Swedish. A, B, C, in Cavallius and Stephens' unprinted collection, described by Grundtvig, II, 661. D, 'Agneta och Hafsmannen,' Eva Wigström's Folkdiktning, p. 9. E, Bergström's Afzelius, II, 308. F, 'Skön Anna och Hafskungen,' Aminson, Bidrag till Södermanlands äldre Kulturhistoria, III, 43. G, 'Helena och Hafsmannen,' the same, p. 46.
Norwegian. A, Grundtvig, III, 817, properly Danish rather than Norwegian. B, a version partly described at p. 818. C, Grundtvig, IV, 809, also more Danish than Norwegian. All these communicated by Bugge.
Danish C, G, Norwegian A, have a hillman instead of a merman, and might as well have been put with the other ballad. On the other hand, the Danish versions M, N, O of 'The Maid and the Dwarf-King' call the maid Agenet, and give the hill-man a name, Nek, Netmand, Mekmand, which implies a watery origin for him, and the fragments P, Q, R have similar names, Nekmand, Negen, Lækkemand, as also Agenete, and might as well have been ranked with 'Agnes and the Merman.' In 'The Maid and the Dwarf-King,' Swedish L (one stanza) the maid is taken by "Pel Elfven" to the sea.
Agnes goes willingly with the merman to the sea-bottom, Danish A, D, E, K, Swedish A, D, E, Norwegian A, C. She lives there, according to many versions, eight years, and has seven children. As she is sitting and singing by the cradle one day, she hears the bells of England, Danish A, C, D, E, H, I, K, Swedish D [church bells, bells, F, G], Norwegian A, C. She asks if she may go to church, go home, and receives permission on the same terms as in the other ballad. Her mother asks her what gifts she had received, Danish A, D, E, H, I, Swedish E, F, Norwegian C. When the merman comes into the church all the images turn their backs, Danish A, D, K, Swedish D, F, G, Norwegian A, C; and, in some cases, for Agnes, too. He tells her that the children are crying for her; she refuses to go back, Danish A, C, D, I, K, Swedish D, F, G (and apparently A, B, C), Norwegian C. In Norwegian A the merman strikes her on the cheek, and she returns; in Danish I she is taken back quietly; in Danish C he gives her so sore an ail that she dies presently; in Danish H she is taken away by force, and poisoned by her children; in Danish K the merman says that if she stays with her mother they must divide the children (five). He takes two, she two, and each has to take half of the odd one.
The Norse forms of 'Agnes and the Merman' are conceded to have been derived from Germany: see Grundtvig, IV, 812. Of the German ballad, which is somewhat nearer to the English, the following versions have been noted:
A. 'Die schöne Agniese,' Fiedler, Volksreime und Volkslieder in Anhalt-Dessau, p. 140, No 1 == Mittler, No 553. B. 'Die schöne Agnese,' Parisius, Deutsche Volkslieder in der Altmark und im Magdeburgischen gesammelt, p. 29, No 8 B, from nearly the same region as A. C. Parisius, p. 28, No 8 A, Pechau on the Elbe. D. 'Die schöne Angnina,' Erk's Neue Sammlung, ii, 40, No 26 == Mittler, No 552, from the neighborhood of Magdeburg. E. 'Die Schöne Agnete,' Erk's Liederhort, No 16a, p. 47, Erk's Wunderhorn, IV, 91, from the neighborhood of Guben. F. 'Die schöne Dorothea,' Liederhort, No 16b, p. 48, Gramzow in der Ukermark. G. 'Die schöne Hannăle,' Liederhort, No 16, p. 44, Erk's Wunderhorn, IV, 87, Silesia. H. 'Die schöne Hannele,' Hoffmann u. Richter, Schlesische Volkslieder, p. 3, No 1 == Mittler, No 551, Böhme, No 90 A, Breslau. 'Der Wassermann,' Simrock, No 1, is a compounded copy.
