[339] The beauty of the Norse ballads should make an Englishman's heart wring for his loss. They are particularly pretty here, where the forgetful draught is administered; as Norwegian C, A:
Forth came her daughter, as jimp as a wand,
She dances a dance, with silver can in hand.
'O where wast thou bred, and where wast thou born?
And where were thy maiden-garments shorn?'
'In Norway was I bred, in Norway was I born,
And in Norway were my maiden-garments shorn.'
The ae first drink from the silver can she drank,
What stock she was come of she clean forgat.
'O where wast thou bred, and where wast thou born?
And where were thy maiden-garments shorn?'
'In the hill was I bred, and there was I born,
In the hill were my maiden-garments shorn.'
[340] For reasons, doubtless sufficient, but to me unknown, Grundtvig has not noticed two copies in Boisen's Nye og gamle Viser, 10th edition, p. 192, p. 194. The former of these is like A, with more resemblance here and there to other versions, and may be a made-up copy; the other, 'Agnete og Bjærgmanden, fra Sønderjylland,' consists of stanzas 1-5 of C.
[341] See five versions in Mittler, Nos 546-550. As Grundtvig remarks, what is one ballad in Wendish is two in German and three in Norse: D. g. F., IV, 810.
[342] This trait, corresponding to the prohibition in the Norse ballads of bowing when the holy name is pronounced, occurs frequently in tradition, as might be expected. In a Swedish merman-ballad, 'Necken,' Afzelius, III, 133, the nix, who has attended to church the lady whom he is about to kidnap, makes off with his best speed when the priest reads the benediction. See, further, Árnason's Íslenzkar þjóðsögur, I, 73 f; Maurer's Isländische Volksagen, 19 f; Liebrecht, Gervasius, p. 26, LVII, and p. 126, note (Grundtvig).
[343] The merfolk are apt to be ferocious, as compared with hill-people, elves, etc. See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, I, 409 f.
[344] I 79, of a second edition, which, says Vraz, has an objectionable fantastic spelling due to the publisher.
[42]
CLERK COLVILL
[A]. 'Clark Colven,' from a transcript of No 13 of William Tytler's Brown MS.