The Giant of Bern / and Orm Ungerswayne / A Ballad / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.

Collation:—Crown octavo, pp. 15; consisting of Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. 3–4; and Text of the Ballad pp. 5–15. The head-line is The Giant of Bern throughout, upon both sides of the page. Upon the reverse of p. 15 is the following imprint: “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N.W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” There are no signatures, the pamphlet being composed of a single sheet, folded to form sixteen pages.

Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 7½ × 5 inches.

Thirty Copies only were printed.

Contents.

page
The Giant of Bern and Orme Ungerswayne. [It was the lofty jutt of Bern, O’er all the walls he grew] Fifteen stanzas, descriptive of the incident of Orm’s obtaining his father’s sword from the dead man’s grave, were printed in Targum, 1835, pp. 59–61, under the title Birting. A Fragment. The text differs greatly in the two versions, that of the later (which, though not printed until 1913, was written about 1854) is much the superior. As an example I give the first two stanzas of each version: 1835 It was late at evening tide,
Sinks the day-star in the wave,
When alone Orm Ungarswayne
Rode to seek his father’s grave. Late it was at evening hour,
When the steeds to streams are led;
Let me now, said Orm the young,
Wake my father from the dead. 1913 It was so late at evening tide,
The sun had reached the wave,
When Orm the youthful swain set out
To seek his father’s grave. It was the hour when grooms do ride
The coursers to the rill,
That Orm set out resolved to wake
The dead man in the hill. 		5

1835

It was late at evening tide,
Sinks the day-star in the wave,
When alone Orm Ungarswayne
Rode to seek his father’s grave.

Late it was at evening hour,
When the steeds to streams are led;
Let me now, said Orm the young,
Wake my father from the dead.

1913

It was so late at evening tide,
The sun had reached the wave,
When Orm the youthful swain set out
To seek his father’s grave.

It was the hour when grooms do ride
The coursers to the rill,
That Orm set out resolved to wake
The dead man in the hill.

There is a copy of The Giant of Bern and Orm Ungerswayne in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 44. d. 38.

(41) [Little Engel: 1913]

Little Engel / A Ballad / With a Series of / Epigrams from the Persian / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.