A wild merman has become enamored of the King of England's daughter, A, B, C, D. He plates a bridge with gold; she often walks over the bridge; it sinks with her into the water [the merman drags her down into the water, H]. She stays below seven years, and bears seven sons. One day [by the cradle, C, G] she hears the bells of England, A 6, B, C, D, F [bells, E, G, H], and longs to go to church. She expresses this wish to the merman, C, D, G, H. The merman says she must take her seven sons with her, B, C, D; she must come back, G, H. She takes her seven sons by the hand, and goes with them to England, A 5, B 7; cf. Scottish C 13, 14, A 22, 50. When she enters the church everything in it bows, A, B, F. Her parents are there, C, D; her father opens the pew, her mother lays a cushion for her, G, H. As she goes out of the church, there stands the merman, A, B, E, F. Her parents take her home in D, G, H. They seat her at the table, and while she is eating, a gold apple falls into her lap (cf. 'The Maid and the Dwarf-King,' Danish E, Swedish G), which she begs her mother to throw into the fire; the merman appears, and asks if she wishes him burnt, G, H. The merman, when he presents himself at the church, asks whether the woman will go back with him, or die where she is, and she prefers death on the spot, A, B, E. In the other case, he says that if she will not return, the children must be divided,—three and three, and half of the seventh to each; the mother prefers the water to this. D has a peculiar and not very happy trait. The merman fastens a chain to his wife's foot before she goes up, and, having been kept long waiting, draws it in. But the people at the church have taken off the chain, and he finds nothing at the end of it. He asks whether she does not wish to live with him; she replies, I will no longer torment you, or fret myself to death.
The story of Agnes and the Merman occurs in a Wendish ballad, with an introductory scene found in the beautiful German ballad, 'Wassermanns Braut:'[341] Haupt und Schmaler, I, 62, No 34. A maid begs that she may be left to herself for a year, but her father says it is time for her to be married. She goes to her chamber, weeps and wrings her hands. The merman comes and asks, Where is my bride? They tell him that she is in her chamber, weeping and wringing her hands. The merman asks her the reason, and she answers, They all say that you are the merwoman's son. He says he will build her a bridge of pure silver and gold, and have her driven over it with thirty carriages and forty horses; but ere she has half passed the bridge it goes down to the bottom. She is seven years below, has seven sons in as many years, and is going with the eighth. She implores her husband to permit her to go to church in the upper world, and he consents, with the proviso that she shall not stay for the benediction. At church she sees her brother and sister, who receive her kindly. She tells them that she cannot stay till the benediction;[342] they beg her to come home to dine with them. She does wait till the benediction; the merman rushes frantically about. As she leaves the church and is saying good-by to her sister, she meets the merman, who snatches the youngest child from her (she appears to have all seven with her), tears it in pieces, strangles the rest, scatters their limbs on the road, and hangs himself, asking, Does not your heart grieve for your children? She answers, I grieve for none but the youngest.[343]
A Slovenian ballad has the story with modifications, Achacel and Korytko, [S,]lovénşke Péşmi krajnskiga Naróda, I, 30,[344] 'Povodnji mósh;' given in abstract by Haupt and Schmaler, I, 339, note to No. 34. Mizika goes to a dance, in spite of her mother's forbidding. Her mother, in a rage, wishes that the merman may fetch her. A young man who dances with her whirls her round so furiously that she complains, but he becomes still more violent. Mizika sees how it is, and exclaims, The merman has come for me! The merman flies out of the window with her, and plunges into the water. She bears a son, and asks leave to pay a visit to her mother; and this is allowed on conditions, one of which is that she shall not expose herself to a benediction. She does not conform, and the merman comes and says that her son is crying for her. She refuses to go with him, and he tears the boy in two, that each may have a half.
Two or three of the minuter correspondences between the Scottish and the Norse or German ballads, which have not been referred to, may be indicated in conclusion. The hillman, in several Norwegian copies, as B, M, carries off the lady on horseback, and so Hastings in C. In A 34-39, the returned sister, being invited to dine, cannot eat a bit or drink a drop. So, in 'The Maid and the Dwarf-King,' Swedish G 15, 16, they set before Agnes dishes four and five, dishes eight and nine, but she can take nothing: