, E, H, is plainly meant in A, and may always be intended; or perhaps two fiddles in all but H (which has only one fiddler), and the corrupted G. D begins with two fiddlers, but concludes with only one. We have a fiddle in Swedish C, and in English A, D, E, F, I, J, K, L, O, P; both harp and fiddle in H.
[134] Some of the unprinted Norwegian ballads are not completely described, but a departure from the rule of the major part would probably have been alluded to.
[135] The stanza, 9, in which this is said is no doubt as to its form entirely modern, but not so the idea. I has "the first spring that he playd, it said," etc.
[136] The fourth string is said to speak in Färöe A 30, but no utterance is recorded, and this is likely to be a mistake. In many of the versions, and in this, after the strings have spoken individually, they unite in a powerful but inarticulate concord.
[137] I has lost the terminal stanzas.
[138] Not M, and apparently not D, which ends:
When he kissed the harp upon the mouth, his heart broke.
[139] So the traitor John pushes away Catherine's hands in 'Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight,' Polish Q 25 (see p. 40). In the French versions A, C, E of the same, the knight catches at a branch to save himself, and the lady cuts it off with his sword.
[140] The miller begins to lose character in H:
14
He dragged her out unto the shore,
And stripped her of all she wore.
[141] Neus also refers to an Esthonian saga of Rögutaja's wife, and to 'Die Pfeiferin,' a tale, in Das Inland, 1846, No 48, Beilage, col. 1246 ff, 1851, No 14, col. 230 ff; and to a Slovenian ballad in Tielemann, Livona, ein historisch-poetisches Taschenbuch, 1812, p. 187.
[142] All these are cited in Köhler's note, Gonzenbach, II, 235.
[11]
THE CRUEL BROTHER
[A]. '[The] Cruel Brother, or the Bride's Testament.' a. Alex. Fraser Tytler's Brown MS. b. Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 66.
[B]. The Kinloch MSS, I, 21.
[C]. 'Ther waur three ladies,' Harris MS., p. 11 b.
[D]. a. Notes and Queries, 1st S., VI, 53. b. 2d S., V, 171.
[E]. Notes and Queries, 4th S., V, 105.
[F]. 'The Three Knights,' Gilbert's Ancient Christmas Carols, 2d ed., p. 68.
[G]. 'Fine Flowers of the Valley.' a. Herd's MSS, I, 41. b. Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, I, 88.
[H]. Fragment appended to G.
[I]. The Kinloch MSS, I, 27.
[J]. As current in County Meath, Ireland, about 1860.
[K]. Notes and Queries, 4th S., IV, 517.
A a was obtained directly from Mrs Brown of Falkland, in 1800, by Alexander Fraser Tytler. Jamieson says that he gives b verbatim from the recitation of Mrs Arrott; but it would seem that this must have been a slip of memory, for the two agree except in half a dozen words. B, C, I, J are now for the first time printed. G only was taken down earlier than the present century.
Aytoun remarks (1858): "This is, perhaps, the most popular of all the Scottish ballads, being commonly recited and sung even at the present day." The copy which he gives, I, 232, was "taken down from recitation," but is nevertheless a compound of G and A b, with a few unimportant variations, proceeding, no doubt, from imperfect recollection.[143] The copy in Dixon's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs, p. 56, repeated in Bell's volume of the same title, p. 50, is Gilbert's F. Dixon informs us that the ballad was (in 1846) still popular amongst the peasantry in the west of England. Cunningham gives us a piece called 'The Three Ladies of Leithan Ha,' Songs of Scotland, II, 87, which he would fain have us believe that he did not know he had written himself. "The common copies of this tragic lyric," he truly says, "differ very much from this; not so much in the story itself as in the way it is told."
