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| The Serpent Knight. [Signelil sits in her bower alone] The only extant MS. of this ballad originally bore the title The Transformed Knight, but the word Transformed is struck out and replaced by Serpent, in Borrow’s handwriting. | 7 |
| Sir Olaf. [Sir Olaf rides on his courser tall] Sir Olaf is one of Borrow’s most successful ballads. The only extant Manuscript is written upon paper water-marked with the date 1845, and was prepared for the projected Kœmpe Viser. | 10 |
| The Treacherous Merman. [“Now rede me mother,” the merman cried] This Ballad is a later, and greatly improved, version of one which appeared under the title The Merman only, in the Romantic Ballads of 1826. The introduction of the incident of the changing by magic of the horse into a boat, furnishes a reason for the catastrophe which was lacking in the earlier version. In its final shape The Treacherous Merman is another of Borrow’s most successful ballads, and it is evident that he bestowed upon it an infinite amount of care and labour. An early draft of the final version ante, facing p. 40] bears the tentative title Marsk Stig’s Daughter. Besides the two printed versions Borrow certainly composed a third, for a fragment exists of a third MS., the text of which differs considerably from that of both the others. | 15 |
| The Knight in the Deer’s Shape. [It was the Knight Sir Peter] Facing the present page is a reduced facsimile of the first page of the Manuscript of The Knight in the Deer’s Shape. | 18 |
| The Stalwart Monk. [Above the wood a cloister towers] The Stalwart Monk was composed by Borrow about the year 1860. Whether he had worked upon the ballad in earlier years cannot be ascertained, as no other Manuscript besides that from which it was printed in the present volume is known to exist. | 24 |
| The Cruel Step-Dame. [My father up of the country rode] | 30 |
| The Cuckoo. [Yonder the cuckoo flutters] | 34 |
The complete Manuscript of The Serpent Knight and Other Ballads is in my own collection of Borroviana.
There is a copy of The Serpent Knight and Other Ballads in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 44. d. 38.
(22) [The King’s Wake: 1913]
The King’s Wake / and Other Ballads / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.
Collation:—Square demy octavo, pp. 23; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3–4; and Text of the Ballads pp. 5–23. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the particular Ballad occupying it. Upon the reverse of p. 23 is the following imprint: “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N.W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” The signatures are A (a half-sheet of four leaves), with B (a full sheet of eight leaves) inset within it.
Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8½ × 6⅞ inches.
Thirty Copies only were printed.