The first and the second express a simple preference for death, and are killed and laid by, "to bear the red rose company" (A). The youngest, in A, says she has a brother in the wood, who will kill him if he kills her. The outlaw asks the brother's name, finds that he himself is the man, and takes his own life with the same weapon that had shed the blood of his sisters. B, C, D have three brothers, the youngest of whom is the banished lord (C), the outlyer bold (D). The story is defective in B, C. In D the outlaw, on finding what he has done, takes a long race, and falls on his knife. The conclusion of E is not so finely tragic. A brother John comes riding by just as the robber is about to kill the third sister, apprehends him by the agency of his three pages, and reserves him to be hanged on a tree,
Or thrown into the poisond lake,
To feed the toads and rattle-snake.
According to the account given by Herd, and repeated by Jamieson, the story of the lost conclusion of B made the banished man discover that he had killed his two brothers as well as his two sisters.
This ballad, with additional circumstances, is familiar to all branches of the Scandinavian race.
Danish. There are many versions from oral tradition, as yet unprinted, besides these two: A, 'Hr. Truels's Døttre,' Danske Viser, III, 392, No 164, there reprinted from Sandvig, Beskrivelse over Øen Møen, 1776: B, 'Herr Thors Børn,' from recent tradition of North Sleswig, Berggreen, Danske Folke-Sange, 3d ed., p. 88, No 42.
A. Herr Truels' three daughters oversleep their matins one morning, and are roused by their mother. If we have overslept our matins, they say, we will make up at high mass. They set out for church, and in a wood fall in with three robbers, who say:
'Whether will ye be three robbers' wives,
Or will ye rather lose your lives?'
Much rather death, say they. The two elder sisters submitted to their fate without a word; the third made a hard resistance. With her last breath she adjured the robbers to seek a lodging at Herr Truels' that night. This they did. They drank so long that they drank Herr Truels to bed. Then they asked his wife to promise herself to all three. First, she said, she must look into their bags. In their bags she saw her daughters' trinkets. She excused herself for a moment, barred the door strongly, roused her husband, and made it known to him that these guests had killed his three daughters. Herr Truels called on all his men to arm. He asked the robbers who was their father. They said that they had been stolen by robbers, on their way to school, one day; had had a hard life for fourteen years; and the first crime they had committed was killing three maids yesterday. Herr Truels revealed to them that they had murdered their sisters, and offered them new clothes, in which they might go away. "Nay," they said, "not so; life for life is meet." They were taken out of the town, and their heads struck off. B differs from A in only a few points. The robbers ask lodging at Herr Thor's, as being pilgrims. When he discovers their true character, he threatens them with the wheel. They say, Shall we come to the wheel? Our father drinks Yule with the king. They tell him their story, and their father offers them saddle and horse to make their best way off. They reply, "We will give blood for blood," spread their cloaks on the floor, and let their blood run.
Swedish. 'Pehr Tyrsons Döttrar i Wänge.' A, Arwidsson, II, 413, No 166. B, Afzelius, III, 193, No 98: ed. Bergström, I, 380, No 84, 1. C, Afzelius, III, 197: ed. Bergström, I, 382, No 84, 2, as old as the last half of the seventeenth century. D, Afzelius, III, 202: ed. Bergström, I, 384, No 84, 3. E, "C. J. Wessén, De paroecia Kärna (an academical dissertation), Upsala, 1836," Arwidsson, as above, who mentions another unprinted copy in the Royal Library.
A. Herr Töres' daughters overslept matins, dressed themselves handsomely, and set off for mass. All on the heath they were met by three wood-robbers, who demanded, Will ye be our wives, or lose your lives? The first answered: God save us from trying either! the second, Rather let us range the world! the third, Better death with honor! But