All versions but K, which has pretty nearly lost all point, agree after the opening stanzas. A-E have three ladies and only one knight; F has three knights and one lady; G, I, J, K have three ladies and three knights [lords in G, "bonny boys" in I, the first line being caught from 'Sir Hugh.'] Three knights are to no purpose; only one knight has anything to do. The reason for three ladies is, of course, that the youngest may be preferred to the others,—an intention somewhat obscured in B. The ladies are in colors in B, C, I, J, and this seems to be the better interpretation in the case of G, though a strict construction of the language would rather point to the other. The colors are transferred to the knights in F because there is only one lady. In K this is a part of the general depravation of the ballad.
'Rizzardo bello,' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, No 83, seems to be the same story, with a change of relations such as we often find in ballad poetry. Rizzardo is conducting his bride home, and on the way embraces and kisses her. Her brother witnesses "questo onore," and thrusts his sword into the happy bridegroom's heart. Rizzardo tells his bride to come on slowly; he will go before to make preparation. He begs his mother to open the doors, for his bride is without, and he is wounded to death. They try to make the bride eat. She says she can neither eat nor drink: she must put her husband to bed. He gives her a ring, saying, Your brother has been the death of me; then another ring, in sign that she is to be wife of two brothers. She answers him as Guldborg answers Ribold, that she would die rather: "Rather die between two knives than be wife of two brothers." This ballad was obtained from a peasant woman of Castagnero. Another version, which unfortunately is not printed, was sung by a woman at Ostiglia on the Po.
Dr Prior remarks that the offence given by not asking a brother's assent to his sister's marriage was in ballad-times regarded as unpardonable. Other cases which show the importance of this preliminary, and the sometimes fatal consequences of omitting it, are: 'Hr. Peder og Mettelille,' Grundtvig, No 78, II, 325, sts 4, 6; 'Jomfruen i Skoven,' Danske Viser, III, 99, st. 15; 'Jomfru Ellensborg og Hr. Olof,' ib., III, 316, st. 16; 'Iver Lang og hans Søster,' ib., IV, 87, st. 116; 'Herr Helmer Blaa,' ib., IV, 251, st. 8; 'Jomfru Giselmaar,' ib., IV, 309, st. 13. See Prior's Ancient Danish Ballads, III, 112, 232 f, 416.
There is a very common German ballad, 'Graf Friedrich,' in which a bride receives a mortal wound during the bringing-home, but accidentally, and from the bridegroom's hand. The marriage train is going up a hill; the way is narrow; they are crowded; Graf Friedrich's sword shoots from its sheath and wounds the bride. The bridegroom is exceedingly distressed; he tries to stop the bleeding with his shirt; she begs that they may ride slowly. When they reach the house there is a splendid feast, and everything is set before the bride; but she can neither eat nor drink, and only wishes to lie down. She dies in the night. Her father comes in the morning, and, learning what has happened, runs Graf Friedrich through, then drags his body at a horse's heels, and buries it in a bog. Three lilies sprang from the spot, with an inscription announcing that Graf Friedrich was in heaven, and a voice came from the sky commanding that the body should be disinterred. The bridegroom was then buried with his bride, and this act of reparation was attended with other miraculous manifestations. As the ballads stand now, the kinship of 'Graf Friedrich' with 'The Cruel Brother' is not close and cannot be insisted on; still an early connection is not improbable.
