CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN
The Text is from Kinloch’s MSS., where it was written down from the recitation of Mary Barr: it is entitled ‘The Earl of Rosslyn’s Daughter.’
The Story is the converse of A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded, in which the maid wins a husband by riddles; in the present one the captain out-riddles the maid. Similar tales are very popular in many lands, being found in Persia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Lithuania, East Siberia, etc.
Most of the lady’s riddles are found in an old English song, and its traditional derivatives. The song, which is given below, is found in Sloane MS. 2593, which contains other carols and ballads (see [pp. 123-8]). From this is derived the nursery song beginning—
‘I had four brothers over the sea’
(with many variations:— ‘four sisters,’ ‘six lovers,’ ‘a true lover’), and with a curious half-Latin refrain which varies between
Para-mara, dictum, domine,
and
Peri-meri, dixi, domine.