23JUDAS

Sloane MS., 2593, fol. 22 b, British Museum.

1Seynt Steuene was a clerk inkyng Herowdes halle,Andseruyd himof bredandcloþ, as euery kyng befalle.2Steuynout of kechonecam, wythboris hed onhonde;He saw a sterrewas fayrandbryȝt ouerBedlemstonde.3He kyst adoun þe boris hedandwent in to þe halle:'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes,andþi werkes alle.4'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes,andþi werkes alle;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn is beterþanwe alle.'5'Quateylyt þe, Steuene? quatis þe befalle?Lakkyt þe eyþermete or drynk in kyng Herowdeshalle?'6'Lakit me neyþermete ne drynk inkyng Herowdeshalle;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn is beterþanwe alle.'7Quateylyt þe, Steuyn? art þu wod, or þu gynnyst to brede?Lakkyt þe eyþergold or fe, or ony ryche wede?'8'Lakyt me neyþergold ne fe, ne nonryche wede;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn xal helpynvs atournede.'9'Þat is al so soþ, Steuyn, al so soþ, iwys,As þis capouncrowe xal þat lyp herein myndysh.'10Þat word was not so sone seyd, þat word inþat halle,Þe capouncrew Cristusnatusest! among þe lordesalle.11Rysyt vp, mynturmentowres, be toandal be on,Andledyt Steuynout of þis town,andstonyt hymwythston!'12Tokynhe Steuene,andstonyd hymin the way,Andþerforeis his euynon Crystesowynday.

1Seynt Steuene was a clerk inkyng Herowdes halle,Andseruyd himof bredandcloþ, as euery kyng befalle.

2Steuynout of kechonecam, wythboris hed onhonde;He saw a sterrewas fayrandbryȝt ouerBedlemstonde.

3He kyst adoun þe boris hedandwent in to þe halle:'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes,andþi werkes alle.

4'I forsak þe, kyng Herowdes,andþi werkes alle;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn is beterþanwe alle.'

5'Quateylyt þe, Steuene? quatis þe befalle?Lakkyt þe eyþermete or drynk in kyng Herowdeshalle?'

6'Lakit me neyþermete ne drynk inkyng Herowdeshalle;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn is beterþanwe alle.'

7Quateylyt þe, Steuyn? art þu wod, or þu gynnyst to brede?Lakkyt þe eyþergold or fe, or ony ryche wede?'

8'Lakyt me neyþergold ne fe, ne nonryche wede;Þeris a chyld in Bedlemborn xal helpynvs atournede.'

9'Þat is al so soþ, Steuyn, al so soþ, iwys,As þis capouncrowe xal þat lyp herein myndysh.'

10Þat word was not so sone seyd, þat word inþat halle,Þe capouncrew Cristusnatusest! among þe lordesalle.

11Rysyt vp, mynturmentowres, be toandal be on,Andledyt Steuynout of þis town,andstonyt hymwythston!'

12Tokynhe Steuene,andstonyd hymin the way,Andþerforeis his euynon Crystesowynday.

12, 51. be falle.31. a doun.32, 41. for sak.52.There is room only for thehat the end of the line.91. also ... also ... I wys.92. dych.102. a mong.

12, 51. be falle.

31. a doun.

32, 41. for sak.

52.There is room only for thehat the end of the line.

91. also ... also ... I wys.

92. dych.

102. a mong.

