"And when they had drawn for the short straw, it was the master of the vessel to whom it fell—Great God, is it possible that my sailors will eat me?"
"Little page, little page, you who are quick and nimble—go to the top of the main mast to find out where we are."
"And he mounted singing, and descended weeping—I have been to the top of the main mast and have not seen any land."
"Go again to the top of the main mast to find out where we are—It will be for the last time."
"He mounted weeping, and he descended singing —I believe that we are restored to land—I have seen the tower of Babylon," etc.
A ballad, The Little Midshipman, in the popular songs of Provence, is very similar in incident and language to The Ship Catharine, with a change in the localities, the midshipman seeing Toulon and Marseilles instead of the coasts of Portugal and Spain. In later French folk-song the ballad has become a burlesque after the fashion of Malbrook, and is known as Il était un Petit Navire. This in its turn was developed in the after-dinner song of Thackeray, "There were three sailors of Bristol city," and is an instance of the persistence of folk-song, even though changed in form and purpose. The supernatural element in The Ship Catharine is rare in Portuguese popular poetry.
THE SHIP CATHARINE.
The Catharine was a gallant ship,