C
Motherwell’s MS., p. 654; “from the recitation of the wife of Charles Drain, sow-gelder, etc., Kilmarnock.”
1
There was a fause knicht in the court,
And he was fu o treacherie,
And he staw the queen’s jewels in the nicht,
And left the wyte on Jamie O’Lee.
2
The king he wrate a braid letter,
And sealed it richt tenderlie,
And he sent it to his only son,
To come and speak to him speedilie.
3
When he cam afore the king,
He kneeled low down on his knee:
‘What is your will, my sovereign leige?
What is your will? cum tell to me.’
4
‘Jamie O’Lee has my jewels stown,
As the English lord tells unto me,
And out o Scotland he shall be sent,
And sent awa to Germanie.’
5
‘O no, O no,’ then said the prince,
‘Sic things as that can never be;
But get me a man that will take on hand
The morn to fecht young Jamie O’Lee.’
6
Syne out and spak the fause Phenix,
And oh, he spak richt spitefullie;
‘I am the man will tak on han
To fecht and conquer Jamie O’Lee.’
7
‘Oh no, oh no,’ syne said the prince,
‘Sic things as that can never bee,
For Jamie O’Lee’s no fifteen years auld,
And ye, fause Phenix, are thretty three.’
8
The prince he mounted then wi speed,
He’s aff wi tidings to Jamie O’Lee,
Saying, The morn’s morning ye maun fecht,
Or out o England banisht bee.
9
When Jamie O’Lee the tidings heard,
Fast the saut tear blindit his ee;
‘I’m saikless o thae jewels,’ he said,
‘As the bairn that sits on the nourice knee.’
10
Then Phenix munted a scaffold hie,
A’ for to shaw his veritie;
Whilk gart the nobles a’ to cry
‘A dead man are ye, Jamie O’Lee!’
11
The first straik the fause Phenix gied,
He gart the blude rin speedilie;
It gart the prince’s heart to ache,
And cry, Oh, alace for my Jamie O’Lee!
12
Jamie O’Lee he stepped back,
Waiting for opportunitie,
And wi his sword baith lang and sharp
He ran it thro Phenix fause bodie.
13
‘O haud your hand, Jamie O’Lee,’ he said,
‘And let the breath remain in me,
And skail nae mair o my noble blude,
’Tis a great disgrace to my loyaltie.’
14
‘Confess, confess, ye fause Phenix,
Confess your faults this day to me;
Were there nae mair men in a’ England,
My ain twa hands your death suld be.’
15
‘Ye were sae great wi king and queen,
I thocht I wuld hae banisht thee,
And I staw the queen’s jewels in the nicht,
And left the wyte on Jamie O’Lee.’
16
Syne out and spak the king himsell,
Saying, Jamie O’Lee, come hame wi me,
And there’s no a knicht in a’ my court
But what at your command sall be.
17
Syne out and spak the queen hersell,
Saying, Jamie O’Lee, come hame wi me,
And there’s no a month in a’ the year
But changed and brothered ye sall be.
18
Syne out and spak the prince himsell,
Saying, Jamie O’Lee, come hame wi me;
I hae free lands in a’ Scotland,
And at your command they a’ sall be.
19
‘I thank ye, king, and I thank ye, queen,
I thank ye a’, nobilitie,
But a prince’s page I was a’ my life,
And a prince’s page I yet will be.’
20
The king gied him a silk waistcoat,
And it was lined wi the taffetie,
Wi a band o gowd around his neck,
And a prince’s page he seems to be.
A. a.
11. day written over time.
12. from home was he?
22, 32, 54. Await.
42. The -ee rhyme may be restored by transposing Come tell to me, as in c (or adding said she).
74. Nae said, nae said.
132–133. Two half-stanzas are wanting here: see b, c.
16 follows 17, but see b, c.
b.
12. king was from home but lately.
13. That Sir.
21. was laid.
22, 32, 54. I wat.
23. And there’s not a man in.
24. Wad speak.
31. king’s fair.
34. And went in and.
42. if you have.
43. vow, I’ll.
52. was it.
54. And I wat he’s.
After 5:
Up then spak the king himsel,
And an angry man I wot was he:
‘For stealin o my jewels rare,
Hatlie shall oer the barriers die.’
61,2. A boon, a boon, O.
63. askit a boon before.
64. And I’m sure that you will grant it me.
71. O ask it, ask it.
73. And gin it be the half o my estate.
74. Granted sal it be to thee.
8.