FOOTNOTES:[184]Everriculum fermenti veteris, seu residuæ in Danico orbe cum paganismi tum papismi reliquiæ in apricum prolatæ. "Rogata anus num vera esse crederet quæ canebat, respondit: Me illa in dubium vocaturam averruncet Deus!" Grundtvig,II, 518.[185]"Staffans-skede, lusus, vel, ut rectius dicam, licentia puerorum agrestium, qui in Festo S. Stephani, equis vecti per villas discurrunt, et cerevisiam in lagenis, ad hoc ipsum præparatis, mendicando ostiatim colligunt:" a dissertation, Upsala, 1734, cited by Bergström in his edition of Afzelius,II, 358, note 28. Skede is gallop, or run, Icelandic skeið (Bergström), Norwegian skeid, skjei. Many copies of the Staffansvisa have been collected: see Bergström's Afzelius,II, 356: and for a description of the custom as practised among Swedes in Finland, with links and lanterns, but no foals, Fagerlund, Anteckningar om Korpo och Houtskärs Socknar, p. 39 ff. Something very similar was known in Holstein: see Schütze, Holsteinsches Idioticon,III, 200, as quoted by Grundtvig,II, 521, note **. From Chambers' Book of Days,II, 763 f, it appears that a custom, called a Stephening, was still existing at the beginning of this century, of the inhabitants of the parish of Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, paying a visit to the rector on December 26, and lightening his stores of all the bread, cheese and ale they wanted. Chambers, again, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 168 f, gives a song closely resembling the Staffansvisa, which was sung before every house on New Year's eve, in Deerness, Orkney, with the same object of stimulating hospitality. Similar practices are known in the Scottish Highlands: see Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands,III, 19, and Chambers, at p. 167 of the Popular Rhymes.[186]Stephen in all the ballads can be none other than the first martyr, though Ihre, and other Swedes since his day, choose, for their part, to understand a "Stephanum primum Helsingorum apostolum," who certainly did not see the star in the east. The peasantry in Helsingland, we are told, make their saints' day December 26, too, and their St Stephen is a great patron of horses. The misappropriation of the glories of the protomartyr is somewhat transparent.[187]Grundtvig, whom I chiefly follow here,II, 521-24. In a note on page 521, supplemented atIII, 883 e, Grundtvig has collected much interesting evidence of December 26 being the great Horse Day. J. W. Wolf, cited by Grundtvig,II, 524, had said previously: "Nichts im leben des ersten christlichen blutzeugen erinnert auch nur fern an pferde; trotzdem machte das volk ihn zum patron der pferde, und setzte ihn also an die stelle des Fro, dem im Norden, und nicht weniger bei uns, die pferde heilig waren." Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie,I, 124.[188]Jean Baptiste Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, etc., 2d ed., Paris, 1697, as cited by Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, Otia Imperialia, p. 233, No 169, condemns the belief, "qu'il vaut bien mieux ...saigner des chevaux le jour de la fête de S. Estienne qu'à tout autre jour." This may be one of the practices which Thiers had learned of from his reading (see Liebrecht's preface, p. xvii f), but might also have migrated from the east or north into France. Superstitions, like new fashions, are always sure of a hospitable reception, even though they impose a servitude.[189]From a copy of this collection the story is given in Acta Sanctorum,VIJulii, p. 50, § 202 ff.[190]Vincent, as pointed out by Professor George Stephens, knew of the miracle of the cock, and tells it at l. 25, c. 64, on the authority of Pietro Damiani. Two Bolognese dining together, one of them carved a cock and dressed it with pepper and sauce. "Gossip," says the other, "you have 'fixed' that cock so that Peter himself could not put him on his legs again." "Peter? No, not Christ himself." At this the cock jumped up, in all his feathers, clapped his wings, crow, and threw the sauce all over the blasphemous pair, whereby they were smitten with leprosy.[191]So, naturally, the Fornsvenskt Legendarium,I, 170, and the Catalan Recull de Eximplis e Miracles, etc., Barcelona, 1880,I, 298.[192]Opus de Tholosanorum gestis, fol. 49 verso, according to Acta S., p. 46, of the volume last cited. Toulouse rivalled with Compostella in the possession of relics of St James, and was amply entitled to the honor of the miracle. Dr Andrew Borde, in his First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, says that an ancient doctor of divinity at Compostella told him, "We have not one hair nor bone of St. James; for St James the More and St James the Less, St Bartholomew and St Philip, St Simon and Jude, St Bernard and St George, with divers other saints, Carolus Magnus brought them to Toulouse." Ed. Furnivall, p. 204 f. I do not know where the splenetic old divine got his information, but certainly from no source so trustworthy as the chronicle of Turpin. Besides other places in France, the body, or at least the head, of St James was claimed by churches in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. But the author of an old Itinerary of the Pilgrims to Compostella asserts that James the Greater is one of four saints who never changed his burial-place. See Victor Le Clerc in Hist. Litt. de la France, xxi, 283.[193]See 'La grande Chanson des Pélerins de Saint-Jacques,' in Socard, Noëls et Cantiques, etc., p. 76, last stanza, p. 80, third stanza, p. 89, fifth stanza; the last == Romancero de Champagne,I, 165, stanza 5.[194]Southey follows Marineo in his Christmas Tale of "The Pilgrim to Compostella."[195]"Auch eine deutsche Jesuitenkomödie, Peregrinus Compostellanus, Innsbruck, 1624, behandelt diesen Stoff. F. Liebrecht, in Serapeum, 1864, S. 235."[196]Vasari,V, 184, Milan, 1809; Crowe and Cavalcaselle,III, 124,II, 566 ff, ed. 1866; Mrs Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art,I, 241, ed. 1857. Professor N. Høyen indicated to Grundtvig the picture of Pietro Antonio, and d'Ancona refers to Pisanello's.[197]He denies the perpetual multiplication of the feathers, and adds that the very gallows on which the pilgrim was hanged is erected in the upper part of the church, where everybody can see it. It is diverting to find Grossenhain, in Saxony, claiming the miracle on the ground of a big cock in an altar picture in a chapel of St James: Grässe, Sagenschatz des Königreichs Sachsen, 2d ed.,I, 80, No 82, from Chladenius, Materialien zu Grossenhayner Stadtchronik,I, 2, Pirna, 1788; in verse by Ziehnert, Volkssagen, p. 99, No 14, ed. 1851.[198]For Luis de la Vega, see Acta Sanctorum,IIIMaii, p. 171 f, §§ 6, 7, 8,VIJulii, p. 46, § 187. The Spanish and the Dutch ballad give due glory to St James and the Virgin; FrenchCto God and St James. The Wendish ballad can hardly be expected to celebrate St James, and refers the justification and saving of the boy to the Virgin and the saints. FrenchAhas St Michas;B, God and the Virgin.Luis de la Vega, with what seems an excess of caution, says, p. 172, as above, § 8: appositique erant ad comedendum gallus et gallina,assati nescio an elixi. Of boiled fowl we have not heard so far. But we find in a song in Fletcher's play of 'The Spanish Curate,' this stanza:The stewd cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;The duck and the drake shall swim in a lakeOf onions and claret below.Act III, Sc. 2; Dyce, viii, 436.In Father Merolla's Voyage to Congo, 1682, a reference to which I owe to Liebrecht, there is a story of a stewed cock, which, on the whole, justifies Luis de la Vega's scruple. This must have been introduced into Africa by some missioner, and, when so introduced, the miracle must have had an object, which it had lost before the tale came to Father Merolla.One of two parties at feud having marched upon the chief city of his antagonist, and found all the inhabitants fled, the soldiers fell to rifling the houses and killing all the living creatures they met, to satisfy their hunger. "Amongst the rest they found a cock of a larger size than ordinary, with a great ring of iron about one of his legs, which occasioned one of the wisest among them to cry out, Surely this cock must be bewitched, and it is not at all proper for us to meddle with. To which the rest answered, Be it what it will, we are resolved to eat it. For this end they immediately killed and tore it to pieces after the manner of the negroes, and afterwards put it into a pot to boil. When it was enough, they took it out into a platter, and two, according to the custom, having said grace, five of them sat down to it with great greediness. But before they had touched a bit, to their great wonder and amazement, the boiled pieces of the cock, though sodden, and near dissolved, began to move about and unite into the form they were in before, and, being so united, the restored cock immediately raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he walked about as well as when he was first taken. Afterwards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became new feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard by, where fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then disappeared. Every one may easily imagine what a terrible fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with a thousand Ave Marias in their mouths from the place where this had happened, were contented to observe most of the particulars at a distance." It appears that the brother of one of the two contending parties was said to have had a very large cock, from whose crowing he took auguries, but whether this was the same as the one restored to life is not known. Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704,I, 682, Pinkerton's Collection,XVI, 229.[199]La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, par Raimbert de Paris, Poëme du xii siècle, etc.,II, 485, vv 11606-627.[200]The gospel of Nicodemus was introduced into the French and the Italian romance of Perceforest, but unfortunately this "narratio ab inepto Græculo pessime interpolata" (Thilo) seems to be lacking.[201]Cursor Mundi, a Northumbrian poem of the 14th century, in four versions, ed. by R. Morris, p. 912 f, vv 15961-998. This passage was kindly pointed out to me by Professor George Stephens.[202]Rélation d'un Voyage fait au Levant par Monsieur De Thévenot, Paris, 1665,I, 502. Cited by Thilo, p. xxxvii, and by Victor Smith, Romania,II, 474, who adds: "Parmi les manuscrits rapportés d'Éthiopie par M. d'Abbadie, il se trouve un volume dont le titre a pour équivalent, Actes de la passion. Un chapitre de ce volume, intitulé Le livre du coq, développe la légende indiquée par Thévenot. Catalogue raisonné des manuscrits éthiopiens, appartenant à M. A. T. d'Abbadie, in 4o, imp. impériale, Paris, 1859."[203]"Ce couplet se débite en imitant successivement le chant du coq, le mugissement du bœuf, le cri de la chèvre, le braiment de l'âne, et le beuglement du veau." Bolza makes a similar explanation with regard to the Italian colloquy.

