That our ballad has been affected by the legend of Gilbert Beket is altogether likely. The name Bekie is very close to Beket, and several versions, A, D, H, I, N, set out rather formally with the announcement that Bekie was London born, like the Latin biographies and the versified one of Garnier de Pont Sainte Maxence. Our ballad, also, in some versions, has the Moor's daughter baptized, a point which of course could not fail in the legend. More important still is it that the hero of the English ballad goes home and forgets the woman he has left in a foreign land, instead of going away from home and forgetting the love he has left there. But the ballad, for all that, is not derived from the legend. Stories and ballads of the general cast of 'Young Beichan' are extremely frequent.[417] The legend lacks some of the main points of these stories, and the ballad, in one version or another, has them, as will be seen by referring to what has been said under 'Hind Horn,' pp 194 ff. Bekie and Beket go to the East, like Henry and Reinfrit of Brunswick, the Noble Moringer, the good Gerhard, Messer Torello, the Sire de Créqui, Alexander of Metz, and others. Like the larger part of these, they are made prisoners by the Saracens. He will not bow the knee to Mahound; neither will the Sire de Créqui, though he die for it.[418] Beichan is made to draw cart, plough, harrow, like a beast. So Henry of Brunswick in a Swedish and a Danish ballad,[419] and Alexander von Metz, or the Graf von Rom, in his most beautiful and touching story.[420] Henry of Brunswick is set free by a "heathen" lady in the Danish ballad. In one version of Beichan, E, the lady on parting with her love breaks her ring and gives him one half, as Henry, or his wife, Reinfrit, Gerhard, Créqui, and others do. At this point in the story the woman pursues the man, and parts are inverted. Susan Pye is warned that Beichan is to be married the next day, in C by a Billy-Blin, in M by a woman in green, or fairy, and is conveyed to Beichan's castle or hall with miraculous despatch, just as Henry and others are warned, and are transported to their homes by devil, angel, or necromancer. In E and N the old love is identified by a half ring or ring, as in so many of the stories of the class of Henry the Lion.
Norse, Spanish, and Italian ballads preserve a story essentially the same as that of 'Young Beichan.'
Scandinavian.
Danish. 'Stolt Ellensborg,' Grundtvig, IV, 238, No 218, nine versions, A-G, from manuscripts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, H, I, from recent tradition. B is previously printed (with alterations) in Levninger, 'Jomfrue Ellensborg,' I, 66, No 12, Danske Viser, III, 268, No 213; I, 'Stalt Ellen henter sin Fæstemand' is in Kristensen, I, 89, No 36. Of the older texts, A, B, C are absolutely pure and true to tradition, D-G retouched or made over.
Icelandic, of the seventeenth century, Grundtvig, as above, p. 259, M.
Swedish, from Cavallius and Stephens' collection, Grundtvig, p. 255, K.
Färöe, taken down in 1827, Grundtvig, p. 256, L.
Norwegian, 'Herre Per i Riki,' Landstad, p. 596, No 76, N.
The variations of these twelve versions are insignificant. The names Herr Peder den Rige and Ellensborg [Ellen] are found in nearly all. It comes into Sir Peter's mind that he ought to go to Jerusalem to expiate his sins, and he asks his betrothed, Ellensborg, how long she will wait for him. She will wait eight years, and marry no other, though the king should woo her [seven, L; nine, M, "If I do not come then, break the engagement;" eight, and not more, N]. The time passes and Peter does not come back. Ellensborg goes to the strand. Traders come steering in, and she is asked to buy of their ware,—sendal, linen, and silk green as leek. She cares not for these things; have they not seen her sister's son [brother], for whom she is grieving to death? They know nothing of her sister's son, but well they know Sir Peter the rich: he has betrothed a lady in the Øster-king's realm;[421] a heathen woman, "and you never came into his mind," E 13; he is to be married to-morrow, K 6. A wee swain tells her, M 14, 16, that he sits in Austurríki drinking the ale of forgetfulness, and will never come home; he shall not drink long, says she. Ellensborg asks her brother to undertake a voyage for her; he will go with her if she will wait till summer; rather than wait till summer she will go alone, A, D, G. She asks fraternal advice about going in search of her lover, A, E, the advice of her uncles, I; asks the loan of a ship, B, C, F, H, N. She is told that such a thing would be a shame; she had better take another lover; the object is not worth the trouble; the voyage is bad for a man and worse for a woman. Her maids give her advice that is more to her mind, E, but are as prudent as the rest in the later I. She attires herself like a knight, clips her maids' hair, B, H, I, L, M, and puts them into men's clothes, D, L; sets herself to steer and the maids to row, A-G, L.[422]
The voyage is less than two months, B, C, E; less than three months, I; quite three months, L. It is the first day of the bridal when she lands, B 22, E 24, N 14; in B Ellensborg learns this from a boy who is walking on the sand. Sword at side, she enters the hall where Peter is drinking his bridal. Peter, can in hand, rises and says, Bless your eyes, my sister's son; welcome to this strange land. In B he asks, How are my father and mother? and she tells him that his father lies dead on his bier, his mother in sick-bed. In L, waiting for no greeting, she says, Well you sit at the board with your wife! Are all lords wont thus to keep their faith? The bride's mother, D, G, the heathen bride, E, an unnamed person, probably the bride, A, B, F, N, says, That is not your sister's son, but much more like a woman; her hair is like spun gold, and braided up under a silk cap.