‘O grant me this favour, father dear,
O grant this favour unto me,
For I never askëd favour before;
O spare the life of James Hatlie!’
9. Wanting.
103. Let Hatley and Fenwick go to.
111. Well askëd, well askëd.
112. Well asked.
113. Before the morn at.
121. he was seventeen.
123. But wanting: strak.
124. gien.
131. he said. Between 132 and 133:
‘For this is spillin of noble blude,
And shamein of my noble kin.
‘Hold up, hold up,’ Sir Fenwick he said,
‘Hold up, and ye sal justified be;’
133. stolen the jewels myself.
141. Up then spake a southern.
143. rather have given the half o my land.
144. Before James Hatlie should not hanged be.
15. Wanting.
16, 17. The son speaks before the daughter.
161, 171. Up then.
163. For from this hour receive this dower.
164. Ye sal be.
173,4. For ere the sun gae down this night, O there’s my hand, I’ll marry thee.
c.
11. It fell upon a certain day.
12. from home he chanced to be.
13. The king’s jewels they were stolen all.
14. And they.
21. And he is into prison cast.
22. And I wat he is.
23. For there was not a man.
24. speak a.
3.
But the king’s eldest daughter she loved him well,
But known her love it might not be;
And she has stolen the prison-keys,
And gane in and discoursed wi James Hatelie.
41. Oh, did you steal them, James.
42. Oh, did not you steal them? come tell to me.
43. For I’ll.
44. You’s.
51. I did not steal them, James.
52. And neither was it.
53. For the English they stole them themselves.
54. And I wat they’ve.
61,2.
Now she has hame to her father gane,
And bowed her low down on her knee;
‘I ask, I ask, I ask, father,’ she said,
‘I ask, I ask a boon of thee.’
63. For wanting.
64. And one of them you must grant to me.
71,2. Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said, And aye weel answered ye shall be.
73. For if it were my whole.
74. you shall.
81. I ask.
82. As little of your white monie.
83. But all the asken that I do ask.
91. Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said.
92. And aye weel answered ye.
93. and keep.
94. shall not.
101. asken I ask, father: dear wanting.
102. asken I ask of thee. 103. go to.
111,2. Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said, And aye weel answered you shall be.
113. For before the morn at.
121. eighteen years of age.
122. False F. was thirty years and three.
123. He lap: strack.
124. And he gave false F.
131. Oh, hold your hand, J. H., he said.
Between 132 and 133:
‘Were it not for the spilling of my noble blood,
And the shaming of my noble kin.
‘Oh, hold your hand, James Hatelie,’ he said,
‘Oh, hold your hand, and let me be.’
133. For I’m the man that stole the jewels.
134. And a: it was. 141. Then up bespoke.
142. I wat but he.
143. rather have lost all my lands.
144. they had.
151. Then up bespoke a good Scotch.
152. I wat a good Scotch lord was he.
153. to the knees in blood.
154. Than they.
16, 17. The son speaks before the daughter.
161, 171. Then up bespoke.
162, 172. Come in.
163, 173. I’ll make: and I’ll.
163. You’se: and sea.
171. king’s eldest.
B.
The copy transcribed by Wilkie has been edited a little. 21,2, originally written in one line, are rightly divided as here; 23,4 are made the concluding half of another stanza.
24. Would speak one.
31. James he.
34. O omitted.
43. And omitted.
51. prince is: father’s chamber.
62. to omitted.
92. That hung low down by his knee.
93. it wanting.
94. Then gave him.
11 is put before 10, and 101,2 omitted.
114. king’s laying (careless copying).
123. false omitted.
Wilkie notes (No 39) that he had “heard this sung also by a shepherd on Soltra hill,” but it is not likely that these variations were derived from the shepherd.
C.
91. When Johnie.
143. War for Were originally.
174. brothered in the MS.
245
YOUNG ALLAN
A. Skene MS., p. 33.
B. ‘Young Allan,’ Buchan’s MSS, II, 182.
C. ‘Young Allan,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 11.
D. ‘Young Allan,’ Murison MS., p. 117.
E. ‘Earl Patrick,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 395.
The copy in Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 252, is abridged from C, with half a dozen arbitrary and insignificant changes.
