A.

1'Why are you driving over my field?' said the carlin:'Because the way lies over it,' answered the boy, who was a little fellow.2'I will cut [hew] your traces,' said etc.:'Yes, you hew, and I'll build,' answered etc.3'I wish you were in the wild wood:''Yes, you in, and I outside.'4'I wish you were in the highest tree-top:''Yes, you up in the top, and I at the roots.'5'I wish you were in the wild sea:''Yes, you in the sea, and I in a boat.'6'I'll bore a hole in your boat:''Yes, you bore, and I'll plug.'7'I wish you were in hell:''Yes, you in, and I outside.'8'I wish you were in heaven:''Yes, I in, and you outside.'

1'Why are you driving over my field?' said the carlin:'Because the way lies over it,' answered the boy, who was a little fellow.

2'I will cut [hew] your traces,' said etc.:'Yes, you hew, and I'll build,' answered etc.

3'I wish you were in the wild wood:''Yes, you in, and I outside.'

4'I wish you were in the highest tree-top:''Yes, you up in the top, and I at the roots.'

5'I wish you were in the wild sea:''Yes, you in the sea, and I in a boat.'

6'I'll bore a hole in your boat:''Yes, you bore, and I'll plug.'

7'I wish you were in hell:''Yes, you in, and I outside.'

8'I wish you were in heaven:''Yes, I in, and you outside.'

Chambers, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 66 of the new edition, gives, without a word of explanation, a piece, 'Harpkin,' which seems to have been of the same character, but now sounds only like a "flyting."[23]The first stanza would lead us to expect that Harpkin is to be a form of the Elfin Knight of the preceding ballad, but Fin is seen to be the uncanny one of the two by the light of the other ballads. Finn (Fin) is an ancestor of Woden, a dwarf in Völuspá 16 (19), and also a trold (otherwise a giant), who is induced by a saint to build a church: Thiele, Danske Folkesagn,I, 45, Grimm, Mythologie, p. 455. The name is therefore diabolic by many antecedents.

1Harpkin gaed up to the hill,And blew his horn loud and shrill,And by came Fin.2'What for stand you there?' quo Fin:'Spying the weather,' quo Harpkin.3'What for had you your staff on your shouther?' quo Fin:'To haud the cauld frae me,' quo Harpkin.4'Little cauld will that haud frae you,' quo Fin:'As little will it win through me,' quo Harpkin.5'I came by your door,' quo Fin:'It lay in your road,' quo Harpkin.6'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin:'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin.7'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin:'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin.8'Your wife's lichter,' quo Fin:'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin.9'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin:'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin.10'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin:'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin.11'The ox is eating at it,' quo Fin:'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin.12'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin:'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin.13'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin:'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin.14'Giff, gaff,' quo Fin:'Your mou's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin.

1Harpkin gaed up to the hill,And blew his horn loud and shrill,And by came Fin.

2'What for stand you there?' quo Fin:'Spying the weather,' quo Harpkin.

3'What for had you your staff on your shouther?' quo Fin:'To haud the cauld frae me,' quo Harpkin.

4'Little cauld will that haud frae you,' quo Fin:'As little will it win through me,' quo Harpkin.

5'I came by your door,' quo Fin:'It lay in your road,' quo Harpkin.

6'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin:'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin.

7'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin:'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin.

8'Your wife's lichter,' quo Fin:'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin.

9'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin:'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin.

10'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin:'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin.

11'The ox is eating at it,' quo Fin:'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin.

12'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin:'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin.

13'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin:'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin.

14'Giff, gaff,' quo Fin:'Your mou's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin.

The peit (peat) in st. 3, below, as I am informed by Dr Davidson, is the wee boy's contribution to the school firing.

Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lxxiv. From Galloway.

1'O whare are ye gaun?'Quo the fause knicht upon the road:'I'm gaun to the scule,'Quo the wee boy, and still he stude.2'What is that upon your back? ' quo etc.'Atweel it is my bukes,' quo etc.3'What's that ye've got in your arm?''Atweel it is my peit.'4'Wha's aucht they sheep?''They are mine and my mither's.'5'How monie o them are mine?''A' they that hae blue tails.'6'I wiss ye were on yon tree:''And a gude ladder under me.'7'And the ladder for to break:''And you for to fa down.'8'I wiss ye were in yon sie:''And a gude bottom under me.'9'And the bottom for to break:''And ye to be drowned.'

1'O whare are ye gaun?'Quo the fause knicht upon the road:'I'm gaun to the scule,'Quo the wee boy, and still he stude.

