[The affectedly antique orthography of this ballad has caused some to suppose that it was a modern invention, probably by Lady Wardlaw, the author of Hardyknute, but Motherwell obtained another version from the recitation of an old woman, which he printed in his Minstrelsy under the title of "Son Davie, son Davie." He there says that there is reason to believe that Lord Hailes "made a few slight verbal improvements in the copy he transmitted, and altered the hero's name to Edward, a name which, by the bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad except where allusion is made to an English king."
There is a Swedish ballad of the same character entitled The Fratricide's Lament and Dialogue with his Mother before he wanders away from home for ever.
The form of a dialogue between a mother and her son is a favourite one in the old ballads, and "Lord Donald" in Kinloch's Scottish Ballads and "Lord Randal" in Scott's Minstrelsy bear some likeness to the ballad of "Edward." The hero is supposed to have been poisoned by eating toads prepared as a dish of fishes, and the last stanza of Kinloch's ballad is as follows:—
"What will ye leave to your true love, Lord Donald,
My son?
What will ye leave to your true love,
My jollie young man?
The tow and the halter for to hang on yon tree,
And lat her hang there for the poysoning o' me.">[
Quhy dois your brand sae drop wi' bluid,[411]
Edward, Edward?
Quhy dois your brand sae drop wi' bluid?
And quhy sae sad gang yee, O?[412]
O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid,5
Mither, mither:
O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid:
And I had nae mair bot hee,[413] O.
Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid,
Edward, Edward.10
Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid,
My deir son I tell thee, O.
O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid,
Mither, Mither:
O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid,15
That erst was sae fair and free, O.
Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair,
Edward, Edward:
Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair,
Sum other dule ye drie,[414] O.20
O, I hae killed my fadir deir,
Mither, mither:
O, I hae killed my fadir deir,
Alas! and wae is me, O!