[184]Everriculum fermenti veteris, seu residuæ in Danico orbe cum paganismi tum papismi reliquiæ in apricum prolatæ. "Rogata anus num vera esse crederet quæ canebat, respondit: Me illa in dubium vocaturam averruncet Deus!" Grundtvig,II, 518.

[185]"Staffans-skede, lusus, vel, ut rectius dicam, licentia puerorum agrestium, qui in Festo S. Stephani, equis vecti per villas discurrunt, et cerevisiam in lagenis, ad hoc ipsum præparatis, mendicando ostiatim colligunt:" a dissertation, Upsala, 1734, cited by Bergström in his edition of Afzelius,II, 358, note 28. Skede is gallop, or run, Icelandic skeið (Bergström), Norwegian skeid, skjei. Many copies of the Staffansvisa have been collected: see Bergström's Afzelius,II, 356: and for a description of the custom as practised among Swedes in Finland, with links and lanterns, but no foals, Fagerlund, Anteckningar om Korpo och Houtskärs Socknar, p. 39 ff. Something very similar was known in Holstein: see Schütze, Holsteinsches Idioticon,III, 200, as quoted by Grundtvig,II, 521, note **. From Chambers' Book of Days,II, 763 f, it appears that a custom, called a Stephening, was still existing at the beginning of this century, of the inhabitants of the parish of Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks, paying a visit to the rector on December 26, and lightening his stores of all the bread, cheese and ale they wanted. Chambers, again, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 168 f, gives a song closely resembling the Staffansvisa, which was sung before every house on New Year's eve, in Deerness, Orkney, with the same object of stimulating hospitality. Similar practices are known in the Scottish Highlands: see Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands,III, 19, and Chambers, at p. 167 of the Popular Rhymes.

[186]Stephen in all the ballads can be none other than the first martyr, though Ihre, and other Swedes since his day, choose, for their part, to understand a "Stephanum primum Helsingorum apostolum," who certainly did not see the star in the east. The peasantry in Helsingland, we are told, make their saints' day December 26, too, and their St Stephen is a great patron of horses. The misappropriation of the glories of the protomartyr is somewhat transparent.

[187]Grundtvig, whom I chiefly follow here,II, 521-24. In a note on page 521, supplemented atIII, 883 e, Grundtvig has collected much interesting evidence of December 26 being the great Horse Day. J. W. Wolf, cited by Grundtvig,II, 524, had said previously: "Nichts im leben des ersten christlichen blutzeugen erinnert auch nur fern an pferde; trotzdem machte das volk ihn zum patron der pferde, und setzte ihn also an die stelle des Fro, dem im Norden, und nicht weniger bei uns, die pferde heilig waren." Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie,I, 124.

[188]Jean Baptiste Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, etc., 2d ed., Paris, 1697, as cited by Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, Otia Imperialia, p. 233, No 169, condemns the belief, "qu'il vaut bien mieux ...saigner des chevaux le jour de la fête de S. Estienne qu'à tout autre jour." This may be one of the practices which Thiers had learned of from his reading (see Liebrecht's preface, p. xvii f), but might also have migrated from the east or north into France. Superstitions, like new fashions, are always sure of a hospitable reception, even though they impose a servitude.

[189]From a copy of this collection the story is given in Acta Sanctorum,VIJulii, p. 50, § 202 ff.

[190]Vincent, as pointed out by Professor George Stephens, knew of the miracle of the cock, and tells it at l. 25, c. 64, on the authority of Pietro Damiani. Two Bolognese dining together, one of them carved a cock and dressed it with pepper and sauce. "Gossip," says the other, "you have 'fixed' that cock so that Peter himself could not put him on his legs again." "Peter? No, not Christ himself." At this the cock jumped up, in all his feathers, clapped his wings, crow, and threw the sauce all over the blasphemous pair, whereby they were smitten with leprosy.

[191]So, naturally, the Fornsvenskt Legendarium,I, 170, and the Catalan Recull de Eximplis e Miracles, etc., Barcelona, 1880,I, 298.

[192]Opus de Tholosanorum gestis, fol. 49 verso, according to Acta S., p. 46, of the volume last cited. Toulouse rivalled with Compostella in the possession of relics of St James, and was amply entitled to the honor of the miracle. Dr Andrew Borde, in his First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, says that an ancient doctor of divinity at Compostella told him, "We have not one hair nor bone of St. James; for St James the More and St James the Less, St Bartholomew and St Philip, St Simon and Jude, St Bernard and St George, with divers other saints, Carolus Magnus brought them to Toulouse." Ed. Furnivall, p. 204 f. I do not know where the splenetic old divine got his information, but certainly from no source so trustworthy as the chronicle of Turpin. Besides other places in France, the body, or at least the head, of St James was claimed by churches in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. But the author of an old Itinerary of the Pilgrims to Compostella asserts that James the Greater is one of four saints who never changed his burial-place. See Victor Le Clerc in Hist. Litt. de la France, xxi, 283.

