VOL. I.
1. Riddles Wisely Expounded.
P. 1 a. Guess or die. A grim kemp, an unco knicht, asks nine riddles of a young man; all are guessed; wherefore the kemp says it shall go well with him. Kristensen, Skattegraveren, II, 97 ff., 154 f., Nos 457, 458, 724; V, 49, No 454.
2. The Elfin Knight.
P. 6. Nigra, No 118, p. 483, ‘Che mestiere è il vostro?’ A sempstress to make a shirt without stitch or seam; a mason to make a room without bricks and mortar.
7 b, second paragraph. Add: ‘Store Fordringer,’ Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, II, 8, No 6.
3. The Fause Knight upon the Road.
P. 20. ‘Kall og svein ungi,’ Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, p. 283, No 36 (three versions), is another piece of this kind. The boat is in all the copies, Scottish, Swedish, and Färöe.
M. Gaidoz, Mélusine, IV, 207, cites a passage from Plutarch’s life of Numa, c. 15, which is curiously like this ballad. The question being what is the proper expiatory sacrifice when divine displeasure has been indicated by thunderbolts, Zeus instructs Numa that it must be made with heads. Onions’? interposes Numa. With men’s—says Zeus. Hairs? suggests Numa. With LIVE—says Zeus. Sardines? puts in Numa.
4. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight.
P. 22. E is given from singing and recitation in Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, 1883–86, p. 548.
Mr W. H. Babcock has recently printed the following version, as sung in a Virginian family from “the corner between the Potomac and the Blue Ridge:” The Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 28.
WILSON.
1
Wilson, sitting in his room one day,
With his true-love on his knee,
Just as happy as happy could be, be, be,
Just as happy as happy could be,
2
‘Do you want for fee?’ said she,
‘Or do you want for gold?
Or do you want a handsome ladye,
More handsomer than me?’
3
‘I do want for fee,’ said he,
‘And I do want for gold;
But I don’t want a handsomer ladye,
More handsomer than thee.
4
‘Go get some of your father’s fee,
And some of your father’s gold,
And two of the finest horses he has,
And married we will be, be, be,
And married we will be.’
5
She mounted on the milk-white steed,
And he the iron-grey,
And when they got to the broad waterside
It was six hours and a half till day.
6
‘Get down, get down! my pretty fair maid,
Get down, get down!’ said he;
‘For it’s nine of the king’s daughters I’ve drowned here,
And the tenth one you shall be.
7
‘Take off, take off that costly silk,
For it is a costly thing;
It cost your father too much bright gold
To drown your fair body in.
8
‘In stooping down to cut the cords round,
Sing, Turn your back on me;’
And with all the strength this lady had,
She pushed him right into the sea.
9
‘Help me out! my pretty fair miss,
O help me out!’ said he,
‘And we’ll go down to the Catholic church,
And married we will be.’
10
‘Lie there, lie there! you false-hearted man,
Lie there, lie there!’ said she,
‘For it’s nine of the king’s daughters you’ve drowned here,
But the tenth one’s drowned thee.’
11
She mounted on the milk-white steed,
And led the iron-grey,
And when she got to her own father’s house
It was three hours and a half till day.
12
While she was walking in the room,
Which caused the parrot to wake,
Said he, What’s the matter, my pretty fair miss,
That you’re up so long before day?
13
‘Hush up, hush up! my pretty little parrot,
Don’t tell no tales on me;
Your cage shall be lined with sweet may gold,
And the doors of ivorie.’
14
While they were talking all of this,
Which caused the old man to wake,
Said, What’s the matter, my pretty little parrot,
That you chatter so long before day?
15
‘The cat she sprung against my cage,
And surely frightened me,
And I called for the pretty fair miss
To drive the cat away.’
(1 lacks the third verse; in 21,2, 31,2, 41,2, fee and gold should be exchanged; in 122, 142, wake should perhaps be say.)
26 b. Add these Danish copies: Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 210 ff., Nos 1198, 1199. (Some stanzas of ‘Kvindemorderen’ are inserted in No 932, III, 177.)
29, 34 f. O, P. O is repeated in Lütolf, Sagen, Bräuche u. Legenden, u. s. w., p. 71, No 29, ‘Schön Anneli;’ P in Kurz, Aeltere Dichter, u. s. w., der Schweizer, I, 117. ‘Schön Anneli,’ Töbler, Schweizerische Volkslieder, II, 170, No 6, is an edited copy, mainly O, with use of P.
42. A variety of A in Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 293, communicated by A. Gittée, Chanson wallonne, de Bliquy, environs d’Ath.
42 f. A robber has his hand cut off by a girl. Later he marries her. The day after the marriage they go on horseback to see his relations. On coming to a wood he says, Do you remember the night when you cut off my hand? It is now my turn. He orders her to strip, threatening her with his dagger. When she is in her shift, she begs him to turn away his eyes, seizes the dagger, and cuts his throat. ‘Le Voleur des Crêpes,’ Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 341, No 62. (G. L. K.)