The versions of 'Graf Friedrich' are somewhat numerous, and there is a general agreement as to all essentials. They are: A, a Nuremberg broadside "of about 1535," which has not been made accessible by a reprint. B, a Swiss broadside of 1647, without place, "printed in Seckendorf's Musenalmanach für 1808, p. 19;" Uhland, No 122, p. 277; Mittler, No 108; Wunderhorn, II, 293 (1857); Erk's Liederhort, No 15a, p. 42; Böhme, No 79, p. 166: also, in Wunderhorn, 1808, II, 289, with omission of five stanzas and with many changes; Simrock, No 11, p. 28, omitting four stanzas and with changes; as written down by Goethe for Herder, Düntzer u. Herder, Briefe Goethes, u.s.w., Aus Herder's Nachlass, I, 167, with the omission of eight stanzas and with some variations. C, Wunderhorn (1857), II, 299, from the Schwarzwald, == Erlach, IV, 291, Mittler, No 113. D, Taschenbuch für Dichter, u.s.w., Theil VIII, 122, from Upper Lusatia, == Erlach, III, 448, Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 421. E, from the Kuhländchen, Meinert, p. 23, == Mittler, No 109. F, Hoffmann u. Richter, Schlesische V. L., No 19, p. 35, == Mittler, No 112, Erk's Liederhort, No 15, p. 40. G, Zingerle, in Wolf's Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie, I, 341, from Meran. H, from Uckermark, Brandenburg, Mittler, No 114. I, Hesse, from oral tradition, Mittler, No 111. J, Erk u. Irmer, II, 54, No 54, from the neighborhood of Halle, == Mittler, No 110. K, from Estedt, district of Magdeburg, Parisius, p. 31, No 9.
A Danish ballad, 'Den saarede Jomfru,' Grundtvig, No 244, IV, 474, has this slight resemblance with 'Graf Friedrich:' While a knight is dancing with a princess, his sword glides from the scabbard and cuts her hand. To save her partner from blame, she represents to her father that she had cut herself with her brother's sword. This considerateness so touches the knight (who is, of course, her equal in rank) that he offers her his hand. The Danish story is found also in Norwegian and in Färöe ballads.
The peculiar testament made by the bride in 'The Cruel Brother,' by which she bequeaths good things to her friends, but ill things to the author of her death, is highly characteristic of ballad poetry. It will be found again in 'Lord Ronald,' '[Edward],' and their analogues. Still other ballads with this kind of testament are: 'Frillens Hævn,' Grundtvig, No 208 C, 16-18, IV, 207; a young man, stabbed by his leman, whom he was about to give up in order to marry, leaves his lands to his father, his bride-bed to his sister, his gilded couch to his mother, and his knife to his leman, wishing it in her body. 'Møen paa Baalet,' Grundtvig, No 109 A, 1821, II, 587; Ole, falsely accused by her brother, and condemned to be burned, gives her mother her silken sark, her sister her shoes, her father her horse, and her brother her knife, with the same wish. 'Kong Valdemar og hans Søster,' Grundtvig, No 126, III, 97, has a testament in A-E and I; in I, 14-19 (III, 912), Liden Kirsten bequeaths her knife, with the same imprecation, to the queen, who, in the other copies, is her unrelenting foe: so Lillelin to Herr Adelbrand, Danske Viser, III, 386, No 162, 16-18, Kristensen, I, 262, No 100, A 20-23, having been dragged at a horse's heels in resentment of a taunt. 'Hustru og Mands Moder,' Grundtvig, No. 84, II, 404, has a testament in A, B, D, H, and in the last three a bequest of shoes or sark to a cruel mother-in-law or foster-mother, with the wish that she may have no peace or much pain in the wearing. 'Catarina de Lió,' Briz y Candi, Cansons de la Terra, I, 209, has been beaten by her mother-in-law while in a delicate state. When she is at the point of death, the mother-in-law asks what doctor she will have and what will she will make. "My will," says Catherine, "will not please you much. Send back my velvet dress to my father's; my gala dress give my sister; give my working dress to the maid, my jewels to the Virgin." "And what will you leave to me?" "What I leave you will not please you much: my husband to be hanged, my mother-in-law to be quartered, and my sister-in-law to be burned." 'Le Testament de Marion,' another version of this story from the south of France, Uchaud, Gard, Poésies pop. de la France, MS., IV, fol. 283, bequeaths "my laces to my sister Marioun, my prettiest gowns to my sister Jeanneton; to my rascal of a husband three fine cords, and, if that is not enough (to hang him), the hem of his shirt." The Portuguese ballad of 'Dona Helena' rather implies than expresses the imprecation: Braga, C.P. do Archipelago Açoriano, p. 225, No 15, p. 227, No 16; Almeida-Garrett, III, 56; Hartung, I, 233-43, No 18. Helena leaves her husband's house when near childbirth, out of fear of his mother. Her husband, who does not know her reason, goes after her, and compels her to return on horseback, though she has just borne a son. The consequences are what might be expected, and Helena desires to make her shrift and her will. She leaves one thing to her oldest sister, another to her youngest. "And your boy?" "To your bitch of a mother, cause of my woes." "Rather to yours," says the husband, "for I shall have to kill mine" (so Braga; Garrett differs somewhat). 'Die Frau zur Weissenburg' (A), Uhland, p. 287, No 123 B, Scherer's Jungbrunnen, p. 94, No 29; 'Das Lied von der Löwenburg' (B), Simrock, p. 65, No 27; 'Hans Steutlinger' (C), Wunderhorn, II, 168 (1857), all one story, have a bitterly sarcastic testament. A lady instigates her paramour to kill her husband. The betrayed man is asked to whom he will leave his children [commit, A, bequeath, B, C]. "To God Almighty, for he knows who they are." "Your property?" "To the poor, for the rich have enough." "Your wife?" "To young Count Frederic, whom she always liked more than me (A)." "Your castle?" "To the flames."
In some cases there is no trace of animosity towards the person who has caused the testator's death; as in 'El testamento de Amelia' (who has been poisoned by her mother), Milá, Observaciones, p. 103, No 5, Briz y Saltó, Cansons de la Terra, II, 197 (two copies); 'Herren Båld,' Afzelius, I, 76, No 16 (new ed. I, 59, No 15); a Swedish form of 'Frillens Hævn,' Grundtvig, IV, 203; 'Renée le Glaz' and 'Ervoanik Le Lintier,' Luzel, C.P. de la Basse Bretagne, I, 405, 539, 553. There are also simple testaments where there is no occasion for an ill remembrance, as in 'Ribold og Guldborg,' Grundtvig, No 82, I, K, L, U, X, Æ, Kristensen, II, No 84 B; 'Pontplancoat;' Luzel, I, 383, 391. And, again, there are parodies of these wills. Thus the fox makes his will: Grundtvig, Gamle danske Minder, 1854, 'Mikkels Arvegods,' p. 24, and p. 25 a copy from a manuscript three hundred years old; Kristensen, Jyske Folkeviser, II, 324, No 90; 'Reven og Bjönnen,' 'Reven og Nils fiskar,' Landstad, Nos 85, 86, p. 637, 639: and the robin, 'Robin's Tesment,' Buchan, I, 273, Herd's MSS, I, 154, and Scottish Songs (1776), II, 166, Chambers' Popular Rhymes, p. 38, "new edition."
Translated in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 33, p. 212, F, with use of A and G b; Aytoun's copy, with omissions, by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder der Vorzeit, No 17, p. 80; after Allingham and others, by Knortz, Lieder und Romanzen Alt-Englands, No 5, p. 16.
A.
a. Alex. Fraser Tytler's Brown MS. b. Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 66, purporting to be from the recitation of Mrs Arrot of Aberbrothick.
1
There was three ladies playd at the ba,
With a hey ho and a lillie gay
There came a knight and played oer them a'.
As the primrose spreads so sweetly
2
The eldest was baith tall and fair,
But the youngest was beyond compare.
3
The midmost had a graceful mien,
But the youngest lookd like beautie's queen.
4
The knight bowd low to a' the three,
But to the youngest he bent his knee.
5
The ladie turned her head aside,
The knight he woo'd her to be his bride.
6
The ladie blushd a rosy red,
And sayd, 'Sir knight, I'm too young to wed.'
7
'O ladie fair, give me your hand,
And I'll make you ladie of a' my land.'
8
'Sir knight, ere ye my favor win,
You maun get consent frae a' my kin.'