[193]See 'La grande Chanson des Pélerins de Saint-Jacques,' in Socard, Noëls et Cantiques, etc., p. 76, last stanza, p. 80, third stanza, p. 89, fifth stanza; the last == Romancero de Champagne,I, 165, stanza 5.

[194]Southey follows Marineo in his Christmas Tale of "The Pilgrim to Compostella."

[195]"Auch eine deutsche Jesuitenkomödie, Peregrinus Compostellanus, Innsbruck, 1624, behandelt diesen Stoff. F. Liebrecht, in Serapeum, 1864, S. 235."

[196]Vasari,V, 184, Milan, 1809; Crowe and Cavalcaselle,III, 124,II, 566 ff, ed. 1866; Mrs Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art,I, 241, ed. 1857. Professor N. Høyen indicated to Grundtvig the picture of Pietro Antonio, and d'Ancona refers to Pisanello's.

[197]He denies the perpetual multiplication of the feathers, and adds that the very gallows on which the pilgrim was hanged is erected in the upper part of the church, where everybody can see it. It is diverting to find Grossenhain, in Saxony, claiming the miracle on the ground of a big cock in an altar picture in a chapel of St James: Grässe, Sagenschatz des Königreichs Sachsen, 2d ed.,I, 80, No 82, from Chladenius, Materialien zu Grossenhayner Stadtchronik,I, 2, Pirna, 1788; in verse by Ziehnert, Volkssagen, p. 99, No 14, ed. 1851.

[198]For Luis de la Vega, see Acta Sanctorum,IIIMaii, p. 171 f, §§ 6, 7, 8,VIJulii, p. 46, § 187. The Spanish and the Dutch ballad give due glory to St James and the Virgin; FrenchCto God and St James. The Wendish ballad can hardly be expected to celebrate St James, and refers the justification and saving of the boy to the Virgin and the saints. FrenchAhas St Michas;B, God and the Virgin.Luis de la Vega, with what seems an excess of caution, says, p. 172, as above, § 8: appositique erant ad comedendum gallus et gallina,assati nescio an elixi. Of boiled fowl we have not heard so far. But we find in a song in Fletcher's play of 'The Spanish Curate,' this stanza:The stewd cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;The duck and the drake shall swim in a lakeOf onions and claret below.Act III, Sc. 2; Dyce, viii, 436.In Father Merolla's Voyage to Congo, 1682, a reference to which I owe to Liebrecht, there is a story of a stewed cock, which, on the whole, justifies Luis de la Vega's scruple. This must have been introduced into Africa by some missioner, and, when so introduced, the miracle must have had an object, which it had lost before the tale came to Father Merolla.One of two parties at feud having marched upon the chief city of his antagonist, and found all the inhabitants fled, the soldiers fell to rifling the houses and killing all the living creatures they met, to satisfy their hunger. "Amongst the rest they found a cock of a larger size than ordinary, with a great ring of iron about one of his legs, which occasioned one of the wisest among them to cry out, Surely this cock must be bewitched, and it is not at all proper for us to meddle with. To which the rest answered, Be it what it will, we are resolved to eat it. For this end they immediately killed and tore it to pieces after the manner of the negroes, and afterwards put it into a pot to boil. When it was enough, they took it out into a platter, and two, according to the custom, having said grace, five of them sat down to it with great greediness. But before they had touched a bit, to their great wonder and amazement, the boiled pieces of the cock, though sodden, and near dissolved, began to move about and unite into the form they were in before, and, being so united, the restored cock immediately raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he walked about as well as when he was first taken. Afterwards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became new feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard by, where fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then disappeared. Every one may easily imagine what a terrible fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with a thousand Ave Marias in their mouths from the place where this had happened, were contented to observe most of the particulars at a distance." It appears that the brother of one of the two contending parties was said to have had a very large cock, from whose crowing he took auguries, but whether this was the same as the one restored to life is not known. Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704,I, 682, Pinkerton's Collection,XVI, 229.

Luis de la Vega, with what seems an excess of caution, says, p. 172, as above, § 8: appositique erant ad comedendum gallus et gallina,assati nescio an elixi. Of boiled fowl we have not heard so far. But we find in a song in Fletcher's play of 'The Spanish Curate,' this stanza:

The stewd cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;The duck and the drake shall swim in a lakeOf onions and claret below.

Act III, Sc. 2; Dyce, viii, 436.

In Father Merolla's Voyage to Congo, 1682, a reference to which I owe to Liebrecht, there is a story of a stewed cock, which, on the whole, justifies Luis de la Vega's scruple. This must have been introduced into Africa by some missioner, and, when so introduced, the miracle must have had an object, which it had lost before the tale came to Father Merolla.

One of two parties at feud having marched upon the chief city of his antagonist, and found all the inhabitants fled, the soldiers fell to rifling the houses and killing all the living creatures they met, to satisfy their hunger. "Amongst the rest they found a cock of a larger size than ordinary, with a great ring of iron about one of his legs, which occasioned one of the wisest among them to cry out, Surely this cock must be bewitched, and it is not at all proper for us to meddle with. To which the rest answered, Be it what it will, we are resolved to eat it. For this end they immediately killed and tore it to pieces after the manner of the negroes, and afterwards put it into a pot to boil. When it was enough, they took it out into a platter, and two, according to the custom, having said grace, five of them sat down to it with great greediness. But before they had touched a bit, to their great wonder and amazement, the boiled pieces of the cock, though sodden, and near dissolved, began to move about and unite into the form they were in before, and, being so united, the restored cock immediately raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he walked about as well as when he was first taken. Afterwards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became new feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard by, where fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then disappeared. Every one may easily imagine what a terrible fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with a thousand Ave Marias in their mouths from the place where this had happened, were contented to observe most of the particulars at a distance." It appears that the brother of one of the two contending parties was said to have had a very large cock, from whose crowing he took auguries, but whether this was the same as the one restored to life is not known. Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704,I, 682, Pinkerton's Collection,XVI, 229.

[199]La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, par Raimbert de Paris, Poëme du xii siècle, etc.,II, 485, vv 11606-627.

