E
1
One king’s daughter said to anither,
Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
‘We’ll gae ride like sister and brither.’
And we’ll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
2
‘We’ll ride doun into yonder valley,
Whare the greene green trees are budding sae gaily.
3
‘Wi hawke and hounde we will hunt sae rarely,
And we’ll come back in the morning early.’
4
They rade on like sister and brither,
And they hunted and hawket in the valley thegether.
5
‘Now, lady, hauld my horse and my hawk,
For I maun na ride, and I downa walk.
6
‘But set me doun be the rute o this tree,
For there hae I dreamt that my bed sall be.’
7
The ae king’s dochter did lift doun the ither,
And she was licht in her armis like ony fether.
8
Bonnie Lady Ann sat doun be the tree,
And a wide grave was houkit whare nane suld be.
9
The hawk had nae lure, and the horse had nae master,
And the faithless hounds thro the woods ran faster.
10
The one king’s dochter has ridden awa,
But bonnie Lady Ann lay in the deed-thraw.
Some words are difficult to read.
2. sae wanting in burden 1.
31. hunt? growis fair in burden 1.
51. Originally Oh hauld my bridle and stirrup. Ann, or come, is written over Oh.
92. faithless?
The lost knife here in A 8–10, B 5, and in ‘Leesome Brand,’ No 15, 36–41, appears in ‘The Squire of Low Degree,’ Percy Folio, III, 267, vv. 117–126 (not in the version printed by Ritson and by Hazlitt).
‘Daughter,’ he sais, ‘ffor whose sake
Is that sorrow that still thou makes?’
‘Ffather,’ shee sais, ’as I doe see,
Itt is ffor no man in Christentye;
Ffather,’ shee sayes, ’as I doe thriue,
Itt is ffor noe man this day aliue.
Ffor yesterday I lost my kniffe;
Much rather had I haue lost my liffe!’
‘My daughter,’ he sayes, ‘if itt be but a blade,
I can gett another as good made.’
‘Ffather,’ shee sais, ‘there is neuer a smith but one
That [can] smith you such a one.’
(G. L. K.)
17. Hind Horn.
P. 193 (2). ‘Hr. Lovmand’ in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, VIII, 49, No 115.
194 ff., 502 f., II, 499 b.
According to a Devonshire tradition given by Mrs Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, II, 172 (II, 32, of the new ed. of 1879, which has a fresh title, The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy), Sir Francis Drake, having been abroad seven years, was apprised by one of his devils that his wife was about to marry again. He immediately discharged one of his great guns up through the earth. The cannon-ball “fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her intended bridegroom,” who were before the altar. In another version, known to Southey and communicated by him to Mrs Bray (as above, II, 174; new ed., II, 33, 34), the marriage is broken off by a large stone (no doubt a gun-stone) which falls on the lady’s train as she is on her way to church. Drake, in this version, returns in disguise, but is recognized by his smile. See for various stories of the same kind, ‘Iouenn Kerménou,’ Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, I, 416; ‘Der todte Schuldner,’ Zingerle, Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie, II, 367; ‘De witte Swâne,’ Woeste, the same, III, 46, translated from the Markish dialect by Simrock, ‘Der gute Gerhard,’ u. s. w., p. 75; Vernaleken, Mythen u. Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich, p. 372; Vernaleken, Kinder- u. Hausmärchen, No 54, p. 315 f.; J. H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 184 f.; Prym u. Socin, Syrische Sagen u. Märchen, No 20, II, 72. (G. L. K.)
Pp. 198 b, 502 b, II, 499 b. An Italian form of ‘Le Retour du Mari’ is ‘Il Ritorno del Soldato,’ Nigra, No 28b, p. 174.
Another Italian ballad has some of the points in the story of Horn. A man goes off for seven years immediately after marriage; the woman looking out towards the sea perceives a pilgrim approaching; he asks for charity, and makes what seems an impudent suggestion, for which she threatens him with punishment. But how if I were your husband? Then you would give me some token. He pulls out his wedding-ring from under his cloak. ‘Il finto [falso] Pellegrino,’ Bernoni, ix, no 7, Ferraro, C. p. monferrini, p. 33, Giannini, p. 151 (nearly the same in Archivio, VI, 361); ‘La Moglie fedele,’ Wolf, p. 59, No 81, Ive, p. 334; ‘Bennardo,’ Nerucci, in Archivio, III, 44.
To the Portuguese ballads, I, 502 b, add ‘A bella Infanta,’ Bellermann, p. 100.
Add to the Polish ballads, p. 502 b: Roger, p. 13, Nos 25, 26.
With the Slavic ballads belong: Servian, Vuk, III, No 25; Bulgarian, Miladinof, Nos 65, 66, 111, 573, Kačanovskiy, Nos 68–73, 112. (W. W.)
202 a. The three singing laverocks in B 3, F 4, (cf. A 3,) are to be taken as curiosities of art. Artificial singing-birds are often mentioned in the earlier times, (by Sir John Mandeville for instance): see Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 89 f., No 5. Such birds, and artificially hissing snakes, occur in the Great-Russian bylina of Djuk Stepanović; cf. Wollner, Untersuchungen ü. d. grossr. Volksepik, p. 134 f. (W. W.)
205. G would have been printed as it stands in Kinloch MSS VII, 117, had the volume been in my possession. The copy principally used in Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 138, was derived from the editor’s niece, M. Kinnear. Readings of another copy are written in pencil over the transcript of the first in places, and as the name “Christy Smith” is also written at the beginning in pencil, it may be supposed that these readings were furnished by this Christy Smith. Kinloch adopted some of these readings into the copy which appears in his book, and he introduced others which seem to be his own. The readings of the Kinnear copy not retained by Kinloch will now be given under a, and those supplied (as may be supposed) by Christy Smith under b.
a.
12. Whare was ye born? or frae what cuntrie?
31. a gay gowd wand.
41. a silver ring.
51. Whan that ring.
61. Whan that ring.
72. Till he cam.
81. Whan he lookit to.
82. Says, I wish.
92. Until he cam till.
101. met with.
102. It was with.
111. my puir auld man.
131. to me.
132. I’ll lend you.
151. He has changed wi the puir auld.
161. What is the way that ye use.
162. words that.
181, 221. to yon town end.
192. your Hynde (your struck out).
232. his Hynde (his struck out).
241. he took na frae ane.
271. But he drank his glass.
272. Into it he dropt.
302. to your.
342. him evermair.
361. The red: oure them aw.
b.
12. in what.
21. greenwud’s.
22. have left.
31. a silver wand.
41. And my love gave me a gay gowd ring.
51. As lang as that ring.
72. Till that he cam.
92. Until that.
102. a jolly beggar man.
151. struck out in pencil.
181. And whan: yonder down.
202. Unless it be frae.
221. yonder down.
241. But he wad tak frae nane.
342. for evermair.
19. King Orfeo.
P. 217. The first half of the Norse burden is more likely to have been, originally, what would correspond to the Danish Skoven [er] herlig grön, or, Skoven herlig grönnes. In the other half, grün forbids us to look for hjort in giorten, where we are rather to see Danish urt (English wort), Icelandic jurt: so that this would be, in Danish, Hvor urten hun grönnes herlig. (Note of Mr. Axel Olrik.)
20. The Cruel Mother.
P. 218 b. Danish. ‘I dølgsmål,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, V, 98, No 644; corrupted.
(N, O should be O, P, II, 500: see I, 504.)