To ride to the maiden’s bower.
XXIII, XXIV
THE GAME OF DICE
KING ERIK AND THE SCORNFUL MAID
These two Ballads deal, from different stand-points, with the change of manners that came in towards the close of the Middle Ages. A barrier grew up between bower and hall; the Squire became the serving man, whose menial labours were no longer shared by his master. There were those, doubtless, who regretted the good old times; and the “King Erik” Ballad expresses their sentiments.
“The Game of Dice,” with its more conventional ending, is concerned for gentility. Its Danish version dates from the twelfth or thirteenth century. Other forms exist in Norwegian and Icelandic, and in a Swedish broadsheet of the later eighteenth century. There is also a Slav version.
XXIII
THE GAME OF DICE
1
“Harken here, thou good young swain,
And play at dice with me!”
“Oh, ne’er have I the ruddy gold
To wager here with thee.”