43 b. ‘La Fille de Saint-Martin,’ etc. Add: Roland, II, 171, obtained by Nérée Quépat.
44 a. Nigra, Canti popolari del Piemonte, 1888, p. 90 ff., No 13, ‘Un’ Eroina,’ gives five unpublished versions (B-F), ‘La Monferrina,’ D, being A of this large and beautiful collection.
Add also: Giannini, Canti p. della Montagna Lucchese, 1889, p. 143, ‘La Liberatrice;’ Finamore, Storie p. abruzzesi, in Archivio, I, 207, ‘Lu Pringepe de Meláne.’
44 b. ‘Il Corsaro,’ in Nigra’s collection, No 14, p. 106 ff., with the addition of another version. For ‘La Monferrina incontaminata,’ see Nigra again, ‘La Fuga,’ No 15, pp. 111 ff.; Finamore, in Archivio, I, 87, ‘La Fandell’ e lu Cavaljiere’ (mixed).
Spanish, Nos 38–41, ‘Venganza de Honor,’ No 42, ‘La Hija de la Viudina,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, have the incident of the girl’s killing with his own sword or dagger a caballero who offers her violence. The weapon is dropped in the course of a struggle in all but No 40; in this the damsel says, Give me your sword, and see how I would wear it.
It is a commonplace for a pair on horseback to go a long way without speaking. So Pidal, pp. 114, 115, 130, 133, 135, 159:
Siete leguas anduvieron
sin hablar una palabra.
60 a. A. Burden. The song in the Tea-Table Miscellany and the music are found in John Squair’s MS., fol. 22, Laing collection, library of the University of Edinburgh, handwriting about 1700. (W. Macmath.)
5. Gil Brenton.
P. 65 b. A ballad from Normandy, published by Legrand, Romania, X, 367, III, which I am surprised to find that I have not mentioned, is a very interesting variety of ‘Gil Brenton,’ more particularly of the Danish ‘Peder og Malfred.’ It has the attempt at substitution (a sister); the wife acknowledges that she had been forced (par ses laquais les bras il me bandit); the husband reveals, and proves, that he was the ravisher. The beginning of the Norman ballad, which is lost, would probably have had the feature of the information given the husband by the shepherdess. Another French ballad, corrupted (environs de Redon, Ille-et-Vilaine), has this and the attempt to pass off the sister; the husband kills his wife. Music is ordered in the last stanza. Rolland, IV, 70. An Italian and a Breton ballad which begin like the Danish, but proceed differently, are spoken of under ‘Fair Janet,’ No 64, II, 102 f.. See now Nigra’s ‘Fidanzata infedele’ in his collection, No 34, p. 197.
6. Willie’s Lady.
P. 82. ‘Hustru og mands moder,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 73, No 436, VII, 97, No 651; ‘Barselkvinden,’ the same, II, 10, No 7. (The tale, p. 83 b, is reprinted by inadvertence, I, 73, No 234.)
7. Earl Brand.
P. 88 a. B. “The copy principally used in this edition of the ballad was supplied by Mr Sharpe.” Scott. “The Douglas Tragedy was taught me by a nurserymaid, and was so great a favorite that I committed it to paper as soon as I was able to write.” Sharpe’s Letters, ed. Allardyce, I, 135, August 5, 1802. Sharpe was born in 1781.
88 b. ‘Hr. Kibolt,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VI, 17, No 257, is a good copy of ‘Ribold og Guldborg.’ It has the testaments at the end, like several others (see I, 144 b).
89–91 a. ‘Stolt Hedelil,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 68, No 231, is another version of ‘Hildebrand og Hilde,’ closely resembling G. So is ‘Den mislykkede flugt,’ the same, VIII, 17, No 24, with the proper tragic conclusion. Both are inferior copies.
92 a and 489 b. Add: K, ‘Kung Vallemo ock liten Kerstin,’ Bergström ock Nordlander, Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., p. 101.
95 b, 96, 489. I have omitted to mention the effect of naming on ‘Clootie’ in No 1, C 19, I, 5:
As sune as she the fiend did name,
He flew awa in a blazing flame.
The Alpthier loses its power to harm and appears in its proper shape, as this or that person, if called by name: Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart, 2d ed., p. 257. Were-wolves appear in their proper human shape on being addressed by their name: Wilhelm Hertz, Der Werwolf, pp. 61, 84, Ulrich Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern u. Rügen, pp. 386–7. An enchanted prince is freed when his name is pronounced: Meier, No 53, p. 188 and n., p. 311. “There was in the engagement a man [on the side of Hades] who could not be vanquished unless his name could be discovered:” Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, I, 167, as quoted by Rhys, Celtic Mythology, Hibbert Lectures, p. 244. (G. L. K.)
