'And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife,
Edward, Edward?
And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife,
When ye gang ovir the sea O?'
'The warldis room, late them beg thrae life,
Mither, mither,
The warldis room, late them beg thrae life,
For thame nevir mair wul I see O.'
'And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir,
Edward, Edward?
And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir,
My deir son, now tell me O.'
'The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir,
Mither, mither,
The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir,
Sic counseils ye gave to me O.'
* * * * *
NOTES
THE WEE WEE MAN. Mainly after Herd. Given also by Motherwell, Buchan, and Kinloch, and in Caw's "Poetical Museum." Shathmont, a six inch measure. Lap, leaped. Jimp, neat.
TAMLANE. Mainly after Aytoun's collated version. Stanzas 16-19, obtained by Scott "from a gentleman residing near Langholm," are too modern in diction to harmonize well with the rest, but are retained here because of their fidelity to the ancient beliefs of the country folk about fairies. Widely varying versions are given in Johnson's "Museum," communicated by Burns, under title of Tam Lin; in the Glenriddell MS. under title of Young Tom Line; by Herd, under title of Kertonha, corruption of Carterhaugh; by Motherwell, under titles of Young Tamlin and Tomaline; by Buchan, under titles of Tam-a-line and Tam a-Lin; and in the Campbell MS. under title of Young Tam Lane. There are humorous Scottish songs, too, of Tam o Lin, Tam o the Linn, Tom a Lin, and Tommy Linn. The ballad is of respectable antiquity, the Tayl of the Yong Tamlene and the dance of Thom of Lyn being noticed in a work as old as the "Complaynt of Scotland" (1548); yet it seems to have no Continental cousins, but to be strictly of Scottish origin. It belongs to Selkirkshire, whose peasants still point out upon the plain of Carterhaugh, about a mile above Selkirk, the fairy rings in the grass. Preen'd, decked. Gars, makes. Bree, brow, Sained, baptized, Snell, keen. Teind, tithe. Borrow, ransom. Cast a compass, draw a circle. Elrish, elvish. Gin, if. Maik, mate. Aske, lizard. Bale, fire. But and, and also. Tree, wood. Coft, bought.
TRUE THOMAS. Mainly after Scott. This is one of the ballads written down from the recital of the "good Mrs. Brown," to whose admirable memory ballad-lovers are so deeply indebted. It is given in the Brown MS. as Thomas Rymer and Queen of Elfland; in the Campbell MS. as Thomas the Rhymer. Scott obtained his excellent version from "a lady residing not far from Ercildoune." This Thomas the Rhymer, or True Thomas, or Thomas of Ercildoune, was a veritable personage, who dwelt in the village of Ercildoune situate by "Leader's silver tide" some two miles above its junction with the Tweed. Tradition has it that his date was the thirteenth century and his full name Thomas Learmont. He was celebrated as poet and prophet, the rustics believing that his gift of soothsaying was imparted by the Fairy Queen, who kept him with her in Elfland for seven years, permitting him then to return to the upper world for a season and utter his oracles, but presently recalling him to her mysterious court. A fragmentary old poem, showing probable traces, as Jamieson suggests, of the Rhymer's own authorship, tells this famous adventure in language whose antiquated form cannot disguise its sweetness. The melancholy likelihood seems to be that True Thomas was a fibbing Thomas, after all, and invented this story of his sojourn in Elfland to gain credit for his poetical prophecies, which claim to have first proceeded from the mouth of the Fairy Queen, when
"Scho broghte hym agayne to Eldone tree,
Vndir nethe that grenewode spraye;
In Huntlee bannkes es mery to bee,
Whare fowles synges bothe nyght and daye."
Ferlie, wonder. Ilka tett, each lock (of hair). Louted, bowed. Harp and carp, play and talk. Leven, lawn. Stern-light, star-light. Dought, could.
THE ELFIN KNIGHT. After Aytoun's version framed by collation from copies given by Motherwell, Kinloch, and Buchan. These were in the main recovered by recitation, although there is a broadside copy of the ballad in the Pepysian collection at Cambridge. Fragments of the story have been handed down in tavern-songs and nursery-rhymes, and it is to be found, more or less disguised, in the literatures of many countries, European and Asiatic. It is only in our own versions, however, that the outwitted knight is a supernatural being, usually an elf, though sometimes degenerating into "the Deil." Nowhere out of canny Scotland does his ungallantry debar him from the human ranks. Sark, shirt. Gin, if. Tyne, prong. Shear, reap. Bigg, build. Loof, hollow of the hand. But (candle, etc.), without (candle, etc.)