2'What is that upon your back? ' quo etc.'Atweel it is my bukes,' quo etc.

3'What's that ye've got in your arm?''Atweel it is my peit.'

4'Wha's aucht they sheep?''They are mine and my mither's.'

5'How monie o them are mine?''A' they that hae blue tails.'

6'I wiss ye were on yon tree:''And a gude ladder under me.'

7'And the ladder for to break:''And you for to fa down.'

8'I wiss ye were in yon sie:''And a gude bottom under me.'

9'And the bottom for to break:''And ye to be drowned.'

Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiv, No xxxii.

'O whare are ye gaun?' quo the false knight,And false, false was his rede:'I'm gaun to the scule,' says the pretty little boy,And still, still he stude.

'O whare are ye gaun?' quo the false knight,And false, false was his rede:

'I'm gaun to the scule,' says the pretty little boy,And still, still he stude.

FOOTNOTES:[23]At the last moment I come upon this: "The only safeguard against the malice of witches is 'to flight wi dem,' that is, draw them into a controversy and scold them roundly:" (Mrs Saxby, in an interesting contribution of folk-lore from Unst, Shetland, in The Leisure Hour, for March 27, 1880, p. 199.) This view, which has apparently affected 'Harpkin,' is clearly a modern misunderstanding. Let no one trust to scolding for foiling a witch, unless he "knows more words."

[23]At the last moment I come upon this: "The only safeguard against the malice of witches is 'to flight wi dem,' that is, draw them into a controversy and scold them roundly:" (Mrs Saxby, in an interesting contribution of folk-lore from Unst, Shetland, in The Leisure Hour, for March 27, 1880, p. 199.) This view, which has apparently affected 'Harpkin,' is clearly a modern misunderstanding. Let no one trust to scolding for foiling a witch, unless he "knows more words."

A. a.'The Gowans sae gay,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland,I, 22.b.'Aye as the Gowans grow gay,' Motherwell's MS., p. 563.B.'The Water o Wearie's Well.'a.Buchan's MSS,II, fol. 80.b.Buchan's B. N. S.,II, 201.c.Motherwell's MS., p. 561.d.'Wearie's Wells,' Harris MS., No 19.C. a.'May Colven,' Herd's MSS,I, 166.b.'May Colvin,' Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776,I, 93.c.'May Colvin, or, False Sir John,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 67.D. a.'May Collin,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, No 17, p. 45.b.'Fause Sir John and May Colvin,' Buchan, B. N. S.,II, 45.c.'May Collean,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxi.E.'The Outlandish Knight,' Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 74 == Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 61.F.'The False Knight Outwitted,' Roxburgh Ballads, British Museum,III, 449.

A. a.'The Gowans sae gay,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland,I, 22.b.'Aye as the Gowans grow gay,' Motherwell's MS., p. 563.

B.'The Water o Wearie's Well.'a.Buchan's MSS,II, fol. 80.b.Buchan's B. N. S.,II, 201.c.Motherwell's MS., p. 561.d.'Wearie's Wells,' Harris MS., No 19.

C. a.'May Colven,' Herd's MSS,I, 166.b.'May Colvin,' Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776,I, 93.c.'May Colvin, or, False Sir John,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 67.

D. a.'May Collin,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, No 17, p. 45.b.'Fause Sir John and May Colvin,' Buchan, B. N. S.,II, 45.c.'May Collean,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxi.

E.'The Outlandish Knight,' Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 74 == Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 61.

F.'The False Knight Outwitted,' Roxburgh Ballads, British Museum,III, 449.

Of all ballads this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation. It is nearly as well known to the southern as to the northern nations of Europe. It has an extraordinary currency in Poland. The Germans, Low and High, and the Scandinavians, preserve it, in a full and evidently ancient form, even in the tradition of this generation. Among the Latin nations it has, indeed, shrunk to very meagre proportions, and though the best English forms are notwithout ancient and distinctive marks, most of these have been eliminated, and the better ballads are very brief.

Ahas but thirteen two-line stanzas. An elf-knight, by blowing his horn, inspires Lady Isabel with love-longing. He appears on her first breathing a wish for him, and induces her to ride with him to the greenwood.[24]Arrived at the wood, he bids her alight, for she is come to the place where she is to die. He had slain seven kings' daughters there, and she should be the eighth. She persuades him to sit down, with his head on her knee, lulls him asleep with a charm, binds him with his own sword-belt, and stabs him with his own dagger, saying, If seven kings' daughters you have slain, lie here a husband to them all.