96 ff., 489, II, 498. Plants from lovers’ graves.
Add: Portuguese, Roméro, II, 157, two pines.
Italian, Nigra, No 18, ‘Le due Tombe,’ p. 125 ff.
A. The lovers are buried apart, one in the church, one outside, a pomegranate springs from the man’s grave, an almond-tree from the maid’s; they grow large enough to shade three cities! B. A pomegranate is planted on the man’s grave, a hazel on the maid’s; they shade the city, and interlock. C. An almond-tree is planted on the maid’s grave, and is cut down. D. The lovers are buried as in A (and C), an almond-tree grows from the grave of the man, a jessamine from the maid’s. See also No 19, ‘Fior di Tomba,’ where, however, there is but one grave, which is to contain the maid’s parents as well as her lover. The same phenomenon in the fragments E, F. ‘Il Castello d’Oviglio,’ Ferraro, Canti p. monferrini, No 45, p. 64, is another version of this ballad. A pomegranate springs up at the maid’s feet, and shades three cities. Cf. ‘La Mort des deux Amants,’ Rolland, I, 247, No 125.
Roumanian. ‘Ring and Handkerchief’ also in Marienescu, Balade, p. 50: cited in Mélusine, IV. 142.
97 b and 489 f., II, 498 a. Bulgarian, Miladinof, Bùlgarski narodni pěsni, p. 455, No 497, translated by Krauss, Sagen u. Märchen der Südslaven, II, 427; the youth as rose-tree, the maid as grape-vine. Cited by G. Meyer in Mélusine, IV, 87. Little-Russian, plane-trees of the two sexes; cited by J. Karlowicz, ib., 87 f. Ruthenian (mother attempting to poison her son’s wife poisons both wife and son), Herrmann, Ethnologische Mittheilungen, 205 f.; buried on different sides of the church, plants meet over the roof of the church, the mother tries to cut them down, and while so engaged is turned into a pillar.
Servian. Vuk, I, No 342, II, No 30; youth, pine, maid, grape-vine. Krasić, p. 105, No 21, p. 114, No 26; vine and pine, vine twines round pine. Bulgarian, Miladinof, p. 375, No 288, rose and vine. Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 147, No 444, grape-vine and rose; No 445, youth behind the church, maid before, grape-vine and rose; p. 154, No 454, rosemary and a white flower (aleluja?). (W. W.)
Breton. Mélusine, III, 453 f. A tree springs from over the young man’s heart (but this is an insertion, and not quite beyond suspicion), a rose from the maid’s. There is another version of the ballad at p. 182 f., in which une fleur dorée grows over the man’s grave, nothing being said of his mistress’s grave, or even of her death.
Italo-Albanian. Also in Vigo, Canti p. siciliani, 1857, p. 345, V, and the edition of 1870–74, p. 698: cited in Mélusine, IV, 87.
Gaelic. Of Naisi (Naois) and Deirdre. King Conor caused them to be buried far apart, but for some days the graves would be found open in the morning and the lovers found together. The king ordered stakes of yew to be driven through the bodies, so that they might be kept asunder. Yew trees grew from the stakes, and so high as to embrace each other over the cathedral of Armagh. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin, I, 133, 1808.
In a Scotch-Gaelic version recently obtained, after Naois is put into his grave, Deirdre jumps in, lies down by his side and dies. The bad king orders her body to be taken out and buried on the other side of a loch. Firs shoot out of the two graves and unite over the loch. The king has the trees cut down twice, but the third time his wife makes him desist from his vengeance on the dead. The original in Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, XIII, 257; a translation in The Celtic Magazine, XIII, 138. (All of these cited by Gaidoz, Mélusine, IV, 12, and 62, note.)
8. Erlinton.
107 b, and also No 53, ‘Young Beichan,’ I, 463 b. For the Magyar ballads of Szilágyi and Hagymási, see Herrmann, Ethnologische Mittheilungen, cols 65–66; also col. 215. (A Transylvanian-Saxon ballad, a Roumanian tale, and a Transylvanian-Gipsy ballad, which follow, are of more or less questionable authenticity: Herrmann, col. 216.)
109. C, as well as ‘Robin Hood and the Pedlars,’ III, 170, are found in a manuscript pretended to be of about 1650, but are written in a forged hand of this century. I do not feel certain that the ballads themselves, bad as they are, are forgeries, and accordingly give the variations of Gutch’s Robin Hood from the manuscript, not regarding spelling.
32. hold good.
34. thou will.
71. thus he.
101. Thorough: I run.
111. [kine?]
163. while.
191. Ile.
213. he lent.
243. be not.
253. eldest.
281. leant.
