The incidents of the journey on horseback, and the cruel probation by the dance, are found in the ballad which follows the present (Fair Janet), and these coincidences Grundtvig considers sufficient to establish its derivation from the Danish. The general similarity of Lady Maisry to King Waldemar and his Sister is, however, much more striking. For our part, we are inclined to believe that both the English ballads had this origin, but the difference in their actual form is so great, that, notwithstanding this conviction, we have not felt warranted in putting them together.
The young lords o' the north country
Have all a-wooing gane,
To win the love of lady Maisry,
But o' them she wou'd hae nane.
O thae hae sought her, lady Maisry,5
Wi' broaches, and wi' rings;
And they hae courted her, lady Maisry,
Wi' a' kin kind of things.
And they hae sought her, lady Maisry,
Frae father and frae mither;10
And they hae sought her, lady Maisry,
Frae sister and frae brither.
And they hae follow'd her, lady Maisry,
Thro' chamber, and through ha';
But a' that they could say to her,15
Her answer still was "Na."
"O haud your tongues, young men," she said,
"And think nae mair on me;
For I've gi'en my love to an English lord,
Sae think nae mair on me."20
Her father's kitchey-boy heard that,
(An ill death mot he die!)
And he is in to her brother,
As fast as gang cou'd he.
"O is my father and my mother weel,25
But and my brothers three?
Gin my sister lady Maisry be weel,
There's naething can ail me."
"Your father and your mother is weel,
But and your brothers three;30
Your sister, lady Maisry's, weel,
Sae big wi' bairn is she."