B, in fourteen four-line stanzas, begins unintelligibly with a bird coming out of a bush for water, and a king's daughter sighing, "Wae 's this heart o mine." A personage not characterized, but evidently of the same nature as the elf-knight inA, lulls everybody but this king's daughter asleep with his harp,[25]then mounts her behind him, and rides to a piece of water called Wearie's Well. He makes her wade in up to her chin; then tells her that he has drowned seven kings' daughters here, and she is to be the eighth. She asks him for one kiss before she dies, and, as he bends over to give it, pitches him from his saddle into the water, with the words, Since ye have drowned seven here, I'll make you bridegroom to them all.[26]

Cwas first published by David Herd, in the second edition of his Scottish Songs, 1776, and afterwards by Motherwell, "collated" with a copy obtained from recitation.D,[27]E,Fare all broadside or stall copies, and in broadside style.C,D,E,Fhave nearly the same story. False Sir John, a knight from the south country [west country, north lands], entices May Colven,C,D[a king's daughter,C16,E16; a knight's daughter, Polly,F4, 9], to ride off with him, employing, inD, a charm which he has stuck in her sleeve. At the knight's suggestion,E,F, she takes a good sum of money with her,D,E,F. They come to a lonely rocky place by the sea [river-side,F], and the knight bids her alight: he has drowned seven ladies here [eightD, sixE,F], and she shall be the next. But first she is to strip off her rich clothes, as being too good to rot in the sea. She begs him to avert his eyes, for decency's sake, and, getting behind him, throws him into the water. InFhe is absurdly sent for a sickle, to crop the nettles on the river brim, and is pushed in while thus occupied.He cries for help, and makes fair promises,C,E, but the maid rides away, with a bitter jest [on his steed,D, leading his steed,E,F], and reaches her father's house before daybreak. The groom inquires inDabout the strange horse, and is told that it is a found one. The parrot asks what she has been doing, and is silenced with a bribe; and when the father demands why he was chatting so early, says he was calling to his mistress to take away the cat. HereC,E,Fstop, butDgoes on to relate that the maid at once tells her parents what has happened, and that the father rides off at dawn, under her conduct, to find Sir John. They carry off the corpse, which lay on the sands below the rocks, and bury it, for fear of discovery.

There is in Hone's Table Book,III, 130, ed. 1841, arifacimentoby Dixon of the common English broadside in what passes for old-ballad style. This has been repeated in Richardson's Borderer's Table Book,VI, 367; in Dixon's Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads, p. 101; and, with alterations, additions, and omissions, in Sheldon's Minstrelsy of the English Border, p. 194.

Jamieson (1814) had never met with this ballad in Scotland, at least in anything like a perfect state; but he says that a tale to the same effect, intermixed with scraps of verse, was familiar to him when a boy, and that he afterwards found it, "in much the same state, in the Highlands, in Lochaber and Ardnamurchan." According to the tradition reported by Jamieson, the murderer had seduced the younger sister of his wife, and was seeking to prevent discovery, a difference in the story which might lead us to doubt the accuracy of Jamieson's recollection. (Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 348.)

Stories like that of this ballad will inevitably be attached, and perhaps more or less adapted, to localities where they become known. May Collean, says Chambers, Scottish Ballads, p. 232, note, "finds locality in that wild portion of the coast of Carrick (Ayrshire) which intervenes betwixt Girvan and Ballantrae. Carlton Castle, about two miles to the south of Girvan (a tall old ruin, situated on the brink of a bank which overhangs the sea, and which gives title to Sir John Cathcart, Bart, of Carlton), is affirmed by the country people, who still remember the story with great freshness, to have been the residence of 'the fause Sir John;' while a tall rocky eminence called Gamesloup, overhanging the sea about two miles still further south, and over which the road passes in a style terrible to all travellers, is pointed out as the place where he was in the habit of drowning his wives, and where he was finally drowned himself. The people, who look upon the ballad as a regular and proper record of an unquestionable fact, farther affirm that May Collean was a daughter of the family of Kennedy of Colzean," etc. Binyan's (Bunion) Bay, inD, is, according to Buchan, the old name of the mouth of the river Ugie.