[200]The gospel of Nicodemus was introduced into the French and the Italian romance of Perceforest, but unfortunately this "narratio ab inepto Græculo pessime interpolata" (Thilo) seems to be lacking.

[201]Cursor Mundi, a Northumbrian poem of the 14th century, in four versions, ed. by R. Morris, p. 912 f, vv 15961-998. This passage was kindly pointed out to me by Professor George Stephens.

[202]Rélation d'un Voyage fait au Levant par Monsieur De Thévenot, Paris, 1665,I, 502. Cited by Thilo, p. xxxvii, and by Victor Smith, Romania,II, 474, who adds: "Parmi les manuscrits rapportés d'Éthiopie par M. d'Abbadie, il se trouve un volume dont le titre a pour équivalent, Actes de la passion. Un chapitre de ce volume, intitulé Le livre du coq, développe la légende indiquée par Thévenot. Catalogue raisonné des manuscrits éthiopiens, appartenant à M. A. T. d'Abbadie, in 4o, imp. impériale, Paris, 1859."

[203]"Ce couplet se débite en imitant successivement le chant du coq, le mugissement du bœuf, le cri de la chèvre, le braiment de l'âne, et le beuglement du veau." Bolza makes a similar explanation with regard to the Italian colloquy.

MS. B. 14, 39, of the thirteenth century, library of Trinity College, Cambridge, as printed in Wright & Halliwell's Reliquiæ Antiquæ,I, 144.

This legend, which has not been heretofore recognized as a ballad, is, so far as is known, unique in several particulars. The common tradition gives Judas an extraordinary domestic history,[204]but does not endow him with a sister as perfidious as himself. Neither is his selling his Master for thirty pieces accounted for elsewhere as it is here, if it may be strictly said to be accounted for here.

A popular explanation, founded upon John xii, 3-6, and current for six centuries and more, is that Judas, bearing the bag, was accustomed to take tithes of all moneys that came into his hands, and that he considered he had lost thirty pence on the precious ointment which had not been sold for three hundred pence, and took this way of indemnifying himself.

A Wendish ballad, Haupt und Schmaler,I, 276, No 284, has the following story. Jesus besought hospitality for himself and his disciples of a poor widow. She could give a lodging, but had no bread. Jesus said he would care for that, and asked which of his disciples would go and buy bread for thirty pieces of silver. Judas offered himself eagerly, and went to the Jews' street to do his errand. Jews were gaming, under a tub, and they challenged Judas to play. The first time he won the stake, and the second. The third time he lost everything. "Why so sad, Judas?" they say: "go sell your Master for thirty pieces." We are to suppose Judas to have rejoined his company. Jesus then asks who has sold him. John says, Is it I? and Peter, and then Judas, to whom Jesus replies, Thou knowest best. Judas, in remorse, runs to hang himself. The Lord bids him turn, for his sin is forgiven. But Judas keeps on till he comes to a fir: "Soft wood, thou fir, thou wilt not bear me." Further on, till he comes to an aspen. "Hard wood, thou aspen, thou wilt bear me." So he hanged himself on the aspen; and still the aspen shakes and trembles for fear of the judgment day.

According to the ballads, then, Judas lost the thirty pieces at play, or was robbed of them, with collusion of his sister. But his passionate behavior in the English ballad, st. 9, goes beyond all apparent occasion. Surely it was not for his tithe of the thirty pieces.

And why does he insist to Pilate on the very thirty pieces he had lost, rejecting every other form of payment? The ballad-singer might answer, So it was, and rest contented. Or perhaps he might have heard, and might tell us by way of comment, that these pieces had for long ages been destined to be "the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;" had been coined by Abraham's father for Ninus, and been given by Terah to his son; had passed through various hands to the Ishmaelites, had been paid by them as the price of Joseph, and been repaid to Joseph by his brethren for corn in Egypt; thence were transferred to Sheba, and in the course of events were brought by the Queen of the South as an offering to Solomon's temple; when the temple was despoiled by Nebuchadnezzar, were given by him to the king of Godolia, and after the kingdom of Godolia had been fused in that of Nubia, were brought as his tribute to the infant Jesus by Melchior, king of the same, etc.[205]

It is much to be regretted that the manuscript from which this piece was taken has been for some years lost from Trinity College Library, so that a collation of Wright's text has not been possible.

1Hit wes upon a Scere-thorsday that ure loverd aros;Ful milde were the wordes he spec to Judas.2'Judas, thou most to Jurselem, oure mete for to bugge;Thritti platen of selver thou bere up othi rugge.3'Thou comest fer ithe brode stret, fer ithe brode strete;Summe of thine tunesmen ther thou meiht imete.'4. . . . . . .Imette wid is soster, the swikele wimon.5'Judas, thou were wrthe me stende the wid ston,For the false prophete that tou bilevest upon.'6'Be stille, leve soster, thin herte the tobreke!Wiste min loverd Crist, ful wel he wolde be wreke.'7'Judas, go thou on the roc, heie upon the ston;Lei thin heved imy barm, slep thou the anon.'8Sone so Judas of slepe was awake,Thritti platen of selver from hym weren itake.9He drou hymselve bi the cop, that al it lavede a blode;The Jewes out of Jurselem awenden he were wode.10Foret hym com the riche Jeu that heihte Pilatus:'Wolte sulle thi loverd, that hette Jesus?'11'I nul sulle my loverd [for] nones cunnes eihte,Bote hit be for the thritti platen that he me bitaihte.'12'Wolte sulle thi lord Crist for enes cunnes golde?''Nay, bote hit be for the platen that he habben wolde.'13In him com ur lord Crist gon, as is postles seten at mete:'Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?14['Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?]Ic am ibouht ant isold today for oure mete.'15Up stod him Judas: 'Lord, am I that ...?'I nas never othe stude ther me the evel spec.'16Up him stod Peter, and spec wid al is mihte,. . . . . . .17'Thau Pilatus him come wid ten hundred cnihtes,Yet ic wolde, loverd, for thi love fihte.'18'Still thou be, Peter, wel I the icnowe;Thou wolt fursake me thrien ar the coc him crowe.'