9
He's got consent frae her parents dear,
And likewise frae her sisters fair.
10
He's got consent frae her kin each one,
But forgot to spiek to her brother John.
11
Now, when the wedding day was come,
The knight would take his bonny bride home.
12
And many a lord and many a knight
Came to behold that ladie bright.
13
And there was nae man that did her see,
But wishd himself bridegroom to be.
14
Her father dear led her down the stair,
And her sisters twain they kissd her there.
15
Her mother dear led her thro the closs,
And her brother John set her on her horse.
16
She leand her oer the saddle-bow,
To give him a kiss ere she did go.
17
He has taen a knife, baith lang and sharp,
And stabbd that bonny bride to the heart.
18
She hadno ridden half thro the town,
Until her heart's blude staind her gown.
19
'Ride softly on,' says the best young man,
'For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.'
20
'O lead me gently up yon hill,
And I'll there sit down, and make my will.'
21
'O what will you leave to your father dear?'
'The silver-shod steed that brought me here.'
22
'What will you leave to your mother dear?'
'My velvet pall and my silken gear.'
23
'What will you leave to your sister Anne?'
'My silken scarf and my gowden fan.'
24
'What will you leave to your sister Grace?'
'My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.'
25
'What will you leave to your brother John?'
'The gallows-tree to hang him on.'
26
'What will you leave to your brother John's wife?'
'The wilderness to end her life.'
27
This ladie fair in her grave was laid,
And many a mass was oer her said.
28
But it would have made your heart right sair,
To see the bridegroom rive his haire.
B.
Kinloch's MSS, I, 21, from Mary Barr, May, 1827, Clydesdale.
1
A gentleman cam oure the sea,
Fine flowers in the valley
And he has courted ladies three.
With the light green and the yellow
2
One o them was clad in red:
He asked if she wad be his bride.
3
One o them was clad in green:
He asked if she wad be his queen.
4
The last o them was clad in white:
He asked if she wad be his heart's delight.
5
'Ye may ga ask my father, the king:
Sae maun ye ask my mither, the queen.
6
'Sae maun ye ask my sister Anne:
And dinna forget my brither John.'
7
He has asked her father, the king:
And sae did he her mither, the queen.
8
And he has asked her sister Anne:
But he has forgot her brother John.
9
Her father led her through the ha,
Her mither danced afore them a'.
10
Her sister Anne led her through the closs,
Her brither John set her on her horse.
11
It's then he drew a little penknife,
And he reft the fair maid o her life.
12
'Ride up, ride up,' said the foremost man;
'I think our bride comes hooly on.'
13
'Ride up, ride up,' said the second man;
'I think our bride looks pale and wan.'
14
Up than cam the gay bridegroom,
And straucht unto the bride he cam.
15
'Does your side-saddle sit awry?
Or does your steed ...
16
'Or does the rain run in your glove?
Or wad ye chuse anither love?'
17
'The rain runs not in my glove,
Nor will I e'er chuse anither love.
18
'But O an I war at Saint Evron's well,
There I wad licht, and drink my fill!
19
'Oh an I war at Saint Evron's closs,
There I wad licht, and bait my horse!'
20
Whan she cam to Saint Evron's well,
She dought na licht to drink her fill.
21
Whan she cam to Saint Evron's closs,
The bonny bride fell aff her horse.
22
'What will ye leave to your father, the king?'
'The milk-white steed that I ride on.'
23
'What will ye leave to your mother, the queen?'
'The bluidy robes that I have on.'
24
'What will ye leave to your sister Anne?'
'My gude lord, to be wedded on.'
25
'What will ye leave to your brither John?'
'The gallows pin to hang him on.'
26
'What will ye leave to your brither's wife?'
'Grief and sorrow a' the days o her life.'
27
'What will ye leave to your brither's bairns?'
'The meal-pock to hang oure the arms.'
28
Now does she neither sigh nor groan:
She lies aneath yon marble stone.
C.