Far better preserved than the English, and marked with very ancient and impressive traits, is the Dutch ballad 'Halewijn,' which, not many years ago, was extensively sung in Brabant and Flanders, and is still popular as a broadside, both oral tradition and printed copies exhibiting manifold variations. A version of this ballad (A) was communicated by Willems to Mone's Anzeiger in 1836, col. 448 ff, thirty-eight two-line stanzas, and afterwards appeared in Willems's Oude vlaemsche Liederen (1848), No 49, p. 116, with some changes in the text and some various readings. Uhland,I, 153, 74 D, gave the Anzeiger text, with one correction. So Hoffmann, Niederländische Volkslieder, 2d ed., No 9, p. 39, but substituting for stanzas 19, 20 four stanzas from the margin of O.v.L., and making other slighter changes. Baecker, Chants historiques de la Flandre, No 9, p. 61, repeats Willems's second text, with one careless omission and one transposition. Coussemaker, Chants populaires des Flamands de France, No 45, p. 142, professes to give the text of Oude vlaemsche Liederen, and does so nearly. Snellaert, Oude en nieuwe Liedjes, 3d ed., 1864, No 55, p. 58, inserts seven stanzas in the place of 33, 34 of O.v.L., and two after 35, making forty-five two- (or three-) line stanzas instead of thirty-eight. These additions are also found in anexcessively corrupt form of the ballad (B), Hoffmann, No 10, p. 43, in which the stanzas have been uniformly extended to three verses, to suit the air, which required the repetition of the second line of the original stanza.

Heer Halewijn (A), like the English elf-knight, sang such a song that those who heard it longed to be with him. A king's daughter asked her father if she might go to Halewijn. No, he said; those who go that way never come back [sixteen have lost their lives,B]. So said mother and sister, but her brother's answer was, I care not where you go, so long as you keep your honor. She dressed herself splendidly, took the best horse from her father's stable, and rode to the wood, where she found Halewijn waiting for her.[28]They then rode on further, till they came to a gallows, on which many women were hanging. Halewijn says, Since you are the fairest maid, choose your death [B20 offers the choice between hanging and the sword]. She calmly chooses the sword. "Only take off your coat first, for a maid's blood spirts a great way, and it would be a pity to spatter you." His head was off before his coat, but the tongue still spake. This dialogue ensues:

'Go yonder into the corn,And blow upon my horn,That all my friends you may warn.''Into the corn I will not go,And on your horn I will not blow:A murderer's bidding I will not do.''Go yonder under the gallows-tree,And fetch a pot of salve for me,And rub my red neck lustily.''Under the gallows I will not go,Nor will I rub your red neck, no,A murderer's bidding I will not do.'

'Go yonder into the corn,And blow upon my horn,That all my friends you may warn.'

'Into the corn I will not go,And on your horn I will not blow:A murderer's bidding I will not do.'

'Go yonder under the gallows-tree,And fetch a pot of salve for me,And rub my red neck lustily.'

'Under the gallows I will not go,Nor will I rub your red neck, no,A murderer's bidding I will not do.'

She takes the head by the hair and washes it in a spring, and rides back through the wood. Half-way through she meets Halewijn's mother, who asks after her son; and she tells her that he is gone hunting, that he will never be seen again, that he is dead, and she has his head in her lap. When she came to her father's gate, she blew the horn like any man.

And when the father heard the strain,He was glad she had come back again.Thereupon they held a feast,The head was on the table placed.

And when the father heard the strain,He was glad she had come back again.

Thereupon they held a feast,The head was on the table placed.

Snellaert's copy and the modern three-line ballad have a meeting with father, brother, sister, and mother successively. The maid's answer to each of the first three is that Halewijn is amusing himself with sixteen maids, or to that effect, but to the mother that he is dead, and she has his head in her lap. The mother angrily replies, inB, that if she had given this information earlier she would not have got so far on her way home. The maid retorts, Wicked woman, you are lucky not to have been served as your son; then rides, "like Judith wise," straight to her father's palace, where she blows the horn blithely, and is received with honor and love by the whole court.[29]

Another Flemish version (C) has been lately published under the title, 'Roland,' by which only, we are informed, is this particular form known in Bruges and many parts ofFlanders:[30]Chants populaires recueillis à Bruges par Adolphe Lootens et J. M. E. Feys, No 37, p. 60, 183 vv, in sixty-three stanzas, of two, three, four, or five lines. This text dates from the last century, and is given with the most exact fidelity to tradition. It agrees withAas to some main points, but differs not a little as to others. The story sets out thus:

It was a bold Roland,He loved a lass from England;He wist not how to get her,With reading or with writing,With brawling or with fighting.