1Hit wes upon a Scere-thorsday that ure loverd aros;Ful milde were the wordes he spec to Judas.

2'Judas, thou most to Jurselem, oure mete for to bugge;Thritti platen of selver thou bere up othi rugge.

3'Thou comest fer ithe brode stret, fer ithe brode strete;Summe of thine tunesmen ther thou meiht imete.'

4. . . . . . .Imette wid is soster, the swikele wimon.

5'Judas, thou were wrthe me stende the wid ston,For the false prophete that tou bilevest upon.'

6'Be stille, leve soster, thin herte the tobreke!Wiste min loverd Crist, ful wel he wolde be wreke.'

7'Judas, go thou on the roc, heie upon the ston;Lei thin heved imy barm, slep thou the anon.'

8Sone so Judas of slepe was awake,Thritti platen of selver from hym weren itake.

9He drou hymselve bi the cop, that al it lavede a blode;The Jewes out of Jurselem awenden he were wode.

10Foret hym com the riche Jeu that heihte Pilatus:'Wolte sulle thi loverd, that hette Jesus?'

11'I nul sulle my loverd [for] nones cunnes eihte,Bote hit be for the thritti platen that he me bitaihte.'

12'Wolte sulle thi lord Crist for enes cunnes golde?''Nay, bote hit be for the platen that he habben wolde.'

13In him com ur lord Crist gon, as is postles seten at mete:'Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?

14['Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?]Ic am ibouht ant isold today for oure mete.'

15Up stod him Judas: 'Lord, am I that ...?'I nas never othe stude ther me the evel spec.'

16Up him stod Peter, and spec wid al is mihte,. . . . . . .

17'Thau Pilatus him come wid ten hundred cnihtes,Yet ic wolde, loverd, for thi love fihte.'

18'Still thou be, Peter, wel I the icnowe;Thou wolt fursake me thrien ar the coc him crowe.'

Not divided into stanzas in Reliquiæ Antiquæ.32. meist.101. heiste.111. eiste.112. bitaiste.142. i-boust.161. miste.171. cnistes.172. fiste.In the absence of the original manuscript, I have thought it better to change Wright'ssin the above instances (3-17) toh. In this substitution I follow Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben,I, 114.

Not divided into stanzas in Reliquiæ Antiquæ.

32. meist.

101. heiste.

111. eiste.

112. bitaiste.

142. i-boust.

161. miste.

171. cnistes.

172. fiste.

In the absence of the original manuscript, I have thought it better to change Wright'ssin the above instances (3-17) toh. In this substitution I follow Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben,I, 114.

FOOTNOTES:[204]Legenda Aurea, Grässe, 2d ed., p. 184 ff; Mone's Anzeiger,VII, col. 532 f, and du Méril, Poésies populaires latines du Moyen Age, p. 326 ff; Furnivall, Early English Poems and Lives of Saints, p. 107 ff; Douhet, Dictionnaire des Légendes, col. 714 ff; Das alte Passional, ed. K.A. Hahn, p. 312 ff; Bäckström, Svenska Folkböcker,II, 198 ff; etc.[205]See Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti,II, 79; Godfrey of Viterbo (who derives his information from a lost writing of the apostle Bartholomew) in his Pantheon, Pistorius, German. Script., ed. Struve,II, 243, or E. du Méril, Poésies pop. latines du Moyen Age, p. 321; Genesi de Scriptura, Biblioteca Catalana, p. 20, etc.

[204]Legenda Aurea, Grässe, 2d ed., p. 184 ff; Mone's Anzeiger,VII, col. 532 f, and du Méril, Poésies populaires latines du Moyen Age, p. 326 ff; Furnivall, Early English Poems and Lives of Saints, p. 107 ff; Douhet, Dictionnaire des Légendes, col. 714 ff; Das alte Passional, ed. K.A. Hahn, p. 312 ff; Bäckström, Svenska Folkböcker,II, 198 ff; etc.

[205]See Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti,II, 79; Godfrey of Viterbo (who derives his information from a lost writing of the apostle Bartholomew) in his Pantheon, Pistorius, German. Script., ed. Struve,II, 243, or E. du Méril, Poésies pop. latines du Moyen Age, p. 321; Genesi de Scriptura, Biblioteca Catalana, p. 20, etc.

A.'Bonnie Annie,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.B.'The High Banks o Yarrow,' Motherwell's MS., p. 652.

A.'Bonnie Annie,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.

B.'The High Banks o Yarrow,' Motherwell's MS., p. 652.

Had an old copy of this still pretty and touching, but much disordered, ballad been saved, we should perhaps have had a story like this. Bonnie Annie, having stolen her father's gold and her mother's fee, and fled with her paramour (like the maid in No 4), the ship in which she is sailing encounters a storm and cannot get on. Annie is seized with the pangs of travail, and deplores the absence of women (B6, 7,A9, 10; compare No 15, 21-26). The sailors say there is somebody on board who is marked for death, or flying from a just doom. They cast lots, and the lot falls on Annie,—a result which strikes us as having more semblance of the "corrupted currents of this world" than of a pure judgment of God. Annie, conscious only of her own guilt, asks to be thrown overboard. Herparamour offers great sums to the crew to save her, but their efforts prove useless, and Annie again begs, or they now insist, that she shall be cast into the sea with her babe. This done, the ship is able to sail on; Annie floats to shore and is buried there.

The captain of the ship is the guilty man inA, inBa rich squire.Amay exhibit the original plot, but it is just as likely that the captain was substituted for a passenger, under the influence of another ballad, in which there is no Annie, but a ship-master stained with many crimes, whom the lot points out as endangering or obstructing the vessel. See 'Brown Robyn's Confession,' further on.

If the narrative in Jonah, i, is the ultimate source of this and similar stories, it must be owned that the tradition has maintained its principal traits in this ballad remarkably well. Jonah flies from the presence of the Lord in a ship; the ship is overtaken by a tempest;[206]the sailors cast lots to know who is the guilty cause, and the lot falls on Jonah; he bids the sailors take him up and cast him into the sea; nevertheless the men row hard to bring the ship to land, but cannot succeed; they throw Jonah into the water, and the storm ceases.[207]

Translated in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 199, No 31.

Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.

1There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.2O she was fair, O dear, she was bonnie!A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.3There cam a ship's captain out owre the sea sailing,He courted this young thing till he got her wi bairn.4'Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,And I'll mak ye a lady in Ireland bonnie.'5She's stown her father's gowd, and her mother's money,But she was never a lady in Ireland bonnie.* * * * *6'There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me,There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me.'7They've casten black bullets twice six and forty,And ae the black bullet fell on bonnie Annie.8'Ye'll tak me in your arms twa, lo, lift me cannie,Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'9He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.10'What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye;''Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me.'11'Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,Do all ye can to save my dear Annie.'12'I've laid about, steerd about, laid about cannie,But all I can do, she winna sail for me.13'Ye'll tak her in your arms twa, lo, lift her cannie,And throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'14He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.15As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,And she was at Ireland as soon as them.16He made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,And buried his bonnie love doun in a sea valley.

1There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.

2O she was fair, O dear, she was bonnie!A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.

3There cam a ship's captain out owre the sea sailing,He courted this young thing till he got her wi bairn.

4'Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,And I'll mak ye a lady in Ireland bonnie.'

5She's stown her father's gowd, and her mother's money,But she was never a lady in Ireland bonnie.

* * * * *

6'There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me,There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me.'

7They've casten black bullets twice six and forty,And ae the black bullet fell on bonnie Annie.

8'Ye'll tak me in your arms twa, lo, lift me cannie,Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'

9He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.

10'What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye;''Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me.'

11'Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,Do all ye can to save my dear Annie.'

12'I've laid about, steerd about, laid about cannie,But all I can do, she winna sail for me.

13'Ye'll tak her in your arms twa, lo, lift her cannie,And throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'

14He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.

15As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,And she was at Ireland as soon as them.

16He made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,And buried his bonnie love doun in a sea valley.

Motherwell's MS., p. 652. From the singing of a boy, Henry French, Ayr.

1Down in Dumbarton there wonnd a rich merchant,Down in Dumbarton there wond a rich merchant,And he had nae family but ae only dochter.Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day2There cam a rich squire, intending to woo her,He wooed her until he had got her wi babie.3'Oh what shall I do! oh what shall come o me!Baith father and mither will think naething o me.'4'Gae up to your father, bring down gowd and money,And I'll take ye ower to a braw Irish ladie.'5She gade to her father, brought down gowd and money,And she's awa ower to a braw Irish ladie.6She hadna sailed far till the young thing cried 'Women!''What women can do, my dear, I'll do for you.'7'O haud your tongue, foolish man, dinna talk vainly,For ye never kent what a woman driet for you.8'Gae wash your hands in the cauld spring water,And dry them on a towel a' giltit wi silver.9'And tak me by the middle, and lift me up saftlie,And throw me ower shipboard, baith me and my babie.'10He took her by the middle, and lifted her saftly,And threw her ower shipboard, baith her and her babie.11Sometimes she did sink, sometimes she did float it,Until that she cam to the high banks o Yarrow.12'O captain tak gowd, O sailors tak money,And launch out your sma boat till I sail for my honey.'13'How can I tak gowd, how can I tak money?My ship's on a sand bank, she winna sail for me.'14The captain took gowd, the sailors took money,And they launchd out their sma boat till he sailed for his honey.15'Mak my love a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,Whar the wood it is dear, and the planks they are narrow,And bury my love on the high banks o Yarrow.'16They made her a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,And buried her deep on the high banks o Yarrow.

1Down in Dumbarton there wonnd a rich merchant,Down in Dumbarton there wond a rich merchant,And he had nae family but ae only dochter.Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day

2There cam a rich squire, intending to woo her,He wooed her until he had got her wi babie.

3'Oh what shall I do! oh what shall come o me!Baith father and mither will think naething o me.'

4'Gae up to your father, bring down gowd and money,And I'll take ye ower to a braw Irish ladie.'

5She gade to her father, brought down gowd and money,And she's awa ower to a braw Irish ladie.

6She hadna sailed far till the young thing cried 'Women!''What women can do, my dear, I'll do for you.'

7'O haud your tongue, foolish man, dinna talk vainly,For ye never kent what a woman driet for you.

8'Gae wash your hands in the cauld spring water,And dry them on a towel a' giltit wi silver.

9'And tak me by the middle, and lift me up saftlie,And throw me ower shipboard, baith me and my babie.'

10He took her by the middle, and lifted her saftly,And threw her ower shipboard, baith her and her babie.

11Sometimes she did sink, sometimes she did float it,Until that she cam to the high banks o Yarrow.

12'O captain tak gowd, O sailors tak money,And launch out your sma boat till I sail for my honey.'

13'How can I tak gowd, how can I tak money?My ship's on a sand bank, she winna sail for me.'

14The captain took gowd, the sailors took money,And they launchd out their sma boat till he sailed for his honey.

15'Mak my love a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,Whar the wood it is dear, and the planks they are narrow,And bury my love on the high banks o Yarrow.'

16They made her a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,And buried her deep on the high banks o Yarrow.

Printed by Kinloch in four-line stanzas.161. coffin off the Goats of Yerrow.

Printed by Kinloch in four-line stanzas.

161. coffin off the Goats of Yerrow.

16.Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. xcix, 146,gives the stanza thus:

They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,And they buried her deep on the high banks of Yarrow.Sing fal lal, de deedle, fal lal, de deedle lair, Oh a Day!

FOOTNOTES:[206]Jonah is asleep below. This trait we find in several Norse ballads: see 'Brown Robyn's Confession.'[207]A singular episode in the life of Saint Mary Magdalen in the Golden Legend, Grässe, c. xcvi, 2, p. 409 ff, indicates a belief that even a dead body might prejudice the safety of a ship. The princess of Marseilles, in the course of a storm, has given birth to a boy and expired. The sailors demand that the body shall be thrown into the sea (and apparently the boy, too), for, they say, as long as it shall be with us, this thumping will not cease. They presently see a hill, and think it better to put off the corpse,and the boy, there, than that these should be devoured by sea-monsters. Fear will fasten upon anything in such a case.The Digby Mystery of Mary Magdalene has this scene, at p. 122 of the New Shakspere Society edition, ed. Furnivall.