292. wield. No “Finis” at the end.
9. The Fair Flower of Northumberland.
P. 113. The Servian hero Marko Kraljević is guilty of the same ingratitude. The daughter of the Moorish king releases him from a long captivity and makes him rich gifts. He promises to marry her and they go off together. During a halt the princess embraces him, and he finds her black face and white teeth so repulsive that he strikes off her head. He seeks to atone for his sin by pious foundations. Servian, Vuk, II, No 44 [Bowring, p. 86]; Croat, Bogišić, p. 16; Bulgarian, Miladinof, No 54, Kačanofskij, No 132. (W. W.)
10. The Twa Sisters.
P. 119. A Danish fragment of nine stanzas in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, IV, 161, No 509.
119 b. Three copies of the Swedish ballad are printed by Wahlfisk, Bidrag till Södermanlands äldere Kulturhistoria, No VI, p. 33 f.
124 b, 493 b, II, 498 b.
Rudchenko, South Russian Popular Tales, I, No 55: murder of brother revealed by a flute made from a reed that grows from his grave (No 56, flute from a willow). II, No 14, murder of a boy killed and eaten by his parents revealed by a bird that rises from his bones. (W. W.)
In a Flemish tale reported in the Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 125, Janneken is killed by Milken for the sake of a golden basket. The murder is disclosed by a singing rose. In ‘Les Roseaux qui chantent’ a sister kills her brother in a dispute over a bush covered with pain-prunelle. Roses grow from his grave. A shepherd, hearing them sing, cuts a stem of the rose-bush and whistles in it. The usual words follow. Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 365 ff.; cf. Sébillot’s long note, p. 366 ff. Das Flötenrohr (two prose versions), U. Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen, No 510, pp. 399–401. (G. L. K.)
11. The Cruel Brother.
Pp. 142 b, 496 a. ‘Rizzardo bello,’ E, ‘Ruggiero,’ in Mazzatinti, Canti p. umbri, p. 286, Bologna, 1883.
143 b. ‘Hr. Adelbrant og jomfru Lindelil,’ with a testament, again in Skattegraveren, I, 5, No I, and V, 17, No 12.
144 a, 496 b. Testaments. A wife who has been gone from home in pursuit of her pleasure is so beaten by her husband on her return that she dies. She leaves valuable legacies to her children and a rope to him. Nigra, No 25, ‘Testamento della Moglie,’ p. 159.
144 b. ‘Rævens Arvegods,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, II, 192 ff, Nos 774–78, and VIII, 209, No 810.
12. Lord Randal.
Pp. 152, 498. Italian. Add G, H, I, Nigra, No 26, A, B, C, ‘Testamento dell’ Avvelenato.’ J. ‘L’Amante avvelenato,’ Giannini, No 27, p. 199. K. ‘Mamma e Figghiolo,’ Nerucci, in Archivio, II, 526.
154 b, 498 b. ‘A megetétt János’ in Arany and Gyulai, III, 7, Kriza.
156 a. ‘Donna Lombarda’ is now No 1 of Nigra’s collection, where it is given in sixteen versions.
156 b, 499 a, II, 499 a. Slavic ballads of the sister that poisons her brother, etc. Add: Servian, Rajkowić, No 251. Compare, Bulgarian, Miladinof, No 262; Croat, Mažuranić, p. 152, Sammlung der Zeitschrift ‘Naša Sloga,’ II, No 158; Slovenian, Koritko, IV, No 47.—In Golovatsky, II, 584, a mother asks her son whether he supped with the widow. He supped with her, the witch. What did she cook for him? A small fish. Where did she catch it, dress it? Did she eat any of it? No, her head ached. Did the children? No, they went to bed.—In Verković, No 317, p. 350, the fair Stana is poisoned by her husband’s parents with a snake given as a fish. (W. W.)
A Ruthenian ballad of a mother attempting to poison her son’s wife, and poisoning the pair, Herrmann, in Ethnologische Mittheilungen, col. 205 f.
A Slovak ballad of this sort in Kollár, Narodnie Zpiewanky, II, 32, translated by Herrmann, 91 f., No 3; and another version of the same col. 204 f., No 7. Roumanian versions, cols 206, 207 f., 209 f., Nos 9, 10, 12, the last with another story prefixed. See also Herrmann, col. 90, No 1, 92 f., Nos 4, 5, 208 f., No 11, for poisoning-ballads, and his references at the top of col. 211.
13. Edward.
Pp. 167 b, 501 b. Another copy of ‘Sven i Rosengård,’ F, is printed by Aminson in Bidrag till Södermanlands äldere Kulturhistoria, No V, p. 12, eleven stanzas. The swain has killed his sister.
168 b. Danish. Four concluding stanzas (When?) in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, II, 100, No 459.
14. Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie.
P. 170. Add: