11THE CRUEL BROTHER

Scott's account of his edition is as follows (II, 143, later ed.,III, 287):

"It is compiled from a copy in Mrs Brown's MS., intermixed with a beautiful fragment, of fourteen verses, transmitted to the editor by J.C. Walker, Esq., the ingenious historian of the Irish bards. Mr Walker, at the same time, favored the editor with the following note: 'I am indebted to my departed friend, Miss Brooke, for the foregoing pathetic fragment. Her account of it was as follows: This song was transcribed, several years ago, from the memory of an old woman, who had no recollection of the concluding verses; probably the beginning may also be lost, as it seems to commence abruptly.' The first verse and burden of the fragment run thus:

"'O sister, sister, reach thy hand!Hey ho, my Nanny, OAnd you shall be heir of all my land.While the swan swims bonny, O'"

Out of this stanza, or the corresponding one in Mrs Brown's copy, Scott seems to have made his 9, 10.

"My mother used to sing this song." Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. of 1880, note, p. 129.

22. An wooer.

21.strand, withsandwritten above:sandin 31.

12.var. in MS.There was a knicht and he loved them bath.7.The following stanza was subsequently written on an opposite blank page,—perhaps derived fromD8:

12.var. in MS.There was a knicht and he loved them bath.

7.The following stanza was subsequently written on an opposite blank page,—perhaps derived fromD8:

Foul fa the hand that I wad take,To twin me and my warld's make.

102.awas, perhaps, meant to be expunged, but is only a little blotted.112.var.a lady or a milk-white swan.12, 13were written in later than the rest; at the same time, apparently, as the stanza above (7).

102.awas, perhaps, meant to be expunged, but is only a little blotted.

112.var.a lady or a milk-white swan.

12, 13were written in later than the rest; at the same time, apparently, as the stanza above (7).

Found among Mr Kinloch's papers by Mr Macmath, and inserted by him as a note on p. 59, vol.II, of Kinloch's MSS. The order of the stanzas is there, wrongly, inverted.12.var.I wad give you.

Found among Mr Kinloch's papers by Mr Macmath, and inserted by him as a note on p. 59, vol.II, of Kinloch's MSS. The order of the stanzas is there, wrongly, inverted.

12.var.I wad give you.

L. a.

These fragments were communicated to Notes and Queries, April 3, 1852, by "G. A. C.," who had heard 'The Miller's Melody' sung by an old lady in his childhood, and who represents himself as probably the last survivor of those who had enjoyed the privilege of listening to her ballads. We may, therefore, assign this version to the latter part of the 18th century. The two four-line stanzas were sung to "a slow, quaint strain." Two others which followed were not remembered, "but their purport was that the body 'stopped hard by a miller's mill,' and that this 'miller chanced to come by,' and took it out of the water 'to make a melodye.'" G.A.C. goes on to say: "My venerable friend's tune here became a more lively one, and the time quicker; but I can only recollect a few of the couplets, and these not correctly nor in order of sequence, in which the transformation of the lady into a viol is described."

Some stanzas of this four-line version, with a ludicrous modern supplement, are given in 'The Scouring of the White Horse,' p. 161, as from the Welsh marshes. Five out of the first six verses are there said to be very old indeed, "the rest all patchwork by different hands." Mr Hughes has kindly informed me that he derived the ballad from his father, who had originally learned it at Ruthyn when a boy. What is material here follows:

1O it was not a pheasant cock,Nor yet a pheasant hen,But O it was a lady fairCame swimming down the stream.2An ancient harper passing byFound this poor lady's body,To which his pains he did applyTo make a sweet melódy.3To cat-gut dried he her inside,He drew out her back-bone,And made thereof a fiddle sweetAll for to play upon.4And all her hair, so long and fair,That down her back did flow,O he did lay it up with care,To string his fiddle bow.5And what did he with her fingers,Which were so straight and small?O he did cut them into pegs,To screw up his fiddoll.6Then forth went he, as it might be,Upon a summer's day,And met a goodly company,Who asked him in to play.7Then from her bones he drew such tonesAs made their bones to ache,They sounded so like human groansTheir hearts began to quake.8They ordered him in ale to swim,—For sorrow's mighty dry,—And he to share their wassail fareEssayd right willingly.9He laid his fiddle on a shelfIn that old manor-hall,It played and sung all by itself,And thus sung this fiddoll:10'There sits the squire, my worthy sire,A-drinking hisself drunk,' etc., etc.

1O it was not a pheasant cock,Nor yet a pheasant hen,But O it was a lady fairCame swimming down the stream.

2An ancient harper passing byFound this poor lady's body,To which his pains he did applyTo make a sweet melódy.

3To cat-gut dried he her inside,He drew out her back-bone,And made thereof a fiddle sweetAll for to play upon.

4And all her hair, so long and fair,That down her back did flow,O he did lay it up with care,To string his fiddle bow.

5And what did he with her fingers,Which were so straight and small?O he did cut them into pegs,To screw up his fiddoll.

6Then forth went he, as it might be,Upon a summer's day,And met a goodly company,Who asked him in to play.

7Then from her bones he drew such tonesAs made their bones to ache,They sounded so like human groansTheir hearts began to quake.

8They ordered him in ale to swim,—For sorrow's mighty dry,—And he to share their wassail fareEssayd right willingly.

9He laid his fiddle on a shelfIn that old manor-hall,It played and sung all by itself,And thus sung this fiddoll:

10'There sits the squire, my worthy sire,A-drinking hisself drunk,' etc., etc.

Pinkerton tells us, in the Preface to hisAncient Scottish Poems, p. cxxxi, that "Binnorie is one half from tradition, one half by the editor." One fourth and three fourths would have been a more exact apportionment. The remainder of his text, which is wholly of his invention, is as follows:

'Gae saddle to me my swiftest steid;Her fere, by my fae, for her dethe sall bleid.'A page cam rinning out owr the lie:'O heavie tydings I bring,' quoth he.'My luvely lady is far awa gane;We weit the fairy hae her tane.Her sister gaed wood wi dule and rage;Nocht cold we do her mind to suage."O Isabel, my sister," she wold cry,"For thee will I weip, for thee will I die."Till late yestrene, in an elric hour,She lap frae aft the hichest touir.''Now sleip she in peace,' quoth the gallant squire;'Her dethe was the maist that I cold require.But I'll main for the, my Isabel deir,Full mony a dreiry day, hot weir.'

20.This stanza occurs also inB c(17), and was perhaps borrowed from Pinkerton by the reviser of that copy.

O. a.

Buchan's note,II, 320: "I have seen four or five different versions of this ballad, but none in this dress, nor with the same chorus.... The old woman from whose recitation I took it down says she had heard another way of it, quite local, whose burden runs thus:

'Ever into Buchanshire, vari vari O.'"

12. hae courted.

Mr Christie has "epitomized" Buchan's copy (omitting stanzas 9-12), with these few slight alterations from the singing of a Banffshire woman, who died in 1860, at the age of nearly eighty:Burden: It's hey, etc.22. And he courted the eldest wi mony other thing.31. But it fell.52. And the eldest.

Mr Christie has "epitomized" Buchan's copy (omitting stanzas 9-12), with these few slight alterations from the singing of a Banffshire woman, who died in 1860, at the age of nearly eighty:

Burden: It's hey, etc.

22. And he courted the eldest wi mony other thing.

31. But it fell.

52. And the eldest.

P. b.

This stanza only:

There livd twa sisters in a bower,Hey my bonnie Annie OThere cam a lover them to woo.And the swan swims bonnie O,And the swan swims bonnie O

The burden is given thus inPop. Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 125:

Oh ochone, ochone a rie,On the banks of the Banna, ochone a rie.

R. a.

The title 'The Three Sisters,' and perhaps the first stanza, belongs rather toNo 1A,B, p. 3f.

1.A farmer there lived in the north countree,Bo downAnd he had daughters one, two, three.And I'll be true unto my love, if he'll be true unto me

(The burden is given asBo down, bo down, etc., inPopular Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 125.)Between 1 and 2bhas:

(The burden is given asBo down, bo down, etc., inPopular Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 125.)

Between 1 and 2bhas:

The eldest she had a lover come,And he fell in love with the younger one.He bought the younger a ...The elder she thought ...

The eldest she had a lover come,And he fell in love with the younger one.

He bought the younger a ...The elder she thought ...

3.wanting.41. The sisters they walkt by the river brim.62. my true love.

3.wanting.

41. The sisters they walkt by the river brim.

62. my true love.

8.The miller's daughter was at the door,As sweet as any gillyflower.9.O father, O father, there swims a swain,And he looks like a gentleman.10.The miller he fetcht his line and hook,And he fisht the fair maiden out of the brook.

8.The miller's daughter was at the door,As sweet as any gillyflower.

9.O father, O father, there swims a swain,And he looks like a gentleman.

10.The miller he fetcht his line and hook,And he fisht the fair maiden out of the brook.

111. O miller, I'll give you guineas ten,

12.The miller he took her guineas ten,And then he popt her in again.

131. ... behind his back gate,2. the farmer's daughter Kate.Instead of 14:

131. ... behind his back gate,

2. the farmer's daughter Kate.

Instead of 14:

The sister she sailed over the sea,And died an old maid of a hundred and three.The lover became a beggar man,And he drank out of a rusty tin can.

The sister she sailed over the sea,And died an old maid of a hundred and three.

The lover became a beggar man,And he drank out of a rusty tin can.

b8, 11, 12, 14, 15 are cited inPopular Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 127.

1.A varmer he lived in the west countree,Hey-down, bow-downA varmer he lived in the west countree,And he had daughters one, two, and dree.And I'll be true to my love,If my love'll be true to me.

2, 3.wanting.41. As thay wur walking by the river's brim.51. pray gee me thy hand.71. So down she sank and away she swam.

2, 3.wanting.

41. As thay wur walking by the river's brim.

51. pray gee me thy hand.

71. So down she sank and away she swam.

8.The miller's daughter stood by the door,As fair as any gilly-flower.9.here swims a swan,Very much like a drownded gentlewoman.10.The miller he fot his pole and hook,And he fished the fair maid out of the brook.

8.The miller's daughter stood by the door,As fair as any gilly-flower.

9.here swims a swan,Very much like a drownded gentlewoman.

10.The miller he fot his pole and hook,And he fished the fair maid out of the brook.

111. O miller, I'll gee thee guineas ten.122. pushed the fair maid in again.Between 12 and 13chas,

111. O miller, I'll gee thee guineas ten.

122. pushed the fair maid in again.

Between 12 and 13chas,

But the crowner he cum and the justice too,With a hue and a cry and a hullaballoo.They hanged the miller beside his own gateFor drowning the varmer's daughter, Kate.

But the crowner he cum and the justice too,With a hue and a cry and a hullaballoo.

They hanged the miller beside his own gateFor drowning the varmer's daughter, Kate.

Instead of 14:

The sister she fled beyond the seas,And died an old maid among black savagees.So I've ended my tale of the west countree,And they calls it the Barkshire Tragedee.

The sister she fled beyond the seas,And died an old maid among black savagees.

So I've ended my tale of the west countree,And they calls it the Barkshire Tragedee.

12.MS.Or less (?).

"Sung to a peculiar and beautiful air."Allingham, p. xxxiii.

FOOTNOTES:[126]Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 126, 1862.[127]Jamieson, in his Popular Ballads,II, 315, prints the ballad, with five inconsiderable variations from the broadside, as from Musarum Deliciæ, 2d edition, 1656. The careful reprint of this book, and of the same edition, in "Facetiæ," etc., 1817, does not contain this piece, and the first edition, of 1655, differed in no respect as to contents, according to the editor of "Facetiæ." Still it is hardly credible that Jamieson has blundered, and we may suppose that copies, ostensibly of the same edition, varied as to contents, a thing common enough with old books.[128]Cunningham has re-written Scott's version, Songs of Scotland,II, 109, 'The Two Fair Sisters.' He says, "I was once deeply touched with the singing of this romantic and mournful song.... I have ventured to print it in the manner I heard it sung." There is, to be sure, no reason why he should not have heard his own song sung,once, and still less why he should not have been deeply touched with his own pathos. Cunningham adds one genuine stanza, resembling the first ofG,J,P:Two fair sisters lived in a bower,Hey ho my nonnie OThere came a knight to be their wooer.While the swan swims bonnie O[129]EnglishMis confused on this point. The sisters live in a hall. The burden in st. 1 makes them love a miller-lad; but in 14, 15, calls the drowned girl "the bonnie miller's-lass o Binorie."[130]The sisters,D,I, walk by, up, a linn;G, go to a sand [strand];Q, go to the stream;R a, walk on the bryn.[131]SwedishHbegins, "Dear sister, come follow me to the clapping-stone:" "Nay, I have no foul clothes." SoF6, 7,G4, 5, FäröeA6, nearly; and then follows the suggestion that they should wash themselves. Another of Rancken's copies begins, "Two sisters went to the bucking-stone, to buck their clothes snow-white,"H; and so Rancken'sSnearly.[132]There are, besides the two fishermen, in NorwegianA, two "twaddere," i.e., landloupers, possibly (Bugge) a corruption of the word rendered pilgrims, Färöe vallarar, Swedish vallare. The vallarar in these ballads are perhaps more respectable than those whose acquaintance we shall make through the Norse versions of 'Babylon,' and may be allowed to be harmless vagrants, but scarcely better, seeing that they are ranked with "staff-carls" in Norges Gamle Love, cited by Cleasby and Vigfusson at 'vallari.'[133]A harp in the Icelandic and Norwegian ballads, FäröeA,B,C, SwedishA,B,D,G,H; a harp in EnglishB,C,G,J. A harp is not named in any of the Danish versions, but a fiddle is mentioned inC,E,H, is plainly meant inA, and may always be intended; or perhapstwofiddles in all butH(which has only one fiddler), and the corruptedG.Dbegins with two fiddlers, but concludes with only one. We have a fiddle in SwedishC, and in EnglishA,D,E,F,I,J,K,L,O,P; both harp and fiddle inH.[134]Some of the unprinted Norwegian ballads are not completely described, but a departure from the rule of the major part would probably have been alluded to.[135]The stanza, 9, in which this is said is no doubt as to its form entirely modern, but not so the idea.Ihas "the first spring that he playd,itsaid," etc.[136]The fourth string issaidto speak in FäröeA30, but no utterance is recorded, and this is likely to be a mistake. In many of the versions, and in this, after the strings have spoken individually, they unite in a powerful but inarticulate concord.[137]Ihas lost the terminal stanzas.[138]NotM, and apparently notD, which ends:When he kissed the harp upon the mouth, his heart broke.[139]So the traitor John pushes away Catherine's hands in 'Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight,' PolishQ25 (see p. 40). In the French versionsA,C,Eof the same, the knight catches at a branch to save himself, and the lady cuts it off with his sword.[140]The miller begins to lose character inH:14He dragged her out unto the shore,And stripped her of all she wore.[141]Neus also refers to an Esthonian saga of Rögutaja's wife, and to 'Die Pfeiferin,' a tale, in Das Inland, 1846, No 48, Beilage, col. 1246 ff, 1851, No 14, col. 230 ff; and to a Slovenian ballad in Tielemann, Livona, ein historisch-poetisches Taschenbuch, 1812, p. 187.[142]All these are cited in Köhler's note, Gonzenbach,II, 235.

[126]Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands,IV, 126, 1862.

[127]Jamieson, in his Popular Ballads,II, 315, prints the ballad, with five inconsiderable variations from the broadside, as from Musarum Deliciæ, 2d edition, 1656. The careful reprint of this book, and of the same edition, in "Facetiæ," etc., 1817, does not contain this piece, and the first edition, of 1655, differed in no respect as to contents, according to the editor of "Facetiæ." Still it is hardly credible that Jamieson has blundered, and we may suppose that copies, ostensibly of the same edition, varied as to contents, a thing common enough with old books.

[128]Cunningham has re-written Scott's version, Songs of Scotland,II, 109, 'The Two Fair Sisters.' He says, "I was once deeply touched with the singing of this romantic and mournful song.... I have ventured to print it in the manner I heard it sung." There is, to be sure, no reason why he should not have heard his own song sung,once, and still less why he should not have been deeply touched with his own pathos. Cunningham adds one genuine stanza, resembling the first ofG,J,P:Two fair sisters lived in a bower,Hey ho my nonnie OThere came a knight to be their wooer.While the swan swims bonnie O

Two fair sisters lived in a bower,Hey ho my nonnie OThere came a knight to be their wooer.While the swan swims bonnie O

[129]EnglishMis confused on this point. The sisters live in a hall. The burden in st. 1 makes them love a miller-lad; but in 14, 15, calls the drowned girl "the bonnie miller's-lass o Binorie."

[130]The sisters,D,I, walk by, up, a linn;G, go to a sand [strand];Q, go to the stream;R a, walk on the bryn.

[131]SwedishHbegins, "Dear sister, come follow me to the clapping-stone:" "Nay, I have no foul clothes." SoF6, 7,G4, 5, FäröeA6, nearly; and then follows the suggestion that they should wash themselves. Another of Rancken's copies begins, "Two sisters went to the bucking-stone, to buck their clothes snow-white,"H; and so Rancken'sSnearly.

[132]There are, besides the two fishermen, in NorwegianA, two "twaddere," i.e., landloupers, possibly (Bugge) a corruption of the word rendered pilgrims, Färöe vallarar, Swedish vallare. The vallarar in these ballads are perhaps more respectable than those whose acquaintance we shall make through the Norse versions of 'Babylon,' and may be allowed to be harmless vagrants, but scarcely better, seeing that they are ranked with "staff-carls" in Norges Gamle Love, cited by Cleasby and Vigfusson at 'vallari.'

[133]A harp in the Icelandic and Norwegian ballads, FäröeA,B,C, SwedishA,B,D,G,H; a harp in EnglishB,C,G,J. A harp is not named in any of the Danish versions, but a fiddle is mentioned inC,E,H, is plainly meant inA, and may always be intended; or perhapstwofiddles in all butH(which has only one fiddler), and the corruptedG.Dbegins with two fiddlers, but concludes with only one. We have a fiddle in SwedishC, and in EnglishA,D,E,F,I,J,K,L,O,P; both harp and fiddle inH.

[134]Some of the unprinted Norwegian ballads are not completely described, but a departure from the rule of the major part would probably have been alluded to.

[135]The stanza, 9, in which this is said is no doubt as to its form entirely modern, but not so the idea.Ihas "the first spring that he playd,itsaid," etc.

[136]The fourth string issaidto speak in FäröeA30, but no utterance is recorded, and this is likely to be a mistake. In many of the versions, and in this, after the strings have spoken individually, they unite in a powerful but inarticulate concord.

[137]Ihas lost the terminal stanzas.

[138]NotM, and apparently notD, which ends:When he kissed the harp upon the mouth, his heart broke.

[138]NotM, and apparently notD, which ends:

When he kissed the harp upon the mouth, his heart broke.

[139]So the traitor John pushes away Catherine's hands in 'Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight,' PolishQ25 (see p. 40). In the French versionsA,C,Eof the same, the knight catches at a branch to save himself, and the lady cuts it off with his sword.

[140]The miller begins to lose character inH:14He dragged her out unto the shore,And stripped her of all she wore.

[140]The miller begins to lose character inH:

14He dragged her out unto the shore,And stripped her of all she wore.

[141]Neus also refers to an Esthonian saga of Rögutaja's wife, and to 'Die Pfeiferin,' a tale, in Das Inland, 1846, No 48, Beilage, col. 1246 ff, 1851, No 14, col. 230 ff; and to a Slovenian ballad in Tielemann, Livona, ein historisch-poetisches Taschenbuch, 1812, p. 187.

[142]All these are cited in Köhler's note, Gonzenbach,II, 235.

A.'[The] Cruel Brother, or the Bride's Testament.'a.Alex. Fraser Tytler's Brown MS.b.Jamieson's Popular Ballads,I, 66.B.The Kinloch MSS,I, 21.C.'Ther waur three ladies,' Harris MS., p. 11 b.D. a.Notes and Queries, 1st S.,VI, 53.b.2d S.,V, 171.E.Notes and Queries, 4th S.,V, 105.F.'The Three Knights,' Gilbert's Ancient Christmas Carols, 2d ed., p. 68.G.'Fine Flowers of the Valley.'a.Herd's MSS,I, 41.b.Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776,I, 88.H.Fragment appended toG.I.The Kinloch MSS,I, 27.J.As current in County Meath, Ireland, about 1860.K.Notes and Queries, 4th S.,IV, 517.

A.'[The] Cruel Brother, or the Bride's Testament.'a.Alex. Fraser Tytler's Brown MS.b.Jamieson's Popular Ballads,I, 66.

B.The Kinloch MSS,I, 21.

C.'Ther waur three ladies,' Harris MS., p. 11 b.

D. a.Notes and Queries, 1st S.,VI, 53.b.2d S.,V, 171.

E.Notes and Queries, 4th S.,V, 105.

F.'The Three Knights,' Gilbert's Ancient Christmas Carols, 2d ed., p. 68.

G.'Fine Flowers of the Valley.'a.Herd's MSS,I, 41.b.Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776,I, 88.

H.Fragment appended toG.

I.The Kinloch MSS,I, 27.

J.As current in County Meath, Ireland, about 1860.

K.Notes and Queries, 4th S.,IV, 517.

A awas obtained directly from Mrs Brown of Falkland, in 1800, by Alexander Fraser Tytler. Jamieson says that he givesbverbatim from the recitation of Mrs Arrott; but it would seem that this must have been a slip of memory, for the two agree except in half a dozen words.B,C,I,Jare now for the first time printed.Gonly was taken down earlier than the present century.

Aytoun remarks (1858): "This is, perhaps, the most popular of all the Scottish ballads, being commonly recited and sung even at the present day." The copy which he gives,I, 232, was "taken down from recitation," but is nevertheless a compound ofGandA b, with a few unimportant variations, proceeding, no doubt, from imperfect recollection.[143]The copy in Dixon's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs, p. 56, repeated in Bell's volume of the same title, p. 50, is Gilbert'sF. Dixon informs us that the ballad was (in 1846) still popular amongst the peasantry in the west of England. Cunningham gives us a piece called 'The Three Ladies of Leithan Ha,' Songs of Scotland,II, 87, which he would fain have us believe that he did not know he had written himself. "The common copies of this tragic lyric," he truly says, "differ very much from this; not so much in the story itself as in the way it is told."

All versions butK, which has pretty nearly lost all point, agree after the opening stanzas.A-Ehave three ladies and only one knight;Fhas three knights and one lady;G,I,J,Khave three ladies and three knights [lords inG, "bonny boys" inI, the first line being caught from 'Sir Hugh.'] Three knights are to no purpose; only one knight has anything to do. The reason for three ladies is, of course, that the youngest may be preferred to the others,—an intention somewhat obscured inB. The ladies are in colors inB,C,I,J, and this seems to be the better interpretation in the case ofG, though a strict construction of the language would rather point to the other. The colors are transferred to the knights inFbecause there is only one lady. InKthis is a part of the general depravation of the ballad.

'Rizzardo bello,' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, No 83, seems to be the same story, with a change of relations such as we often find in ballad poetry. Rizzardo is conducting his bride home, and on the way embraces and kisses her. Her brother witnesses "questo onore," and thrusts his sword into the happy bridegroom's heart. Rizzardo tells his bride to come on slowly; he will go before to make preparation. He begs his mother to open the doors, for his bride is without, and he is wounded to death. They try to make the bride eat. She says she can neither eat nor drink: she must put her husband to bed. He gives her a ring, saying, Your brother has been the death of me; then another ring, in sign that she is to be wife of two brothers. She answers him as Guldborg answers Ribold, that she would die rather: "Rather die between two knives than be wife of two brothers." This ballad was obtained from a peasant woman of Castagnero. Another version, which unfortunately is not printed, was sung by a woman at Ostiglia on the Po.

Dr Prior remarks that the offence given by not asking a brother's assent to his sister's marriage was in ballad-times regarded as unpardonable. Other cases which show the importance of this preliminary, and the sometimes fatal consequences of omitting it, are: 'Hr. Peder og Mettelille,' Grundtvig, No 78,II, 325, sts 4, 6; 'Jomfruen i Skoven,' Danske Viser,III, 99, st. 15; 'Jomfru Ellensborg og Hr. Olof,' ib.,III, 316, st. 16; 'Iver Lang og hans Søster,' ib.,IV, 87, st. 116; 'Herr Helmer Blaa,' ib.,IV, 251, st. 8; 'Jomfru Giselmaar,' ib.,IV, 309, st. 13. See Prior's Ancient Danish Ballads,III, 112, 232 f, 416.

There is a very common German ballad, 'Graf Friedrich,' in which a bride receives a mortal wound during the bringing-home, but accidentally, and from the bridegroom's hand. The marriage train is going up a hill; the way is narrow; they are crowded; Graf Friedrich's sword shoots from its sheath and wounds the bride. The bridegroom is exceedingly distressed; he tries to stop the bleeding with his shirt; she begs that they may ride slowly. When they reach the house there is a splendid feast, and everything is set before the bride; but she can neither eat nor drink, and only wishes to lie down. She dies in the night. Her father comes in the morning, and, learning what has happened, runs Graf Friedrich through, then drags his body at a horse's heels, and buries it in a bog. Three lilies sprang from the spot, with an inscription announcing that Graf Friedrich was in heaven, and a voice came from the sky commanding that the body should be disinterred. The bridegroom was then buried with his bride, and this act of reparation was attended with other miraculous manifestations. As the ballads stand now, the kinship of 'Graf Friedrich' with 'The Cruel Brother' is not close and cannot be insisted on; still an early connection is not improbable.

The versions of 'Graf Friedrich' are somewhat numerous, and there is a general agreement as to all essentials. They are:A, a Nuremberg broadside "of about 1535," which has not been made accessible by a reprint.B, a Swiss broadside of 1647, without place, "printed in Seckendorf's Musenalmanach für 1808, p. 19;" Uhland, No 122, p. 277; Mittler, No 108; Wunderhorn,II, 293 (1857); Erk's Liederhort, No 15a, p. 42; Böhme, No 79, p. 166: also, in Wunderhorn, 1808,II, 289, with omission of five stanzas and with many changes; Simrock, No 11, p. 28, omitting four stanzas and with changes; as written down by Goethe for Herder, Düntzer u. Herder, Briefe Goethes, u.s.w., Aus Herder's Nachlass,I, 167, with the omission of eight stanzas and with some variations.C, Wunderhorn (1857),II, 299, from the Schwarzwald, == Erlach,IV, 291, Mittler, No 113.D, Taschenbuch für Dichter, u.s.w., TheilVIII, 122, from Upper Lusatia, == Erlach,III, 448, Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 421.E, from the Kuhländchen, Meinert, p. 23, == Mittler, No 109.F, Hoffmann u. Richter, Schlesische V. L., No 19, p. 35, == Mittler, No 112, Erk's Liederhort, No 15, p. 40.G, Zingerle, in Wolf's Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie,I, 341, from Meran.H, from Uckermark, Brandenburg, Mittler, No 114.I, Hesse, from oral tradition, Mittler, No 111.J, Erk u. Irmer,II, 54, No 54, from the neighborhood of Halle, == Mittler, No 110.K, from Estedt, district of Magdeburg, Parisius, p. 31, No 9.

A Danish ballad, 'Den saarede Jomfru,' Grundtvig, No 244,IV, 474, has this slight resemblance with 'Graf Friedrich:' While a knight is dancing with a princess, his sword glides from the scabbard and cuts her hand. To save her partner from blame, she represents to her father that she had cut herself with her brother's sword. This considerateness so touches the knight (who is, of course, her equal in rank) that he offers her his hand. The Danish story is found also in Norwegian and in Färöe ballads.

The peculiar testament made by the bride in 'The Cruel Brother,' by which she bequeaths good things to her friends, but ill things to the author of her death, is highly characteristic of ballad poetry. It will be found again in 'Lord Ronald,' 'Edward,' and their analogues. Still other ballads with this kind of testament are: 'Frillens Hævn,' Grundtvig, No 208C, 16-18,IV, 207; a young man, stabbed by his leman, whom he was about to give up in order to marry, leaves his lands to his father, his bride-bed to his sister, his gilded couch to his mother, and his knife to his leman, wishing it in her body. 'Møen paa Baalet,' Grundtvig, No 109A, 1821,II, 587; Ole, falsely accused by her brother, and condemned to be burned, gives her mother her silken sark, her sister her shoes, her father her horse, and her brother her knife, with the same wish. 'Kong Valdemar og hans Søster,' Grundtvig, No 126,III, 97, has a testament inA-EandI; inI, 14-19 (III, 912), Liden Kirsten bequeaths her knife, with the same imprecation, to the queen, who, in the other copies, is her unrelenting foe: so Lillelin to Herr Adelbrand, Danske Viser,III, 386, No 162, 16-18, Kristensen,I, 262, No 100,A20-23, having been dragged at a horse's heels in resentment of a taunt. 'Hustru og Mands Moder,' Grundtvig, No. 84,II, 404, has a testament inA,B,D,H, and in the lastthree a bequest of shoes or sark to a cruel mother-in-law or foster-mother, with the wish that she may have no peace or much pain in the wearing. 'Catarina de Lió,' Briz y Candi, Cansons de la Terra,I, 209, has been beaten by her mother-in-law while in a delicate state. When she is at the point of death, the mother-in-law asks what doctor she will have and what will she will make. "My will," says Catherine, "will not please you much. Send back my velvet dress to my father's; my gala dress give my sister; give my working dress to the maid, my jewels to the Virgin." "And what will you leave to me?" "What I leave you will not please you much: my husband to be hanged, my mother-in-law to be quartered, and my sister-in-law to be burned." 'Le Testament de Marion,' another version of this story from the south of France, Uchaud, Gard, Poésies pop. de la France, MS.,IV, fol. 283, bequeaths "my laces to my sister Marioun, my prettiest gowns to my sister Jeanneton; to my rascal of a husband three fine cords, and, if that is not enough (to hang him), the hem of his shirt." The Portuguese ballad of 'Dona Helena' rather implies than expresses the imprecation: Braga, C.P. do Archipelago Açoriano, p. 225, No 15, p. 227, No 16; Almeida-Garrett,III, 56; Hartung,I, 233-43, No 18. Helena leaves her husband's house when near childbirth, out of fear of his mother. Her husband, who does not know her reason, goes after her, and compels her to return on horseback, though she has just borne a son. The consequences are what might be expected, and Helena desires to make her shrift and her will. She leaves one thing to her oldest sister, another to her youngest. "And your boy?" "To your bitch of a mother, cause of my woes." "Rather to yours," says the husband, "for I shall have to kill mine" (so Braga; Garrett differs somewhat). 'Die Frau zur Weissenburg' (A), Uhland, p. 287, No 123B, Scherer's Jungbrunnen, p. 94, No 29; 'Das Lied von der Löwenburg' (B), Simrock, p. 65, No 27; 'Hans Steutlinger' (C), Wunderhorn,II, 168 (1857), all one story, have a bitterly sarcastic testament. A lady instigates her paramour to kill her husband. The betrayed man is asked to whom he will leave his children [commit,A, bequeath,B,C]. "To God Almighty, for he knows who they are." "Your property?" "To the poor, for the rich have enough." "Your wife?" "To young Count Frederic, whom she always liked more than me (A)." "Your castle?" "To the flames."

In some cases there is no trace of animosity towards the person who has caused the testator's death; as in 'El testamento de Amelia' (who has been poisoned by her mother), Milá, Observaciones, p. 103, No 5, Briz y Saltó, Cansons de la Terra,II, 197 (two copies); 'Herren Båld,' Afzelius,I, 76, No 16 (new ed.I, 59, No 15); a Swedish form of 'Frillens Hævn,' Grundtvig,IV, 203; 'Renée le Glaz' and 'Ervoanik Le Lintier,' Luzel, C.P. de la Basse Bretagne,I, 405, 539, 553. There are also simple testaments where there is no occasion for an ill remembrance, as in 'Ribold og Guldborg,' Grundtvig, No 82,I,K,L,U,X,Æ, Kristensen,II, No 84 B; 'Pontplancoat;' Luzel,I, 383, 391. And, again, there are parodies of these wills. Thus the fox makes his will: Grundtvig, Gamle danske Minder, 1854, 'Mikkels Arvegods,' p. 24, and p. 25 a copy from a manuscript three hundred years old; Kristensen, Jyske Folkeviser,II, 324, No 90; 'Reven og Bjönnen,' 'Reven og Nils fiskar,' Landstad, Nos 85, 86, p. 637, 639: and the robin, 'Robin's Tesment,' Buchan,I, 273, Herd's MSS,I, 154, and Scottish Songs (1776),II, 166, Chambers' Popular Rhymes, p. 38, "new edition."

Translated in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 33, p. 212,F, with use ofAandG b; Aytoun's copy, with omissions, by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder der Vorzeit, No 17, p. 80; after Allingham and others, by Knortz, Lieder und Romanzen Alt-Englands, No 5, p. 16.

a.Alex. Fraser Tytler's Brown MS.b.Jamieson's Popular Ballads,I, 66, purporting to be from the recitation of Mrs Arrot of Aberbrothick.

1There was three ladies playd at the ba,With a hey ho and a lillie gayThere came a knight and played oer them a'.As the primrose spreads so sweetly2The eldest was baith tall and fair,But the youngest was beyond compare.3The midmost had a graceful mien,But the youngest lookd like beautie's queen.4The knight bowd low to a' the three,But to the youngest he bent his knee.5The ladie turned her head aside,The knight he woo'd her to be his bride.6The ladie blushd a rosy red,And sayd, 'Sir knight, I'm too young to wed.'7'O ladie fair, give me your hand,And I'll make you ladie of a' my land.'8'Sir knight, ere ye my favor win,You maun get consent frae a' my kin.'9He's got consent frae her parents dear,And likewise frae her sisters fair.10He's got consent frae her kin each one,But forgot to spiek to her brother John.11Now, when the wedding day was come,The knight would take his bonny bride home.12And many a lord and many a knightCame to behold that ladie bright.13And there was nae man that did her see,But wishd himself bridegroom to be.14Her father dear led her down the stair,And her sisters twain they kissd her there.15Her mother dear led her thro the closs,And her brother John set her on her horse.16She leand her oer the saddle-bow,To give him a kiss ere she did go.17He has taen a knife, baith lang and sharp,And stabbd that bonny bride to the heart.18She hadno ridden half thro the town,Until her heart's blude staind her gown.19'Ride softly on,' says the best young man,'For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.'20'O lead me gently up yon hill,And I'll there sit down, and make my will.'21'O what will you leave to your father dear?''The silver-shod steed that brought me here.'22'What will you leave to your mother dear?''My velvet pall and my silken gear.'23'What will you leave to your sister Anne?''My silken scarf and my gowden fan.'24'What will you leave to your sister Grace?''My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.'25'What will you leave to your brother John?''The gallows-tree to hang him on.'26'What will you leave to your brother John's wife?''The wilderness to end her life.'27This ladie fair in her grave was laid,And many a mass was oer her said.28But it would have made your heart right sair,To see the bridegroom rive his haire.

1There was three ladies playd at the ba,With a hey ho and a lillie gayThere came a knight and played oer them a'.As the primrose spreads so sweetly

2The eldest was baith tall and fair,But the youngest was beyond compare.

3The midmost had a graceful mien,But the youngest lookd like beautie's queen.

4The knight bowd low to a' the three,But to the youngest he bent his knee.

5The ladie turned her head aside,The knight he woo'd her to be his bride.

6The ladie blushd a rosy red,And sayd, 'Sir knight, I'm too young to wed.'

7'O ladie fair, give me your hand,And I'll make you ladie of a' my land.'

8'Sir knight, ere ye my favor win,You maun get consent frae a' my kin.'

9He's got consent frae her parents dear,And likewise frae her sisters fair.

10He's got consent frae her kin each one,But forgot to spiek to her brother John.

11Now, when the wedding day was come,The knight would take his bonny bride home.

12And many a lord and many a knightCame to behold that ladie bright.

13And there was nae man that did her see,But wishd himself bridegroom to be.

14Her father dear led her down the stair,And her sisters twain they kissd her there.

15Her mother dear led her thro the closs,And her brother John set her on her horse.

16She leand her oer the saddle-bow,To give him a kiss ere she did go.

17He has taen a knife, baith lang and sharp,And stabbd that bonny bride to the heart.

18She hadno ridden half thro the town,Until her heart's blude staind her gown.

19'Ride softly on,' says the best young man,'For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.'

20'O lead me gently up yon hill,And I'll there sit down, and make my will.'

21'O what will you leave to your father dear?''The silver-shod steed that brought me here.'

22'What will you leave to your mother dear?''My velvet pall and my silken gear.'

23'What will you leave to your sister Anne?''My silken scarf and my gowden fan.'

24'What will you leave to your sister Grace?''My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.'

25'What will you leave to your brother John?''The gallows-tree to hang him on.'

26'What will you leave to your brother John's wife?''The wilderness to end her life.'

27This ladie fair in her grave was laid,And many a mass was oer her said.

28But it would have made your heart right sair,To see the bridegroom rive his haire.

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