[370] Sy ... bereytte keyn abende das bette met der czöberye met der schryft und met des wylden mannes veddere, p. 145, lines 8, 10-12; das quam alles von der czoyberye, das die jungfrowe dy knaben alle beczobert hatte met schryft und met bryven, dy sy en under dy höbt leyte under dy kussen, und met den veddern von den wylden ruchen lüten, lines 1-5. Only one letter and one feather is employed in each case.
[371] Svefnþorn, Danish søvntorn, or søvnpreen: blundstafir, sleep-staves, rods (if not letters, runes) in Sigrdrífumál, 2.
[372] The first stanza of the German ballad occurs in a music-book of 1622: Hoffmann u. Richter, p. 202, who add that the ballad is extant in Dutch and Flemish.
[44]
THE TWA MAGICIANS
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 24; Motherwell's MS., p. 570.
A base-born cousin of a pretty ballad known over all Southern Europe, and elsewhere, and in especially graceful forms in France.
The French ballad generally begins with a young man's announcing that he has won a mistress, and intends to pay her a visit on Sunday, or to give her an aubade. She declines his visit, or his music. To avoid him she will turn, e. g., into a rose; then he will turn bee, and kiss her. She will turn quail; he sportsman, and bag her. She will turn carp; he angler, and catch her. She will turn hare; and he hound. She will turn nun; he priest, and confess her day and night. She will fall sick; he will watch with her, or be her doctor. She will become a star; he a cloud, and muffle her. She will die; he will turn earth, into which they will put her, or St Peter, and receive her into Paradise. In the end she says, Since you are inevitable, you may as well have me as another; or more complaisantly, Je me donnerai à toi, puisque tu m'aimes tant.
This ballad might probably be found anywhere in France, but most of the known versions are from south of the Loire. A. Romania, X, 390, E. Legrand, from Normandy; also known in Champagne. B. 'Les Transformations,' V. Smith, Vielles Chansons du Velay et du Forez, Romania, VII, 61 ff. C. Poésies populaires de la France, MS., III, fol. 233, Vienne. D. The same, II, fol. 39, Guéret, Creuse. E, F. The same volume, fol. 41, fol. 42. G. 'La maitresse gagnée,' the same volume, fol. 38: "on chante cette chanson sur les confines du département de l'Ain qui le séparent de la Savoie."[373] H. 'J'ai fait une maitresse,' Champfleury, Chansons populaires des Provinces, p. 90, Bourbonnais. I. 'Adiu, Margaridoto,' Bladé, Poésies pop. de la Gascogne, II, 361. J. Mélusine, col. 338 f, Carcasonne. K. Montel et Lambert, Chansons pop. du Languedoc, p. 544-51, and Revue des Langues romanes, XII, 261-67, four copies. L. 'Les Transfourmatiens,' Arbaud, II, 128. The Provençal ballad is introduced by Mistral into Mirèio, Chant III, as the song of Magali. M. 'La Poursuite d'Amour,' Marelle, in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, LVI, 191. N. 'J'ai fait une maitresse,' Gagnon, Chansons populaires du Canada, p. 137, and Lovell, Recueil de Chansons canadiennes, 'Chanson de Voyageur,' p. 68. O. Gagnon, p. 78.
Catalan. Closely resembling the French: A. 'La Esquerpa,' Briz, Cansons de la Terra, I, 125. B, C, D. 'Las Transformaciones,' Milá, Romancerillo Catalan, p. 393, No 513.