‘But had I kend, Tam Lin,’ she says,
‘What now this night I see,
I wad hae ta’en out thy twa grey een,
And put in twa een o’ tree.’
THE CLERK’S TWA SONS O’ OWSENFORD,
and THE WIFE OF USHER’S WELL
These two ballads must be considered together, as the last six verses (18-23) of The Clerk’s Twa Sons, as here given, are a variant of The Wife of Usher’s Well.
Texts.—The Clerk’s Twa Sons is taken from Kinloch’s MSS., in the handwriting of James Chambers, as it was sung to his grandmother by an old woman.
The Wife of Usher’s Well is from Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and however incomplete, may well stand alone.
The Story has a fairly close parallel in the well-known German ballad, ‘Das Schloss in Oesterreich’; and a ballad found both in Spain and Italy has resemblances to each. But in these two ballads, especially in The Wife of Usher’s Well, the interest lies rather in the impressiveness of the verses than in the story.