Harris MS., p. 11 b, No 7.
1
There waur three ladies in a ha,
Hech hey an the lily gey
By cam a knicht, an he wooed them a'.
An the rose is aye the redder aye
2
The first ane she was cled in green;
'Will you fancy me, an be my queen?'
3
'You may seek me frae my father dear,
An frae my mither, wha did me bear.
4
'You may seek me frae my sister Anne,
But no, no, no frae my brither John.'
5
The niest ane she was cled in yellow;
'Will you fancy me, an be my marrow?'
6
'Ye may seek me frae my father dear,
An frae my mither, wha did me bear.
7
'Ye may seek me frae my sister Anne,
But no, no, no frae my brither John.'
8
The niest ane she was cled in red:
'Will ye fancy me, an be my bride?'
9
'Ye may seek me frae my father dear,
An frae my mither wha did me bear.
10
'Ye may seek me frae my sister Anne,
An dinna forget my brither John.'
11
He socht her frae her father, the king,
An he socht her frae her mither, the queen.
12
He socht her frae her sister Anne,
But he forgot her brither John.
13
Her mither she put on her goun,
An her sister Anne preened the ribbons doun.
14
Her father led her doon the close,
An her brither John set her on her horse.
* * * * *
15
Up an spak our foremost man:
'I think our bonnie bride's pale an wan.'
* * * * *
16
'What will ye leave to your father dear?'
'My ... an my ... chair.'
17
'What will ye leave to your mither dear?'
'My silken screen I was wont to wear.'
18
'What will ye leave to your sister Anne?'
'My silken snood an my golden fan.'
19
'What will you leave to your brither John?'
'The gallows tree to hang him on.'
D.
Notes and Queries, 1st S., VI, 53, 2d S., V, 171. As sung by a lady who was a native of County Kerry, Ireland.
1
There were three ladies playing at ball,
Farin-dan-dan and farin-dan-dee
There came a white knight, and he wooed them all.
With adieu, sweet honey, wherever you be
2
He courted the eldest with golden rings,
And the others with many fine things.
And adieu, etc.
E.
Notes and Queries, 4th S., V, 105. From Forfarshire, W.F.
There were three sisters playin at the ba,
Wi a hech hey an a lillie gay
There cam a knicht an lookt ower the wa'.
An the primrose springs sae sweetly.
Sing Annet, an Marret, an fair Maisrie,
An the dew hangs i the wood, gay ladie.
F.
Gilbert's Ancient Christmas Carols, 2d ed., p. 68, as remembered by the editor. West of England.
1
There did three knights come from the west,
With the high and the lily oh
And these three knights courted one lady.
As the rose was so sweetly blown
2
The first knight came was all in white,
And asked of her, if she'd be his delight.
3
The next knight came was all in green,
And asked of her, if she'd be his queen.
4
The third knight came was all in red,
And asked of her, if she would wed.
5
'Then have you asked of my father dear,
Likewise of her who did me bear?
6
'And have you asked of my brother John?
And also of my sister Anne?'
7
'Yes, I have asked of your father dear,
Likewise of her who did you bear.
8
'And I have asked of your sister Anne,
But I've not asked of your brother John.'
9
Far on the road as they rode along,
There did they meet with her brother John.
10
She stooped low to kiss him sweet,
He to her heart did a dagger meet.
11
'Ride on, ride on,' cried the serving man,
'Methinks your bride she looks wondrous wan.'
12
'I wish I were on yonder stile,
For there I would sit and bleed awhile.
13
'I wish I were on yonder hill,
There I'd alight and make my will.'
14
'What would you give to your father dear?'
'The gallant steed which doth me bear.'
15
'What would you give to your mother dear?'
'My wedding shift which I do wear.
16
'But she must wash it very clean,
For my heart's blood sticks in evry seam.'
17
'What would you give to your sister Anne?'
'My gay gold ring and my feathered fan.'
18
'What would you give to your brother John?'