[206]Jonah is asleep below. This trait we find in several Norse ballads: see 'Brown Robyn's Confession.'

[207]A singular episode in the life of Saint Mary Magdalen in the Golden Legend, Grässe, c. xcvi, 2, p. 409 ff, indicates a belief that even a dead body might prejudice the safety of a ship. The princess of Marseilles, in the course of a storm, has given birth to a boy and expired. The sailors demand that the body shall be thrown into the sea (and apparently the boy, too), for, they say, as long as it shall be with us, this thumping will not cease. They presently see a hill, and think it better to put off the corpse,and the boy, there, than that these should be devoured by sea-monsters. Fear will fasten upon anything in such a case.The Digby Mystery of Mary Magdalene has this scene, at p. 122 of the New Shakspere Society edition, ed. Furnivall.

The Digby Mystery of Mary Magdalene has this scene, at p. 122 of the New Shakspere Society edition, ed. Furnivall.

A.'Willie, Willie,' Kinloch's MSS,I, 53.B. a.'Blue Flowers and Yellow,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland,I, 185.b.'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs,I, 120.C.Motherwell's MS., p. 187.D.'Amang the blue flowers and yellow,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xix, NoXVII, one stanza.

A.'Willie, Willie,' Kinloch's MSS,I, 53.

B. a.'Blue Flowers and Yellow,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland,I, 185.b.'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs,I, 120.

C.Motherwell's MS., p. 187.

D.'Amang the blue flowers and yellow,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xix, NoXVII, one stanza.

This piece was first printed by Buchan, in 1828, and all the copies which have been recovered are of about that date. The device of a lover's feigning death as a means of winning a shy mistress enjoys a considerable popularity in European ballads. Even more favorite is a ballad in which thewomanadopts this expedient, in order to escape from the control of her relations: see 'The Gay Goshawk,' with which will be given another form of the present story.

ADanishballad answering to our Feigned Lyke-Wake is preserved, as I am informed by Professor Grundtvig, in no less than fourteen manuscripts, some of them of the 16th century, and is still living in tradition. Five versions, as yet unprinted,A-E, have been furnished me by the editor of the Ballads of Denmark.

A, from a manuscript of the sixteenth century. Young Herre Karl asks his mother's rede how he may get the maid his heart is set upon. She advises him to feign sickness, and be laid on his bier, no one to know his counsel but the page who is to do his errands. The page bids the lady to the wake that night. Little Kirstin asks her mother's leave to keep wake over Karl. The wake is to be in the upper room of Karl's house. The mother says, Be on your guard; he means to cheat you; but Kirstin, neither listening to her mother nor asking her father, goes to keep wake in the upper room. When she went in she could not see the lights for her tears. She begged all the good people to pray for Karl's soul, sat down by his head and made her own prayer, and murmured, While thou livedst I loved thee. She lifted the cloths, and there lay Karl wide awake and laughing. "All the devils in hell receive thy soul!" she cried. "If thou livedst a hundred years, thou shouldst never have my good will! "Karl proposed that she should pass the night with him. "Why would you deceive me!" Kirstin exclaimed. "Why did you not go to my father and betroth me honorably?" Karl immediately rode to her father's to do this, and they were married.

B. a, from MSS of 1610 and later, almostidentical withb, 'Den forstilte Vaagestue,' Levninger, PartII, 1784, p. 34, No 7.[208]This version gives us some rather unnecessary previous history. Karl has sued for Ingerlille three years, and had an ill answer. He follows her to church one fine day, and, after mass, squeezes her fingers and asks, Will you take pity on me? She replies, You must ask my father and friends; and he, I have, and can get no good answer. If you will give me your troth, we can see to that best ourselves. "Never," she says. "Farewell, then; but Christ may change your mind." Karl meets his mother on his way from church, who asks why he is so pale. He tells her his plight, and is advised, as before, to use craft. The wake is held on Karl's premises.[209]Ingerlille, in scarlet mantle, goes with her maids. She avows her love, but adds that it was a fixed idea in her mind that he would deceive her. She lifts up the white cloth that covers the face. Karl laughs, and says, We were good friends before, so are we still. Bear out the bier, and follow me to bed with the fair maid. She hopes he will have respect for her honor. Karl reassures her, leaves her with his mother, rides to Ingerlille's house, obtains her parents' approbation, and buys wine for his wedding.

C, from manuscripts of the sixteenth century. Karl is given out for dead, and his pages ride to the convent to ask that his body may be laid in the cloister. The bier is borne in; the prioress comes to meet it, with much respect. The pages go about bidding maids to the wake. Ellin asks her mother if she may go. (This looks as if there had originally been no convent in the ballad.) Her mother tells her to put on red gold and be wary of Karl, he is so very tricky. When Ellin owns her attachment, Karl whispers softly, Do not weep, but follow me. Horses were ready at the portal—blackhorses all!

Karl sprang from the bier, took Ellin, and made for the door. The nuns, who stood reading in the choir, thought it was an angel that had translated her, and wished one would come for them. Karl, with fifteen men who were in waiting, carried Ellin home, and drank his bridal with her.

D, from recent oral tradition. As Karl lay in his bed, he said, How shall I get the fair maid out of the convent? His foster-mother heard him, and recommended him to feign death and bid the fair maid to his wake. The maid asked her father's leave to go, but he said, Nay, the moment you are inside the door he will seize you by the foot. But when the page, who had first come in blue, comes back in scarlet, she goes. She stands at Karl's head and says, I never shall forget thee; at his feet, "I wished thee well;" at his side, "Thou wast my dearest." Then she turns and bids everybody good-night, but Karl seizes her, and calls to his friends to come drink his bridal. We hear nothing of the convent after the first stanza.

E, from oral tradition of another quarter. Karl consults his mother how he shall get little Kirstin out of the convent, and receives the same counsel. A page is sent to the convent, and asks who will come to the wake now Herr Karl is dead? Little Kirstin, without application to the prioress, goes to her mother, who does not forbid her, but warns her that Karl will capture her as sure as she goes into the room.

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