The deed I ha’ done this day!”
56
Now woe is me for the gallows-tree,
And the bower in ashes laid!
They’ve buried her in the earth alive,
The cruel serving-maid.
—Ne’er wilt thou win such a fair one.
XI
EBBE SKAMMELSON
This ballad of a brother’s treachery (which may be compared with our own “Childe Vyet”) dates from circa 1300, and is considered by Olrik as the best produced in Denmark during the mediæval period. In character-drawing it yields to none. Proud Adelus, “strong in will and true in troth,” is the ideal noble lady; the hot-blooded hero, the cowardly brother, and the mother with her unavailing attempt at smoothing things over, are all well individualized. The burden, too, is peculiarly haunting and picturesque.
Tradition points to the Nordentoft homestead in North Jutland (Ty) as the scene of the tragedy; and the great Strangeson family claims Ebbe as its founder.