'A rope and gallows to hang him on.'
19
'What would you give to your brother John's wife?'
'A widow's weeds, and a quiet life.'
G.
a. Herd's MSS, I, 41. b. Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, I, 88.
1
There was three ladys in a ha,
Fine flowers i the valley
There came three lords amang them a',
Wi the red, green, and the yellow
2
The first of them was clad in red:
'O lady fair, will you be my bride?'
3
The second of them was clad in green:
'O lady fair, will you be my queen?'
4
The third of them was clad in yellow:
'O lady fair, will you be my marrow?'
5
'You must ask my father dear,
Likewise the mother that did me bear.'
6
'You must ask my sister Ann,
And not forget my brother John,'
7
'I have askt thy father dear,
Likewise thy mother that did thee bear.
8
'I have askt thy sister Ann,
But I forgot thy brother John.'
9
Her father led her through the ha,
Her mother dancd before them a'.
10
Her sister Ann led her through the closs,
Her brother John put her on her horse.
11
'You are high and I am low;
Let me have a kiss before you go.'
12
She was louting down to kiss him sweet,
Wi his penknife he wounded her deep.
* * * * *
13
'O lead me over into yon stile,
That I may stop and breath a while.
14
'O lead me over to yon stair,
For there I'll ly and bleed ne mair.'
15
'O what will you leave your father dear?'
'That milk-white steed that brought me here.'
16
'O what will you leave your mother dear?'
'The silken gown that I did wear.'
17
'What will you leave your sister Ann?'
'My silken snood and golden fan.'
18
'What will you leave your brother John?'
'The highest gallows to hang him on.'
19
'What will you leave your brother John's wife?'
'Grief and sorrow to end her life.'
20
'What will ye leave your brother John's bairns?'
'The world wide for them to range.'
H.
Herd's MSS, I, 44, II, 75; Scottish Songs, 1776, I, 90; appended to G.
She louted down to gie a kiss,
With a hey and a lilly gay
He stuck his penknife in her hass.
And the rose it smells so sweetly
'Ride up, ride up,' cry'd the foremost man;
'I think our bride looks pale and wan.'
I.
Kinloch's MSS, I, 27. From Mrs Bouchart, an old lady native of Forfarshire.
1
There war three bonnie boys playing at the ba,
Hech hey and a lily gay
There cam three ladies to view them a'.
And the rose it smells sae sweetlie
2
The first ane was clad in red:
'O,' says he, 'ye maun be my bride.'
3
The next o them was clad in green:
'O,' says he, 'ye maun be my queen.'
4
The tither o them was clad in yellow:
'O,' says he, 'ye maun be my marrow.'
5
'Ye maun gang to my father's bouer,
To see gin your bride he'll let me be.'
6
Her father led her doun the stair,
Her mither at her back did bear.
7
Her sister Jess led her out the closs,
Her brother John set her on the horse.
8
She loutit doun to gie him a kiss;
He struck his penknife thro her breist.
9
'Ride on, ride on,' says the foremaist man;
'I think our bride looks pale and wan.'
10
'Ride on, ride on,' says the merry bridegroom;
'I think my bride's blude is rinnin doun.'
11
'O gin I war at yon bonnie hill,
I wad lie doun and bleed my fill!
12
'O gin I war at yon bonnie kirk-yard,
I wad mak my testament there!'
13
'What will ye leave to your father dear?'
'The milk-white steed that brocht me here.'
14
'What will ye leave to your mother dear?'
'The bluidy robes that I do wear.'
15
'What will ye leave to your sister Ann?'
'My silken snood and gowden fan.'
16
'What will ye leave to your sister Jess?'
'The bonnie lad that I loe best.'
17
'What will ye leave to your brother John?'
'The gallows pin to hang him on.'
18
'What will ye leave to your brother John's wife?'
'Sorrow and trouble a' her life.'
19
'What will ye leave to your brother's bairns?'
