Beichan is London born in A, D, [E], H, I, N, English born in B; London city is his own, A 6, B 7, F 7, or he has a hall there, I 7, N 27 f.; half Northumberland belongs to him, L; he is lord of the towers of Line, D 9, C 5, M 5, which are in London, D 15 f, but are transferred by reciters to the water of Tay, M 29, and to Glasgow, or the vicinity, H 20. H, though it starts with calling him London born, speaks of him thereafter as a Scottish lord, 12, 18, 31.[406]
Beichan has an Englishman's desire strange countries for to see, A, D, [E], I, L, N. In C, M he goes abroad, Quentin Durward fashion, not to gratify his taste for travel, but to serve for meat and fee. F makes him go to the Holy Land, without specifying his motive, but we may fairly suppose it religious. C sends him no further than France, and M to an unnamed foreign land. He becomes the slave of a Moor or Turk, A, B, D, H, I, L, N, or a "Prudent," F, who treats him cruelly. They bore his shoulders and put in a "tree," and make him draw carts, like horse or ox, A, B, D, [E], H; draw plough and harrow, F, plough and cart, N; or tread the wine-press, I. This is because he is a staunch Christian, and would never bend a knee to Mahound or Termagant, E, or onie of their stocks, H, or gods, I. They cast him into a dungeon, where he can neither hear nor see, and he is nigh perishing with hunger. This, also, is done in H 5, on account of his perseverance in Christianity; but in C, M he is imprisoned for falling in love with the king's daughter, or other lovely may.
From his prison Beichan makes his moan (not to a stock or a stone, but to the Queen of Heaven, D 4). His hounds go masterless, his hawks flee from tree to tree, his younger brother will heir his lands, and he shall never see home again, E, H. If a lady [earl] would borrow him, he would run at her stirrup; if a widow [auld wife] would borrow him, he would become her son; and if a maid would borrow him, he would wed her with a ring, C, D, M, B.[407] The only daughter of the Moor, Turk, or king (of a 'Savoyen,' B 5, perhaps a corruption of Saracen), already interested in the captive, or immediately becoming so upon hearing Beichan's song, asks him if he has lands and means at home to maintain a lady that should set him free, and is told that he has ample estates, all of which he would bestow on such a lady, A, B, E, F, H, L, N. She steals the keys and delivers the prisoner, C, D, E, I, J, L, M, N; refreshes him with bread and wine [wine], A, D, E, F, J 4, K 3, B, H, L; supplies him with money, C 9, H 15, M 12, N 14, and with a ship, F 9, H 18, L 9; to which C, M add a horse and hounds [and hawks, M]. She bids him mind on the lady's love that freed him out of pine, A 8, D 12, [E 13], M 14, N 15, and in E 16 breaks a ring from her finger, and gives half of it to Beichan to assist his memory. There is a solemn vow, or at least a clear understanding, that they are to marry within seven years, A 9, B 9, E 12 f., H 17, 19, L 8, N 11 [three years, C 11].
When seven years are at an end, or even before, Susan Pye feels a longing, or a misgiving, which impels her to go in search of the object of her affections, and she sets her foot on good shipboard, and turns her back on her own country, A 10, B 10, D 15, L 10, N 23.[408] C and M preserve here a highly important feature which is wanting in the other versions. Isbel, or Essels, is roused from her sleep by the Billy Blin, C 14, by a woman in green, a fairy, M 15, who makes known to her that that very day, or the morn, is Bekie's [Bondwell's] wedding day. She is directed to attire herself and her maids very splendidly, and go to the strand; a vessel will come sailing to her, and they are to go on board. The Billy Blin will row her over the sea, C 19; she will stroke the ship with a wand, and take God to be her pilot, M 19. Thus, by miraculous intervention, she arrives at the nick of time.
Beichan's fickleness is not accounted for in most of the versions. He soon forgot his deliverer and courted another, he was young, and thought not upon Susan Pye, say H, N. C, on the contrary, tells us that Beichan had not been a twelvemonth in his own country, when he was forced to marry a duke's daughter or lose all his land. E and K intimate that he acts under constraint; the wedding has lasted three and thirty days, and he will not bed with his bride for love of one beyond the sea, E 21, K 1.[409]
On landing, Susan Pye falls in with a shepherd feeding his flock, E, K M]. She asks, Whose are these sheep, these kye, these castles? and is told they are Lord Beichan's, G. She asks the news, and is informed that there is a wedding in yonder hall that has lasted thirty days and three, E, K, or that there is to be a wedding on the morn, M; it seems to be a matter generally known, N. In other versions she comes directly to Young Beichan's hall, and is first informed by the porter, A, B, F, H, L, or the fact is confirmed by the porter, E, M, N; she hears the music within, and divines, C. She bribes the porter to bid the bridegroom come and speak to her, A, B, C, D, J, N; send her down bread and wine, and not forget the lady who brought him out of prison, B, F, H, J, K, L. In E 26 she sends up her half ring to the bridegroom N 40, but not till Beichan has declined to come down].