Skippers (lords) of Lothain, A, of Scarsburgh, C, of Aberdeen, D, are bragging over their drink: some, absurdly enough, of their hawks and hounds, A-C, some of their ladies, young Allan of his ship, which will outsail all others but three.[[147]] A boy in A, C, says that his master has a boat (it is a coal-carrier in C) which will take the wind from him. A wager is laid, A, B, C. All the rest go to drinking, ‘to the tows,’ but Allan to his prayers, C 8. They sail; there is a terrible storm, in the course of which the three competitors are ‘rent in nine,’ A 9, or two of them sink, and the topmast of the third ‘gaes in nine,’ E 7–9.
In A they have sailed only a few leagues, when Allan’s ship is so racked by the storm that they see water through her sides. At this point, especially in A, Allan’s seamanship appears to very little advantage; he is more of a fair-weather yachtsman than of a skeely skipper. If he could get a bonny boy to take the helm and bring the ship in safe, the boy should have a liberal share of his gold and land, and a daughter Ann besides, whom one is surprised that Young Allan should have to offer. In A and D the bonny boy evidently takes command of the ship, although in A 18 the sailors ascribe their safety, under God, to their good master. The ballad indeed suffers almost as grievously as the comely cog.
In B-E Allan calls for a bonny boy to take the helm while he goes to the masthead to look for land. In D he makes the same promises as in A, but the bonny boy cares only for Ann. In B, C the bonny boy suggests that Allan should waken his drunken men, for whom good thick shoes had been bought, though none had been given him. But in all the boy takes the helm, and in fact keeps it till the ship is in. Allan, at the masthead, can see neither day nor landmark; many feather-beds are floating on the water, B, C. The boy calls his master down; the sea can be seen through the ship’s sides, B-E.
Orders are given, by the boy or by Allan (by the boy certainly in D, and by Allan in E), to take feather-beds and canvas and lay, busk, or wrap the ship round; pitch and tar are also recommended in B, C. This done, Allan addresses the ship: Spring up, and gold shall be your hire, A; Haste to dry land, and every nail that is in you shall be a gold pin, B; For every iron nail in you, of gold there shall be ten, C; in D, indirectly, Where she wants an iron nail drive in a silver pin, and where she wants an oaken bolt beat in the gold, and the like in E. When the ship hears this, she springs from the water like sparks from the fire, A-C.
The first shore they come to is Troup, B, Howdoloot, C, Linn, D, E. The ship is kept off with cannon, B, C, with spears and bayonets, D; is towed in (wrongly), E. The next shore they come to is Lee, B, E, Howdilee, C, wanting in D; ‘they bare her to the sea,’ C, ‘they turned their ship about,’ D, the ship is towed in (wrongly), B, E. The third shore they come to is Lin, B, Howdilin, C, Aberdeen, D; the ship is towed in (welcomed), with drums beating and pipes playing, B, C, D.
Allan calls for the bonny boy that brought the ship safe in, that took the helm in hand, and offers him gold, land, and his daughter; the boy rejects gold and land, and takes the daughter, A, D; Allan makes over to the boy his comely cog and gives him his daughter, B; gives him his daughter, C.
Five-and-forty ships, A, three-and-fifty, C, one-and-twenty, E, went to sea, and only one came back.[[148]]
This ballad is mixed with that of ‘Sir Patrick Spens,’ No 58, II, 21 ff. E 1–6 belong entirely to No 58, and K 6–10, M 1, 3, of No 58 belong to ‘Young Allan.’ The bonny boy is found in 58, B, C, E, G, I, J; the floating feather-beds occur in E-H, J, O, R; the sea is seen through the ship in 58, C 15, I 21; cloth is wapped into the ship’s side to keep out water, H 19, 20; feather-beds and canvas (and pitch) are used as here in I 22, 23.
By far the most interesting feature in this ballad is Allan’s addressing his ship and the ship’s intelligent behavior, A 16, 17, B 12–15, C 21–22. Friðþjóf’s ship Elliða understood and obeyed the speech of its master: Fornaldar Sogur, II, 79, 443 (cited by Bugge). Ranild’s ship came to him when he blew his horn: ‘Svend Ranild,’ Grundtvig, No 28, I, 367 (translated by Prior, I, 286). In another Danish ballad, and one of the best, the Ox when sailed by St Olav, responds to his commands as if fully endowed with consciousness; he thwacks it in the side and over the eye, and it goes faster and faster; but it is animate only for the nonce: ‘Hellig-Olavs Væddefart,’ Grundtvig, No 50, II, 134, Prior, I, 356.
The Phæacian ships have neither helmsman nor helm, and know men’s minds and the way to all cities: Odyssey, viii, 557 ff. There is a magical self-moving ship in Marie de France’s Guigemar, and elsewhere.