'The warld's wide, and let them beg.'
J.
From Miss Margaret Reburn, as current in County Meath, Ireland, about 1860.
1
There were three sisters playing ball,
With the high and the lily O
And there came three knights to court them all.
With the rosey sweet, heigh ho
2
The eldest of them was drest in green:
'I wish I had you to be my queen.'
3
The second of them was drest in red:
'I wish I had you to grace my bed.'
4
The youngest of them was drest in white:
'I wish I had you to be my wife.'
5
'Did ye ask my father brave?
Or did ye ask my mother fair?
6
'Or did ye ask my brother John?
For without his will I dare not move on.'
7
'I did ask your parents dear,
But I did not see your brother John.'
* * * * *
8
'Ride on, ride on,' said the first man,
'For I fear the bride comes slowly on.'
9
'Ride on, ride on,' said the next man,
'For lo! the bride she comes bleeding on.'
* * * * *
10
'What will you leave your mother dear?'
'My heart's best love for ever and aye.'
11
'What will ye leave your sister Anne?'
'This wedding garment that I have on.'
12
'What will ye leave your brother John's wife?'
'Grief and sorrow all the days of her life.'
13
'What will ye leave your brother John?'
'The highest gallows to hang him on.'
14
'What will ye leave your brother John's son?'
'The grace of God to make him a man.'
K.
Notes and Queries, 4th S., IV, 517, as "sung in Cheshire amongst the people" in the last century. T. W.
1
There were three ladies playing at ball,
Gilliver, Gentle, and Rosemary
There came three knights and looked over the wall.
Sing O the red rose and the white lilly
2
The first young knight, he was clothed in red,
And he said, 'Gentle lady, with me will you wed?'
3
The second young knight, he was clothed in blue,
And he said, 'To my love I shall ever be true.'
4
The third young knight, he was clothed in green,
And he said, 'Fairest maiden, will you be my queen?'
5
The lady thus spoke to the knight in red,
'With you, sir knight, I never can wed.'
6
The lady then spoke to the knight in blue,
And she said, 'Little faith I can have in you.'
7
The lady then spoke to the knight in green,
And she said, ''T is at court you must seek for a queen.'
8
The three young knights then rode away,
And the ladies they laughed, and went back to their play.
Singing, etc.
[A]. b.
62. oer young.
102. spear at.
172. the bonny.
191. said.
231. And what will ye.
251. This fair lady.
2. And a mass.
Variations of Aytoun's copy, sts. 9-13, 16, 17, 20-24: 111 omits And; 121, 131 omit dear; 132 omits And; 161, through half for half thro; 172 omits For, bonny; 212, pearlin for silken; 221 omits And; 222, My silken gown that stands its lane; 232, shirt for cloaths; 241, And what; 242, The gates o hell to let him in.
[B].
"I have seen a fragment of another copy in which [the burden is]
The red rose and the lily
And the roses spring fu sweetly." Kinloch, p. 19.
[F].
91. For on the road.
[G]. a.
1. Burden2. The red, green, etc.: afterwards, Wi the red, etc.
22. MS. also, He askt of me if I'd be his bride.
32. MS. also, He askt of me if I'd be his queen.
42. MS. also, He askt me if I'd be his marrow.
152. MS. also, The gold and silver that I have here.
162. MS. also, The silken garment.
172. MS. also, My satine hat.
202, MS. also, The world wide, let them go beg.
b.
72. the mother.
b.
141. into yon stair.
Variations of Aytoun's copy, sts. 1-8, 14, 15, 18, 19 from Herd, 1776: 11, three sisters; 22, 32, 42 omit fair; 51, O ye maun; 61, And ye; 71, O I have; 81, And I have ask'd your sister; 82, your brother; 142, Give me a kiss; 152, When wi his knife.
[H].
"I have heard this song, to a very good tune not in any collection, with the above variations—the chorus, of the whole as in the above two verses." Herd's note in his MSS.