Theonly possible method of classifying ballads is by their subject-matter; and even thus the lines of demarcation are frequently blurred. It is, however, possible to divide them roughly into several main classes, such as ballads of romance and chivalry; ballads of superstition and of the supernatural; Arthurian, historical, sacred, domestic ballads; ballads of Robin Hood and other outlaws; and so forth.
The present volume is concerned with ballads of romance and chivalry; but it is useless to press too far the appropriateness of this title.The Nutbrown Maid, for instance, is not a true ballad at all, but an amœbæan idyll, or dramatic lyric. But, on the whole, these ballads chiefly tell of life, love, death, and human passions, of revenge and murder and heroic deed.
‘These things are life:And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.’
‘These things are life:
And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.’
They are left unexpurgated, as they came down to us: to apologise for things now left unsaid would be to apologise not only for the heroic epoch in which they were born, but also for human nature.
And how full of life that heroic epoch was! Of what stature must Lord William’s steed have been, if Lady Maisry could hear him sneeze a mile away! How chivalrous of Gawaine to wed an ugly bride to save his king’s promise, and how romantic and delightful to discover her on the morrow to have changed into a well-fared may!
The popular Muse regards not probability. Old Robin, who hails from Portugal, marries the daughter of the mayor of Linne, that unknown town so dear to ballads. InYoung Bekie, Burd Isbel’s heart is wondrous sair to find, on liberating her lover, that the bold rats and mice have eaten his yellow hair. We must not think of objecting that the boldest rat would never eat a live prisoner’s hair, but only applaud the picturesque indication of durance vile.
In the same ballad, Burd Isbel, ‘to keep her from thinking lang’—a prevalent complaint—is told to take ‘twa marys’ on her journey. We suddenly realise how little there was to amuse the Burd Isbels of yore. Twa marys provide a week’s diversion. Otherwise her only occupation would have been to kemb her golden hair, or perhaps, like Fair Annie, drink wan water to preserve her complexion.
But if their occupations were few, their emotions and affections were strong. Ellen endures insult after insult from Child Waters with the faithful patience of a Griselda. Hector the hound recognises Burd Isbel after years of separation. Was any lord or lady in need ofa messenger, there was sure to be a little boy at hand to run their errand soon, faithful unto death. On receipt of painful news, they kicked over the table, and the silver plate flew into the fire. When roused, men murdered with a brown sword, and ladies with a penknife. We are left uncertain whether the Cruel Mother did not also ‘howk’ a grave for her murdered babe with that implement.
But readers will easily pick out and enjoy for themselves other instances of the naïve and picturesque in these ballads.
There survive in ballads a few conventional phrases, some of which appear to have been preserved by tradition beyond an understanding of their import. I give here short notes on a few of the more interesting phrases and words which appear in the present volume, the explanations being too cumbrous for footnotes.
‘bent his bow and swam,’Lady Maisry, 21.2;Johney Scot, 10.2;Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet, 12.2; etc.
‘set his bent bow to his breast,’Lady Maisry, 22.3;Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet, 13.3;Fause Footrage, 33.1; etc.
Child attempts no explanation of this striking phrase, which, I believe, all editors have either openly or silently neglected. Perhaps ‘bent’ may meanun-bent,i.e.with the string of the bow slacked. If so, for what reason was it done before swimming? We can understand that it would be of advantage to keep the string dry, but how is it better protected when unstrung? Or, again, was it carried unstrung,and literally ‘bent’ before swimming? Or was the bow solid enough to be of support in the water?
Some one of these explanations may satisfy the first phrase (as regards swimming); but why does the messenger ‘set his bent bow to his breast’ before leaping the castle wall? It seems to me that the two expressions must stand or fall together; therefore the entire lack of suggestions to explain the latter phrase drives me to distrust of any of the explanations given for the former.
A suggestion recently made to me appears to dispose of all difficulties; and, once made, is convincing in its very obviousness. It is, that ‘bow’ means ‘elbow,’ or simply ‘arm.’ The first phrase then exhibits the commonest form of ballad-conventionalities, picturesque redundancy: the parallel phrase is ‘he slacked his shoon and ran.’ In the second phrase it is, indeed, necessary to suppose the wall to be breast-high; the messenger places one elbow on the wall, pulls himself up, and vaults across.
Lexicographers distinguish between the Old Englishbōgorbōh(O.H.G. buog = arm; Sanskrit, bahu-s = arm), which means arm, arch, bough, or bow of a ship; and the Old Englishboga(O.H.G. bogo), which means the archer’s bow. The distinction is continued in Middle English, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Instances of the use of the word as equivalent to ‘arm’ may be found in Old English inKing Alfred’s Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care(E.E.T.S., 1871, ed. H. Sweet) written in West Saxon dialect of the ninth century.
It is true that the word does not survive elsewhere in this meaning, but I give the suggestion for what it is worth.
‘briar and rose,’Douglas Tragedy, 18, 19, 20;Fair Margaret and Sweet William, 18, 19, 20;Lord Lovel, 9, 10; etc.
‘briar and birk,’Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, 29, 30;Fair Janet, 30; etc.
‘roses,’Lady Alice, 5, 6. (See introductory note toLord Lovel, p. 67.)
The ballads which exhibit this pleasant conception that, after death, the spirits of unfortunate lovers pass into plants, trees, or flowers springing from their graves, are not confined to European folklore. Besides appearing in English, Gaelic, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, Roumanian, Romaic, Portuguese, Servian, Wendish, Breton, Italian, Albanian, Russian, etc., we find it occurring in Afghanistan and Persia. As a rule, the branches of the trees intertwine; but in some cases they only bend towards each other, and kiss when the wind blows.
In an Armenian tale a curious addition is made. A young man, separated by her father from his sweetheart because he was of a different religion, perished with her, and the two were buried by their friends in one grave. Roses grew from the grave, and sought to intertwine, but athorn-bushsprang up between them and prevented it. The thorn here is symbolical of religious belief.
‘thrilled upon a pin,’Glasgerion, 10.2.
‘knocked at the ring,’Fair Margaret and Sweet William, 11.2.
(Cp.‘lifted up the pin,’Fair Janet, 14.2.)
Throughout the Scottish ballads the expression is ‘tirl’d at the pin,’i.e.rattled or twisted the pin.
The pin appears to have been the external part of the door-latch, attached by day thereto by means of a leathern thong, which at night was disconnected with the latch to prevent any unbidden guest from entering. Thus any one ‘tirling at the pin’ does not attempt to open the door, but signifies his presence to those within.
The ring was merely part of an ordinary knocker, and had nothing to do with the latching of the door.
‘bright brown sword,’Glasgerion, 22.1;Old Robin of Portingale, 22.1;Child Maurice, 26.1, 27.1; ‘good browne sword,’Marriage of Sir Gawaine, 24.3; etc.
‘dried it on his sleeve,’Glasgerion, 22.2;Child Maurice, 27.2(‘on the grasse,’ 26.2); ‘straiked it o’er a strae,’Bonny Birdy, 15.2; ‘struck it across the plain,’Johney Scot, 32.2; etc.
In Anglo-Saxon, the epithet ‘brún’ as applied to a sword has been held to signify either that the sword was of bronze, or that the sword gleamed. It has further been suggested that sword-blades may have been artificially bronzed, like modern gun-barrels.
‘Striped it thro’ the straw’ and many similar expressions all refer to the whetting of a sword, generally just before using it. Straw (unless ‘strae’ and ‘straw’ mean something else) would appear to be very poor stuff on which to sharpen swords, but Glasgerion’s sleeve would be even less effective;perhaps, however, ‘dried’ should be ‘tried.’ Johney Scot sharpened his sword on the ground.
‘gare’ = gore, part of a woman’s dress;Brown Robin, 10.4; cp.Glasgerion, 19.4.
Generally of a knife, apparently on a chatelaine. But inLamkin12.2, of a man’s dress.
‘Linne,’ ‘Lin,’Young Bekie, 5.4;Old Robin of Portingale, 2.1.
A stock ballad-locality, castle or town. Perhaps to be identified with the city of Lincoln, perhaps with Lynn, or King’s Lynn, in Norfolk, where pilgrims of the fourteenth century visited the Rood Chapel of Our Lady of Lynn, on their way to Walsingham; with equal probability it is not to be identified at all with any known town.
‘shot-window,’Gay Goshawk, 8.3;Brown Robin, 3.3;Lamkin, 7.3; etc.
This commonplace phrase seems to vary in meaning. It may be ‘a shutter of timber with a few inches of glass above it’ (Wodrow’sHistory of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1721-2, 2 vols., in vol. ii. p. 286); it may be simply ‘a window to open and shut,’ as Ritson explains it; or again, as is implied in Jamieson’sEtymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, an out-shot window, or bow-window. The last certainly seems to be intended in certain instances.
‘thought lang’Young Bekie, 16.4;Brown Adam, 5.2;Johney Scot, 6.2;Fause Footrage, 25.2; etc.
This simply means ‘thought it long,’ or ‘thought it slow,’ as we should say in modern slang; in short, ‘was bored,’ or ‘weary.’
‘wild-wood swine,’ a simile for drunkenness,Brown Robin, 7.4;Fause Footrage, 16.4.
Cp.Shakespeare,All’s Well that Ends Well, ActIV.3, 286: ‘Drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swine-drunk.’ It seems to be nothing more than a popular comparison.
The Introductions, etc., to the Collections of Ballads in List B.
David Irving.History of Scottish Poetry.
Thomas Warton.History of English Poetry, ed. W. Carew Hazlitt. 4 vols.
Andrew Lang.Article in Encyclopædia Britannica (9th edition), vol. iii.
Stopford Brooke.English Literature. New edition, enlarged, 1897.
W. W. Newell.Games and Songs of American Children. New York.
Andrew Lang.Myth, Ritual, and Religion. 2 vols.
John Veitch.History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. 2 vols.
F. J. Child.Article ‘Ballads’ in Johnson’s Cyclopædia, vol. i. pp. 464‑6.
W. J. Courthope.A History of English Poetry. Vols. i. and ii.
G. Gregory Smith.The Transition Period: being vol. iv. of Periods of English Literature, ed. G. Saintsbury.
Andrew LanginQuarterly Reviewfor July.
F. B. Gummere.The Beginnings of Poetry.
E. K. Chambers.The Mediæval Stage. 2 vols.
Andrew LanginFolk-Lorefor June.
J. H. Millar.A Literary History of Scotland.
A Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most ancient copies extant. 3 vols. London.
Allan Ramsay.The Ever-Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh.
Allan Ramsay.The Tea-Table Miscellany. First eight editions in 3 vols., Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. Ninth and subsequent editions in four volumes, or four volumes in one, London.
Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore.Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. 3 vols. London.
David Herd.The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. Edinburgh. The second edition, 1776, under a slightly different title. 2 vols. Edinburgh.
John Pinkerton.Scottish Tragic Ballads. London.
James Johnson.The Scots Musical Museum. 6 vols. Edinburgh.
Joseph Ritson.Ancient Songs, etc. London. (Printed 1787, dated 1790, and published 1792.)
Joseph Ritson.Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry. London.
Joseph Ritson.ScotishSong. 2 vols. London.
„ „ Robin Hood. 2 vols. London.
Walter Scott.Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 3 vols. Kelso and Edinburgh.
Robert Jamieson.Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions. 2 vols. Edinburgh.
John Finlay.Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, chiefly ancient. 2 vols. Edinburgh.
Alexander Laing.Scarce Ancient Ballads. Aberdeen.
Alexander Laing.The Thistle of Scotland. Aberdeen.
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.A Ballad Book. Edinburgh.
James Maidment.A North Countrie Garland. Edinburgh.
Robert Chambers.The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. Edinburgh.
George Kinloch.Ancient Scottish Ballads. London and Edinburgh.
William Motherwell.Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. Glasgow.
Peter Buchan.Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland. 2 vols. Edinburgh.
The Universal Songster. 3 vols. London.
Alexander Whitelaw.The Book of Scottish Ballads. Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London.
James Henry Dixon.Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England. London.
John Matthew Gutch.A Lytyll Geste of Robin Hode. 2 vols. London.
William Chappell.Popular Music of the Olden Time. 2 vols. London.
Robert Bell.Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England. London.
Francis James Child.English and Scottish Ballads. 8 vols. 2nd edition, 1864.
William Allingham.The Ballad Book. London.
J. W. HalesandF. J. Furnivall. Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. 4 vols. London.
Francis James Child.The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, New York, and London.
Andrew Lang.Border Ballads. London: Lawrence and Bullen.
Andrew Lang.A Collection of Ballads. London: Chapman and Hall’s ‘Diamond Library.’
Francis B. Gummere.Old English Ballads. Boston, U.S.A. Athenæum Press Series.
T. F. Henderson.Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, by Sir Walter Scott. New edition. 3 vols. London.
The illustrations on pp.28,75, and118are taken from RoyalMS.10.E.iv. (of the fourteenth century) in the British Museum, where they occur on folios 34verso, 215recto, and 254rectorespectively. The designs in the original form a decorated margin at the foot of each page, and are outlined in ink and roughly tinted in three or four colours. Much use is made of them in the illustrations to J. J. Jusserand’sEnglish Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages, where M. Jusserand rightly points out that thisMS.‘has perhaps never been so thoroughly studied as it deserves.’
1.For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its refrain in theballatioof the dancing-ring, seeThe Beginnings of Poetry, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. The beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a rhythmic chant or song, and of festal song and dance.2.See the first essay, ‘What is “Popular Poetry”?’ inIdeas of Good and Evil, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this distinction is not recognised.3.Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard(see p. 19, etc.).4.‘The truth really lay between the two, for neither appreciated the wide variety covered by a common name’ (The Mediæval Stage, E. K. Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. and iv. of this work for an admirably complete and illuminating account of minstrelsy.5.For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, p. lii.6.But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See Chambers,Mediæval Stage,i. p. 54.7.A good notion of the way in which the old ballads plungein medias resmay be obtained by reading the Index of First Lines.8.Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind Irish bard Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various accounts of him given by Lady Gregory (Poets and Dreamers) and W. B. Yeats (The Celtic Twilight, 1902). But he appears to have been more of an improviser than a reciter.9.‘He [Coleridge] said theLyrical Balladswere an experiment about to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far the public taste would endure poetry written in a more natural and simple style than had hitherto been attempted; totally discarding the artifices of poetical diction, and making use only of such words as had probably been common in the most ordinary language since the days of HenryII.’—Hazlitt.10.Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript, edited by J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early English Text Society and subscribers.11.AdditionalMS.27, 879.12.Cp.Love’s Labour’s Lost:—Armado.Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar?Moth.The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages since; but I think now ’tis not to be found.13.Professor Gummere (The Beginnings of Poetry) is perhaps the strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme view.
1.For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its refrain in theballatioof the dancing-ring, seeThe Beginnings of Poetry, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. The beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a rhythmic chant or song, and of festal song and dance.
2.See the first essay, ‘What is “Popular Poetry”?’ inIdeas of Good and Evil, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this distinction is not recognised.
3.Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard(see p. 19, etc.).
4.‘The truth really lay between the two, for neither appreciated the wide variety covered by a common name’ (The Mediæval Stage, E. K. Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. and iv. of this work for an admirably complete and illuminating account of minstrelsy.
5.For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, p. lii.
6.But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See Chambers,Mediæval Stage,i. p. 54.
7.A good notion of the way in which the old ballads plungein medias resmay be obtained by reading the Index of First Lines.
8.Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind Irish bard Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various accounts of him given by Lady Gregory (Poets and Dreamers) and W. B. Yeats (The Celtic Twilight, 1902). But he appears to have been more of an improviser than a reciter.
9.‘He [Coleridge] said theLyrical Balladswere an experiment about to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far the public taste would endure poetry written in a more natural and simple style than had hitherto been attempted; totally discarding the artifices of poetical diction, and making use only of such words as had probably been common in the most ordinary language since the days of HenryII.’—Hazlitt.
10.Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript, edited by J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early English Text Society and subscribers.
11.AdditionalMS.27, 879.
12.Cp.Love’s Labour’s Lost:—Armado.Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar?Moth.The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages since; but I think now ’tis not to be found.
13.Professor Gummere (The Beginnings of Poetry) is perhaps the strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme view.
Ther herde I pleyen on an harpeThat souned bothe wel and sharpe,Orpheus ful craftely,And on his syde, faste by,Sat the harper Orion,And Eacides Chiron,And other harpers many oon,And the BretAGlascurion.—Chaucer,Hous of Fame,III.
Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe
That souned bothe wel and sharpe,
Orpheus ful craftely,
And on his syde, faste by,
Sat the harper Orion,
And Eacides Chiron,
And other harpers many oon,
And the BretAGlascurion.
—Chaucer,Hous of Fame,III.
The Text, from the Percy Folio, luckily is complete, saving an omission of two lines. A few obvious corrections have been introduced, and the Folio reading given in a footnote. Percy printed the ballad in theReliques, with far fewer alterations than usual.
The Storyis also told in a milk-and-water Scotch version,Glenkindie, doubtless mishandled by Jamieson, who ‘improved’ it from two traditional sources. The admirable English ballad gives a striking picture of the horror of ‘churlës blood’ proper to feudal days.
In the quotation above, Chaucer places Glascurion with Orpheus, Arion, and Chiron, four great harpers. It is not improbable that Glascurion and Glasgerion represent the Welsh bard Glas Keraint (Keraint the Blue Bard, the chief bard wearing a blue robe of office), said to have been an eminent poet, the son of Owain, Prince of Glamorgan.
The oath taken ‘by oak and ash and thorn’ (stanza 18) is a relic of very early times. An oath ‘by corn’ is inYoung Hunting.
A.From Skeat’s edition: elsewhere quoted ‘gret Glascurion.’
1.1.4Folio:— ‘where cappe & candle yoode.’ Percy in theReliques(1767) printed ‘cuppe andcaudlestoode.’1.6‘wood,’ mad, wild (with delight).Glasgerionwas a king’s own son,And a harper he was good;He harped in the king’s chamber,Where cup and candle stood,And so did he in the queen’s chamber,Till ladies waxed wood.2.And then bespake the king’s daughter,And these words thus said she:..........3.3.2‘blin,’ cease.Said, ‘Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion,Of thy striking do not blin;There’s never a stroke comes over this harpBut it glads my heart within.’4.4.4i.e.durst never speak my mind.‘Fair might you fall, lady,’ quoth he;‘Who taught you now to speak?I have loved you, lady, seven year;My heart I durst ne’er break.’5.‘But come to my bower, my Glasgerion,When all men are at rest;As I am a lady true of my promise,Thou shalt be a welcome guest.’6.6.1‘home’; Foliowhom.But home then came Glasgerion,A glad man, Lord, was he!‘And come thou hither, Jack, my boy,Come hither unto me.7.7.3,4These lines are reversed in the Folio.‘For the king’s daughter of NormandyHer love is granted me,And before the cock have crowenAt her chamber must I be.’8.‘But come you hither, master,’ quoth he,‘Lay your head down on this stone;For I will waken you, master dear,Afore it be time to gone.’9.9.1‘lither,’ idle, wicked.But up then rose that lither lad,And did on hose and shoon;A collar he cast upon his neck,He seemed a gentleman.10.10.2‘thrilled,’ twirled or rattled; cp. ‘tirled at the pin,’ a stock ballad phrase (Scots).And when he came to that lady’s chamber,He thrilled upon a pin.The lady was true of her promise,Rose up, and let him in.11.He did not take the lady gayTo bolster nor no bed,But down upon her chamber-floorFull soon he hath her laid.12.12.2‘yode,’ went.He did not kiss that lady gayWhen he came nor when he yode;And sore mistrusted that lady gayHe was of some churlës blood.13.But home then came that lither lad,And did off his hose and shoon.And cast that collar from about his neck;He was but a churlës son:‘Awaken,’ quoth he, ‘my master dear,I hold it time to be gone.14.14.4‘time’: Foliotimes.‘For I have saddled your horse, master,Well bridled I have your steed;Have not I served a good breakfast?When time comes I have need.’15.But up then rose good Glasgerion,And did on both hose and shoon,And cast a collar about his neck;He was a kingës son.16.And when he came to that lady’s chamber,He thrilled upon a pin;The lady was more than true of her promise,Rose up, and let him in.17.17.3Folioyou are.Says, ‘Whether have you left with meYour bracelet or your glove?Or are you back returned againTo know more of my love?’18.Glasgerion swore a full great oathBy oak and ash and thorn,‘Lady, I was never in your chamberSith the time that I was born.’19.‘O then it was your little foot-pageFalsely hath beguiled me’:And then she pull’d forth a little pen-knifeThat hanged by her knee,Says, ‘There shall never no churlës bloodSpring within my body.’20.But home then went Glasgerion,A woe man, good [Lord], was he;Says, ‘Come hither, thou Jack, my boy,Come thou thither to me.21.‘For if I had killed a man to-night,Jack, I would tell it thee;But if I have not killed a man to-night,Jack, thou hast killed three!’22.22.2Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is generally, ‘And striped it thro’ the straw.’ See special section of the Introduction.And he pull’d out his bright brown sword,And dried it on his sleeve,And he smote off that lither lad’s head,And asked no man no leave.23.23.1,2‘till,’ to, against.He set the sword’s point till his breast,The pommel till a stone;Thorough that falseness of that lither ladThese three lives were all gone.
1.
1.4Folio:— ‘where cappe & candle yoode.’ Percy in theReliques(1767) printed ‘cuppe andcaudlestoode.’
1.6‘wood,’ mad, wild (with delight).
Glasgerionwas a king’s own son,
And a harper he was good;
He harped in the king’s chamber,
Where cup and candle stood,
And so did he in the queen’s chamber,
Till ladies waxed wood.
2.
And then bespake the king’s daughter,
And these words thus said she:
.....
.....
3.
3.2‘blin,’ cease.
Said, ‘Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion,
Of thy striking do not blin;
There’s never a stroke comes over this harp
But it glads my heart within.’
4.
4.4i.e.durst never speak my mind.
‘Fair might you fall, lady,’ quoth he;
‘Who taught you now to speak?
I have loved you, lady, seven year;
My heart I durst ne’er break.’
5.
‘But come to my bower, my Glasgerion,
When all men are at rest;
As I am a lady true of my promise,
Thou shalt be a welcome guest.’
6.
6.1‘home’; Foliowhom.
But home then came Glasgerion,
A glad man, Lord, was he!
‘And come thou hither, Jack, my boy,
Come hither unto me.
7.
7.3,4These lines are reversed in the Folio.
‘For the king’s daughter of Normandy
Her love is granted me,
And before the cock have crowen
At her chamber must I be.’
8.
‘But come you hither, master,’ quoth he,
‘Lay your head down on this stone;
For I will waken you, master dear,
Afore it be time to gone.’
9.
9.1‘lither,’ idle, wicked.
But up then rose that lither lad,
And did on hose and shoon;
A collar he cast upon his neck,
He seemed a gentleman.
10.
10.2‘thrilled,’ twirled or rattled; cp. ‘tirled at the pin,’ a stock ballad phrase (Scots).
And when he came to that lady’s chamber,
He thrilled upon a pin.
The lady was true of her promise,
Rose up, and let him in.
11.
He did not take the lady gay
To bolster nor no bed,
But down upon her chamber-floor
Full soon he hath her laid.
12.
12.2‘yode,’ went.
He did not kiss that lady gay
When he came nor when he yode;
And sore mistrusted that lady gay
He was of some churlës blood.
13.
But home then came that lither lad,
And did off his hose and shoon.
And cast that collar from about his neck;
He was but a churlës son:
‘Awaken,’ quoth he, ‘my master dear,
I hold it time to be gone.
14.
14.4‘time’: Foliotimes.
‘For I have saddled your horse, master,
Well bridled I have your steed;
Have not I served a good breakfast?
When time comes I have need.’
15.
But up then rose good Glasgerion,
And did on both hose and shoon,
And cast a collar about his neck;
He was a kingës son.
16.
And when he came to that lady’s chamber,
He thrilled upon a pin;
The lady was more than true of her promise,
Rose up, and let him in.
17.
17.3Folioyou are.
Says, ‘Whether have you left with me
Your bracelet or your glove?
Or are you back returned again
To know more of my love?’
18.
Glasgerion swore a full great oath
By oak and ash and thorn,
‘Lady, I was never in your chamber
Sith the time that I was born.’
19.
‘O then it was your little foot-page
Falsely hath beguiled me’:
And then she pull’d forth a little pen-knife
That hanged by her knee,
Says, ‘There shall never no churlës blood
Spring within my body.’
20.
But home then went Glasgerion,
A woe man, good [Lord], was he;
Says, ‘Come hither, thou Jack, my boy,
Come thou thither to me.
21.
‘For if I had killed a man to-night,
Jack, I would tell it thee;
But if I have not killed a man to-night,
Jack, thou hast killed three!’
22.
22.2Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is generally, ‘And striped it thro’ the straw.’ See special section of the Introduction.
And he pull’d out his bright brown sword,
And dried it on his sleeve,
And he smote off that lither lad’s head,
And asked no man no leave.
23.
23.1,2‘till,’ to, against.
He set the sword’s point till his breast,
The pommel till a stone;
Thorough that falseness of that lither lad
These three lives were all gone.
The Textis that of the Jamieson-BrownMS., taken down from the recitation of Mrs. Brown about 1783. In printing the ballad, Jamieson collated with the above two other Scottish copies, one inMS., another a stall-copy, a third from recitation in the north of England, a fourth ‘picked off an old wall in Piccadilly’ by the editor.
The Storyhas several variations of detail in the numerous versions known (Young Bicham, Brechin, Bekie, Beachen, Beichan, Bichen, Lord Beichan, Lord Bateman, Young Bondwell, etc.), but the text here given is one of the most complete and vivid, and contains besides one feature (the ‘Belly Blin’) lost in all other versions but one.
A similar story is current in the ballad-literature of Scandinavia, Spain, and Italy; but the English tale has undoubtedly been affected by the charming legend of Gilbert Becket, the father of Saint Thomas, who, having been captured by Admiraud, a Saracen prince, and held in durance vile, was freed by Admiraud’s daughter, who then followed him to England, knowing no English but ‘London’ and ‘Gilbert’; and after much tribulation, found him and was married to him. ‘Becket’ is sufficiently near ‘Bekie’ to prove contamination, but not to prove that the legend is the origin of the ballad.
The Belly Blin (Billie Blin = billie, a man; blin’, blind, and so Billie Blin = Blindman’s Buff, formerlycalled Hoodman Blind) occurs in certain other ballads, such asCospatrick,Willie’s Lady, and theKnight and the Shepherd’s Daughter; also in a mutilated ballad of the Percy Folio,King Arthur and King Cornwall, under the name Burlow Beanie. In the latter case he is described as ‘a lodly feend, with seuen heads, and one body,’ breathing fire; but in general he is a serviceable household demon. Cp. Germanbilwiz, and Dutchbelewitte.
1.Young Bekiewas as brave a knightAs ever sail’d the sea;An’ he’s doen him to the court of France,To serve for meat and fee.2.He had nae been i’ the court of FranceA twelvemonth nor sae long,Til he fell in love with the king’s daughter,An’ was thrown in prison strong.3.The king he had but ae daughter,Burd Isbel was her name;An’ she has to the prison-house gane,To hear the prisoner’s mane.4.4.1‘borrow,’ ransom.‘O gin a lady woud borrow me,At her stirrup-foot I woud rin;Or gin a widow wad borrow me,I woud swear to be her son.5.‘Or gin a virgin woud borrow me,I woud wed her wi’ a ring;I’d gi’ her ha’s, I’d gie her bowers,The bonny tow’rs o’ Linne.’6.6.1,2‘but ... ben,’ out ... in.O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but,An’ barefoot came she ben;It was no for want o’ hose an’ shoone,Nor time to put them on;7.7.3‘stown,’ stolen.But a’ for fear that her father dear,Had heard her making din:She’s stown the keys o’ the prison-house dorAn’ latten the prisoner gang.8.8.3‘rottons,’ rats.O whan she saw him, Young Bekie,Her heart was wondrous sair!For the mice but an’ the bold rottonsHad eaten his yallow hair.9.She’s gi’en him a shaver for his beard,A comber till his hair,Five hunder pound in his pocket,To spen’, and nae to spair.10.She’s gi’en him a steed was good in need,An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,An’ Hector called one.11.Atween this twa a vow was made,’Twas made full solemnly,That or three years was come and gane,Well married they shoud be.12.He had nae been in’s ain countryA twelvemonth till an end,Till he’s forc’d to marry a duke’s daughter,Or than lose a’ his land.13.‘Ohon, alas!’ says Young Bekie,‘I know not what to dee;For I canno win to Burd Isbel,And she kensnae to come to me.’14.O it fell once upon a dayBurd Isbel fell asleep,An’ up it starts the Belly Blin,An’ stood at her bed-feet.15.15.2TheMS.reads ‘How y you.’‘O waken, waken, Burd Isbel,How [can] you sleep so soun’,Whan this is Bekie’s wedding day,An’ the marriage gain’ on?16.16.3‘marys,’ maids.’Ye do ye to your mither’s bow’r,Think neither sin nor shame;An’ ye tak twa o’ your mither’s marys,To keep ye frae thinking lang.17.‘Ye dress yoursel’ in the red scarlet,An’ your marys in dainty green,An’ ye pit girdles about your middlesWoud buy an earldome.18.‘O ye gang down by yon sea-side,An’ down by yon sea-stran’;Sae bonny will the Hollans boatsCome rowin’ till your han’.19.‘Ye set your milk-white foot abord,Cry, Hail ye, Domine!An’ I shal be the steerer o’t,To row you o’er the sea.’20.She’s tane her till her mither’s bow’r,Thought neither sin nor shame,An’ she took twa o’ her mither’s marys,To keep her frae thinking lang.21.She dress’d hersel’ i’ the red scarlet.Her marys i’ dainty green,And they pat girdles about their middlesWoud buy an earldome.22.An’ they gid down by yon sea-side,An’ down by yon sea-stran’;Sae bonny did the Hollan boatsCome rowin’ to their han’.23.She set her milk-white foot on board,Cried ‘Hail ye, Domine!’An’ the Belly Blin was the steerer o’t,To row her o’er the sea.24.Whan she came to Young Bekie’s gate,She heard the music play;Sae well she kent frae a’ she heard,It was his wedding day.25.She’s pitten her han’ in her pocket,Gin the porter guineas three;‘Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter,Bid the bride-groom speake to me.’26.O whan that he cam up the stair,He fell low down on his knee:He hail’d the king, an’ he hail’d the queen,An’ he hail’d him, Young Bekie.27.‘O I’ve been porter at your gatesThis thirty years an’ three;But there’s three ladies at them now,Their like I never did see.28.‘There’s ane o’ them dress’d in red scarlet,And twa in dainty green,An’ they hae girdles about their middlesWoud buy an earldome.’29.29.1‘bierly,’ stately.Then out it spake the bierly bride,Was a’ goud to the chin:‘Gin she be braw without,’ she says,‘We’s be as braw within.’30.Then up it starts him, Young Bekie,An’ the tears was in his ee:‘I’ll lay my life it’s Burd Isbel,Come o’er the sea to me.’31.O quickly ran he down the stair,An’ whan he saw ’twas she,He kindly took her in his arms,And kiss’d her tenderly.32.‘O hae ye forgotten, Young BekieThe vow ye made to me,Whan I took ye out o’ the prison strongWhan ye was condemn’d to die?33.‘I gae you a steed was good in need,An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,An’ Hector called one.’34.It was well kent what the lady said,That it wasnae a lee,For at ilka word the lady spake,The hound fell at her knee.35.‘Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear,A blessing gae her wi’,For I maun marry my Burd Isbel,That’s come o’er the sea to me.’36.‘Is this the custom o’ your house,Or the fashion o’ your lan’,To marry a maid in a May mornin’,An’ send her back at even?’
1.
Young Bekiewas as brave a knight
As ever sail’d the sea;
An’ he’s doen him to the court of France,
To serve for meat and fee.
2.
He had nae been i’ the court of France
A twelvemonth nor sae long,
Til he fell in love with the king’s daughter,
An’ was thrown in prison strong.
3.
The king he had but ae daughter,
Burd Isbel was her name;
An’ she has to the prison-house gane,
To hear the prisoner’s mane.
4.
4.1‘borrow,’ ransom.
‘O gin a lady woud borrow me,
At her stirrup-foot I woud rin;
Or gin a widow wad borrow me,
I woud swear to be her son.
5.
‘Or gin a virgin woud borrow me,
I woud wed her wi’ a ring;
I’d gi’ her ha’s, I’d gie her bowers,
The bonny tow’rs o’ Linne.’
6.
6.1,2‘but ... ben,’ out ... in.
O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but,
An’ barefoot came she ben;
It was no for want o’ hose an’ shoone,
Nor time to put them on;
7.
7.3‘stown,’ stolen.
But a’ for fear that her father dear,
Had heard her making din:
She’s stown the keys o’ the prison-house dor
An’ latten the prisoner gang.
8.
8.3‘rottons,’ rats.
O whan she saw him, Young Bekie,
Her heart was wondrous sair!
For the mice but an’ the bold rottons
Had eaten his yallow hair.
9.
She’s gi’en him a shaver for his beard,
A comber till his hair,
Five hunder pound in his pocket,
To spen’, and nae to spair.
10.
She’s gi’en him a steed was good in need,
An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,
A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,
An’ Hector called one.
11.
Atween this twa a vow was made,
’Twas made full solemnly,
That or three years was come and gane,
Well married they shoud be.
12.
He had nae been in’s ain country
A twelvemonth till an end,
Till he’s forc’d to marry a duke’s daughter,
Or than lose a’ his land.
13.
‘Ohon, alas!’ says Young Bekie,
‘I know not what to dee;
For I canno win to Burd Isbel,
And she kensnae to come to me.’
14.
O it fell once upon a day
Burd Isbel fell asleep,
An’ up it starts the Belly Blin,
An’ stood at her bed-feet.
15.
15.2TheMS.reads ‘How y you.’
‘O waken, waken, Burd Isbel,
How [can] you sleep so soun’,
Whan this is Bekie’s wedding day,
An’ the marriage gain’ on?
16.
16.3‘marys,’ maids.
’Ye do ye to your mither’s bow’r,
Think neither sin nor shame;
An’ ye tak twa o’ your mither’s marys,
To keep ye frae thinking lang.
17.
‘Ye dress yoursel’ in the red scarlet,
An’ your marys in dainty green,
An’ ye pit girdles about your middles
Woud buy an earldome.
18.
‘O ye gang down by yon sea-side,
An’ down by yon sea-stran’;
Sae bonny will the Hollans boats
Come rowin’ till your han’.
19.
‘Ye set your milk-white foot abord,
Cry, Hail ye, Domine!
An’ I shal be the steerer o’t,
To row you o’er the sea.’
20.
She’s tane her till her mither’s bow’r,
Thought neither sin nor shame,
An’ she took twa o’ her mither’s marys,
To keep her frae thinking lang.
21.
She dress’d hersel’ i’ the red scarlet.
Her marys i’ dainty green,
And they pat girdles about their middles
Woud buy an earldome.
22.
An’ they gid down by yon sea-side,
An’ down by yon sea-stran’;
Sae bonny did the Hollan boats
Come rowin’ to their han’.
23.
She set her milk-white foot on board,
Cried ‘Hail ye, Domine!’
An’ the Belly Blin was the steerer o’t,
To row her o’er the sea.
24.
Whan she came to Young Bekie’s gate,
She heard the music play;
Sae well she kent frae a’ she heard,
It was his wedding day.
25.
She’s pitten her han’ in her pocket,
Gin the porter guineas three;
‘Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter,
Bid the bride-groom speake to me.’
26.
O whan that he cam up the stair,
He fell low down on his knee:
He hail’d the king, an’ he hail’d the queen,
An’ he hail’d him, Young Bekie.
27.
‘O I’ve been porter at your gates
This thirty years an’ three;
But there’s three ladies at them now,
Their like I never did see.
28.
‘There’s ane o’ them dress’d in red scarlet,
And twa in dainty green,
An’ they hae girdles about their middles
Woud buy an earldome.’
29.
29.1‘bierly,’ stately.
Then out it spake the bierly bride,
Was a’ goud to the chin:
‘Gin she be braw without,’ she says,
‘We’s be as braw within.’
30.
Then up it starts him, Young Bekie,
An’ the tears was in his ee:
‘I’ll lay my life it’s Burd Isbel,
Come o’er the sea to me.’
31.
O quickly ran he down the stair,
An’ whan he saw ’twas she,
He kindly took her in his arms,
And kiss’d her tenderly.
32.
‘O hae ye forgotten, Young Bekie
The vow ye made to me,
Whan I took ye out o’ the prison strong
Whan ye was condemn’d to die?
33.
‘I gae you a steed was good in need,
An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,
A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,
An’ Hector called one.’
34.
It was well kent what the lady said,
That it wasnae a lee,
For at ilka word the lady spake,
The hound fell at her knee.
35.
‘Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear,
A blessing gae her wi’,
For I maun marry my Burd Isbel,
That’s come o’er the sea to me.’
36.
‘Is this the custom o’ your house,
Or the fashion o’ your lan’,
To marry a maid in a May mornin’,
An’ send her back at even?’