‘Peace now,’ he said, ‘good faire Ellen!
& be of good cheere, I thee pray,
& the bridall & the churching both,
They shall bee vpon one day.’
EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE CHILD OF ELL
There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular story. There is yet another ballad, Erlinton, printed by Sir Walter Scott in the Minstrelsy, embodying an almost identical tale. Earl Brand preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete form of the story. A Danish ballad, Ribold and Guldborg, gives the fine tale thus:—
Ribold, a king’s son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away ‘to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with wine.’ Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor they meet an earl, who asks, ‘Whither away?’ Ribold answers that he is taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg’s father, learning that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that, whatever may chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her father and some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest brother is left: Guldborg cries, ‘Ribold, spare him,’ that he may carry tidings to her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He ceases fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, ‘Wilt thou go home to thy mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?’ And she says she will follow him. In silence they ride on. ‘Why art not thou merry as before?’ asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, ‘Thy brother’s sword has been in my heart.’ They reach his house: he calls for one to take his horse, another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg. But she refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and dies in his arms.
A second and even more dramatic ballad, Hildebrand and Hilde, tells a similar story.
A comparison of the above tale with Earl Brand will show a close agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English ballad is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name while he fights. The very name ‘Brand’ is doubtless a direct derivative of ‘Hildebrand.’ Winchester (13.2), as it implies a nunnery, corresponds to the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his mother to marry the King’s daughter to his youngest brother; but her refusal, if she did as Guldborg did, has been lost.