The copy in Smith's Scottish Minstrel, III, 58, is Scott's altered. The first four stanzas are from the Border Minstrelsy, except the last line of the fourth, which is from Johnson's Museum. The last two stanzas are a poor modern invention.

Three stanzas which are found in A. Cunningham's Scottish Songs, I, 286 f, may be given for what they are worth. 'The house of Marr,' in the first, is not to be accepted on the simple ground of its appearance in his pages. The second is inserted in his beautified edition of Scott's ballad, and has its burden accordingly; but there is, besides this, no internal evidence against the second, and none against the third.

'O where have you been, Lord Ronald, my son?
O where have you been, my handsome young man?'
'At the house of Marr, mother, so make my bed soon,
For I'm wearied with hunting, and fain would lie down.'

'O where did she find them, Lord Randal, my son?
O where did she catch them, my handsome young man?'
'Neath the bush of brown bracken, so make my bed soon,
For I'm wae and I'm weary, and fain would lie down.'

'O what got your bloodhounds, Lord Ronald, my son?
O what got your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?'
'They lapt the broo, mother, so make my bed soon,
I am wearied with hunting, and fain would lie down.'

A pot-pourri or quodlibet, reprinted in Wolff's Egeria, p. 53, from a Veronese broadside of the date 1629, shows that this ballad was popular in Italy more than 250 years ago; for the last but one of the fragments which make up the medley happens to be the first three lines of 'L'Avvelenato,' very nearly as they are sung at the present day, and these are introduced by a summary of the story:

"Io vo' finire con questa d'un amante
Tradito dall' amata.
Oh che l'è sì garbata
A cantarla in ischiera:
'Dov' andastu iersera,
Figliuol mio ricco, savio e gentile?
Dov' andastu iersera'?"[144]

The ballad was first recovered in 1865, by Dr G. B. Bolza, who took it down from the singing of very young girls at Loveno. Since then good copies have been found at Venice. A, 'L'Avvelenato,' Bolza, Canzoni popolari comasche, No 49, Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy (philos. histor. class), LIII, 668, is of seventeen stanzas, of seven short lines, all of which repeat but two: the 8th and 10th stanzas are imperfect.[145] A mother inquires of her son where he has been. He has been at his mistress's, where he has eaten part of an eel; the rest was given to a dog, that died in the street. The mother declares that he has been poisoned. He bids her send for the doctor to see him, for the curate to shrive him, for the notary to make his will. He leaves his mother his palace, his brothers his carriage and horses, his sisters a dowry, his servants a free passage to mass ("la strada d'andà a messa" == nothing), a hundred and fifty masses for his soul; for his mistress the gallows to hang her. B, C, 'L'Avvelenato,' Bernoni, Nuovi Canti popolari veneziani, 1874, No 1, p. 5, p. 3, have twelve and eighteen four-line stanzas, the questions and answers in successive stanzas, and the last three lines of the first pair repeated respectively throughout.[146] B, which is given as a variant of C, agrees with A as to the agent in the young man's death. It is his mistress in B, but in C it is his mother. In both, as in A, he has eaten of an eel. The head he gave to the dogs, the tail to the cats (C). He leaves to his stewards (castaldi) his carriages and horses (C); to his herdsmen his cows and fields; to the maids his chamber furnishings; to his sister the bare privilege of going to mass (C, as in A); to his mother [wife, C] the keys of his treasure. "La forca per picarla" is in B as in A the bequest to his false love, instead of whom we have his mother in C.

The corresponding German ballad has been known to the English for two generations through Jamieson's translation. The several versions, all from oral tradition of this century, show the same resemblances and differences as the English.

A, B, 'Schlangenköchin,' eight stanzas of six lines, four of which are burden, A, Liederhort, p. 6, No 2a, from the neighborhood of Wilsnack, Brandenburg, B, Peter, I, 187, No 6, from Weidenau, Austrian Silesia, run thus: Henry tells his mother that he has been at his sweetheart's (but not a-hunting); has had a speckled fish to eat, part of which was given to the dog [cat, B], which burst. Henry wishes his father and mother all blessings, and hell-pains to his love, A 6-8. His mother, B 8, asks where she shall make his bed: he replies, In the church-yard. C, 'Grossmutter Schlangenköchin,' first published in 1802, in Maria's (Clemens Brentano's) romance Godwi, II, 113, afterward in the Wunderhorn, I, 19 (ed. 1819, I, 20, ed. 1857), has fourteen two-line stanzas, or seven of four lines, one half burden. The copy in Zuccalmaglio, p. 217, No 104, "from Hesse and North Germany," is the same thing with another line of burden intercalated and two or three slight changes. Maria has been at her grandmother's, who gave her a fish to eat which she had caught in her kitchen garden; the dog ate the leavings, and his belly burst. The conclusion agrees with B, neither having the testament. D, 'Stiefmutter,' seven stanzas of four short lines, two being burden, Uhland, No 120, p. 272; excepting one slight variation, the same as Liederhort, p. 5, No 2, from the vicinity of Bückeburg, Lippe-Schaumburg. A child has been at her mother's sister's house, where she has had a well-peppered broth and a glass of red wine. The dogs [and cats] had some broth too, and died on the spot. The child wishes its father a seat in heaven, for its mother one in hell. E, 'Kind, wo bist du denn henne west?' Reiffenberg, p. 8, No 4, from Bökendorf, Westphalia, four stanzas of six lines, combining question and answer, two of the six burden. A child has been at its step-aunt's, and has had a bit of a fish caught in the nettles along the wall. The child gives all its goods to its brother, its clothes to its sister, but three devils to its [step-]mother. F, 'Das vergiftete kind,' seven four-line stanzas, two burden, Schuster, Siebenbürgisch-sächsische V. L., p. 62, No 58, from Mühlbach. A child tells its father that its heart is bursting; it has eaten of a fish, given it by its mother, which the father declares to be an adder. The child wishes its father a seat in heaven, its mother one in hell.