The porter falls on his knee and informs his master that the fairest and richest lady that eyes ever saw is at the gate [ladies, C, M]. The bride, or the bride's mother more commonly, reproves the porter for his graceless speech; he might have excepted the bride, or her mother, or both: "Gin she be braw without, we's be as braw within." But the porter is compelled by truth to persist in his allegation; fair as they may be, they were never to compare with yon lady, B, D, E, H, M. Beichan takes the table with his foot and makes the cups and cans to flee, B 18, D 23, F 28, G 3, H 47, J 5, N 42;[410] he exclaims that it can be none but Susie Pye, A, B, D, G, H, I [Burd Isbel, C], and clears the stair, fifteen steps, thirty steps, in three bounds, A 19, D 24, N 43. His old love reproaches him for his forgetfulness, A, C, D, M, N;[411] she asks back her faith and troth, B 21. Beichan bids the forenoon bride's mother take back her daughter: he will double her dowry, A 22, D 27, E 39; she came on horseback, she shall go back in chariots, coaches, three, B 22, D 27[412] [H 49, in chariot free]. He marries Susie Pye, having her baptized by the name of Lady Jean, A, B, D, [E], F, I, J.[413]
This story of Beichan, or Bekie, agrees in the general outline, and also in some details, with a well-known legend about Gilbert Beket, father of St Thomas. The earlier and more authentic biographies lack this particular bit of romance, but the legend nevertheless goes back to a date not much later than a century after the death of the saint, being found in a poetical narrative preserved in a manuscript of about 1300.[414]
We learn from this legend that Gilbert Beket, in his youth, assumed the cross and went to the Holy Land, accompanied only by one Richard, his servant. They "did their pilgrimage" in holy places, and at last, with other Christians, were made captive by the Saracens and put in strong prison. They suffered great hardship and ignominy in the service of the Saracen prince Admiraud. But Gilbert found more grace than the rest; he was promoted to serve the prince at meat (in his chains), and the prince often would ask him about England and the English faith. Admiraud's only daughter fell in love with Gilbert, and when she saw her time, in turn asked him the like questions. Gilbert told her that he was born in London; told her of the belief of Christians, and of the endless bliss that should be their meed. The maid asked him if he was ready to die for his Lord's love, and Gilbert declared that he would, joyfully. When the maid saw that he was so steadfast, she stood long in thought, and then said, I will quit all for love of thee, and become Christian, if thou wilt marry me. Gilbert feared that this might be a wile; he replied that he was at her disposition, but he must bethink himself. She went on loving him, the longer the more. After this Gilbert and the rest broke prison and made their way to the Christians. The prince's daughter, reduced to desperation by love and grief, left her heritage and her kin, sparing for no sorrow, peril, or contempt that might come to her, not knowing whither to go or whether he would marry her when found, and went in quest of Gilbert. She asked the way to England, and when she had come there had no word but London to assist her further. She roamed through the streets, followed by a noisy and jeering crowd of wild boys and what not, until one day by chance she stopped by the house in which Gilbert lived. The man Richard, hearing a tumult, came out to see what was the matter, recognized the princess, and ran to tell his master.[415] Gilbert bade Richard take the lady to the house of a respectable woman near by, and presently went to see her. She swooned when she saw him. Gilbert was nothing if not discreet: he "held him still," as if he had nothing in mind. But there was a conference of six bishops just then at St. Paul's, and he went and told them his story and asked advice. One of the six prophetically saw a divine indication that the two were meant to be married, and all finally recommended this if the lady would become Christian. Brought before the bishops, she said, Most gladly, if he will espouse me; else I had not left my kin. She was baptized[416] with great ceremony, and the marriage followed.
The very day after the wedding Gilbert was seized with such an overmastering desire to go back to the Holy Land that he wist not what to do. But his wife was thoroughly converted, and after a struggle with herself she consented, on condition that Beket should leave with her the man Richard, who knew her language. Gilbert was gone three years and a half, and when he came back Thomas was a fine boy.