Roland has lost Halewyn's art of singing. Louise asks her father if she may go to Roland, to the fair, as all her friends do. Her father refuses: Roland is "een stoute kalant," a bad fellow that betrays pretty maids; he stands with a drawn sword in his hand, and all his soldiers in armor. The daughter says she has seen Roland more than once, and that the tale about the drawn sword and soldiers is not true. This scene is exactly repeated with mother and brother. Louise then tries her shrift-father. He is easier, and does not care where she goes, provided she keeps her honor and does not shame her parents. She tells father, mother, and brother that she has leave from her confessor, makes her toilet as inA, takes the finest horse in the stable, and rides to the wood. There she successively meets Roland's father, mother, and brother, each of whom asks her where she is going, and whether she has any right to the crown she wears. To all she replies, Whether I have or not, be off; I know you not. She does not encounter Roland in the wood, they do not ride together, and there is no gallows-field. She enters Roland's house, where he is lying abed. He bids her gather three rose-wreaths "at his hands" and three at his feet; but when she approaches the foot of the bed he rises, and offers her the choice to lose her honor or kneel before the sword. She chooses the sword, advises him to spare his coat, and, while he is taking it off, strikes off his head, all as inA. The head speaks: Go under the gallows (of which we have heard nothing hitherto), fetch a pot of salve, rub it on my wounds, and they shall straight be well. She declines to follow a murderer's rede, or to learn magic. The head bids her go under the blue stone and fetch a pot of maidens-grease, which also will heal the wounds. This again she refuses to do, in the same terms; then seizes the head by the hair, washes it in a spring, and rides off with it through the wood, duly meeting Roland's father, mother, and brother once more, all of whom challenge her, and to all of whom she answers,

Roland your son is long ago dead;God has his soul and I his head;For in my lap here I have his head,And with the blood my apron is red.

When she came back to the city the drums and the trumpets struck up.[31]She stuck the head out of the window, and cried, "Now I am Roland's bride!" She drew it in, and cried, "Now I am a heroine!"

Danish.Eleven versions of this ballad are known in Danish, seven of which are given in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, No 183, 'Kvindemorderen,'A-G. Four more,H-L, are furnished by Kristensen, Jydske Folkeviser,I, Nos 46, 47, 91;II, No 85.A, in forty-one two-line stanzas (previously printed in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 233), is from a 16th century MS.;B, thirty stanzas,C, twenty-four,D, thirty-seven, from MSS of the 17th century;E, fifty-seven, from a broadside of the end of the 18th;F, thirty, from one of the beginning of the 19th; andG-L, thirty-five, twenty-three, thirty-one, twenty-six, thirty-eight stanzas, from recent oral tradition.

The four older versions, and alsoE, open with some lines that occur at the beginning of other ballads.[32]InAandE, and, we may add,G, the maid is allured by the promise of being taken to a paradise exempt from death and sorrow;C,D,Fpromise a train of handmaids and splendid presents. All the versions agree very well as to the kernel of the story. A false knight prevails upon a lady to elope with him, and they ride to a wood [they simply meet in a wood,H,K]. He sets to work digging a grave, which she says is too long for his [her] dog and too narrow for his [her] horse [all butF,H]. She is told that the grave is for her. He has taken away the life [and honor,B,C,I] of eight maids, and she shall be the ninth. The eight maids become nine kings' daughters inE, ten inF, nineteen inG, and inEandFthe hard choice is offered of death by sword, tree, or stream. InA,E,I,Lthe knight bids the lady get her gold together before she sets out with him, and inD,H,K,Lhe points out a little knoll under which he keeps the gold of his previous victims. The maid now induces the knight to lie down with his head in her lap, professing a fond desire to render him the most homely of services[33][not inC,G,I,K]. He makes an express condition inE,F,G,H,Lthat she shall not betray him in his sleep, and she calls Heaven to witness that she will not. InGshe sings him to sleep. He slept a sleep that was not sweet. She binds him hand and foot, then cries, Wake up! I will not betray you in sleep.[34]Eight you have killed; yourself shall be the ninth. Entreaties and fair promises and pretences that he had been in jest, and desire for shrift, are in vain. Woman-fashion she drew his sword, but man-fashion she cut him down. She went home a maid.

E,F,G, however, do not end so simply. On her way home through the wood [E], she comes upon a maid who is working gold, and who says, The last time I saw that horse my brother rode it. She answers, Your brother is dead, and will do no more murdering for gold; then turns her horse, and sets the sister's bower on fire. Next she encounters seven robbers on the heath, who recognize the horse as their master's, and are informed of his death and of the end of his crimes. They ask about the fire. She says it is an old pig-sty. She rides on, and they call to her that she is losing her horse's gold shoe. But nothing can stop her; she bids them pick it up and drink it in wine; and so comes home to her father's.Fhas nothing of the sister; in place of seven robbers there are nine of the robber's brothers, and the maid sets their house on fire.Gindulges in absurd extravagances: the heroine meets the robber's sister with twelve fierce dogs, and then his twelve swains, and cuts down both dogs and swains.

The names in the Danish ballads are,A, Ulver and Vænelil;B, Olmor, or Oldemor, and Vindelraad;C, Hollemen and Vendelraad;D, Romor, Reimord, or Reimvord, and the maid unnamed;F, Herr Peder and Liden Kirsten;H-L, Ribold, Rigbold [I, Rimmelil] and Guldborg.

FourSwedishversions are known, all from tradition of this century.A, 'Den Falske Riddaren,' twenty-three two-line stanzas, Arwidsson, 44 B,I, 301.B, 'Röfvaren Brun,' fifteen stanzas, Afzelius, 83,III, 97.C, twenty-seven stanzas, Arwidsson, 44 A,I, 298.D, 'Röfvaren Rymer,' sixteen stanzas, Afzelius, 82,III, 94.A,B,Dhave resemblances, at the beginning, to the Ribold ballads, like the DanishA,B,E,G, while the beginning ofCis like the DanishC,D,F.Ahas the grave-digging; there have been eight maids before; the knight lays his head in the lady's lap for the same reason as in most of the Danish ballads, and under the same assurance that he shall not be betrayed in sleep; he is bound, and conscientiously waked before his head is struck off; and the lady rides home to her father's. There have been eight previous victims inC, and they king's daughters; inB, eleven (maids);Dsays not how many, but, according to an explanation of the woman that sang it, there were seven princesses.C,D, like DanishE,F,G, make the maid encounter some of the robber's family on the way home. By a misconception, as we perceive by the Dutch ballad, she is represented as blowing the robber's horn. Seven sisters come at the familiar sound to bury the murdered girl and share the booty, but find that they have their brother to bury.

The woman has no name in any of the Swedish ballads.Acalls the robber "an outlandish man" (en man ifrån fremmande land),B, simple Brun,C, a knight, andD, Riddaren Rymer, or Herr Rymer.

OfNorwegianversions, but two have been printed:A, 'Svein Norðmann,' twenty two-line stanzas, Landstad, 69, p. 567;B, 'Rullemann og Hildeborg,' thirty stanzas, Landstad, 70, p. 571, both from recent recitation. Bugge has communicated eight others to Grundtvig. BothAandBhave the paradise at the beginning, which is found in DanishA,E,G, and SwedishD. In both the lady gets her gold together while the swain is saddling his horse. They come to a grave already dug, which inBis said to be made so very wide because Rulleman has already laid nine maidens in it. The stanza inAwhich should give the number is lost, but the reciter or singer put it at seven or nine. The maid gets the robber into her power by the usual artifice, with a slight variation inB. According toA, she rides straight home to her father.B, like DanishF, has an encounter with her false lover's [five] brothers. They ask, Where is Rullemann, thy truelove? She answers, He is lying down, in the green mead, and bloody is his bridal bed.

Of the unprinted versions obtained by Professor Bugge, two indicate that the murderer's sleep was induced by a spell, as in EnglishA.F9 has,

Long time stood Gullbjör; to herself she thought,May none of myrunesavail me ought?

AndH18, as also a variant toB20, says it was a rune-slumber that came over him. OnlyG,H,I,Kgive the number of the murdered women: inG,H, eight, inI, nine, inK, five.

The names are, inA, Svein Norðmann and Guðbjörg;B, Rulleman and Hildeborg [or Signe];C,D,E,F, Svein Nórmann and Gullbjör [Gunnbjör];G, Rullemann and Kjersti;H, Rullball and Signelill;I, Alemarken and Valerós;K, Rulemann and a fair maid.

Such information as has transpired concerningIcelandicversions of this ballad is furnished by Grundtvig,IV, 4. The Icelandic form, though curtailed and much injured, has shown tenacity enough to preserve itself in a series of closely agreeing copies from the 17th century down. The eldest, from a manuscript of 1665, runs thus:

1Ása went along the street, she heard a sweet sound.2Ása went into the house, she saw the villain bound.3'Little Ása, loose me! I will not beguile thee.'4'I dare not loose thee, I know not whether thou'lt beguile me.'5'God almighty take note who deceives the other!'6She loosed the bands from his hand, the fetter from his foot.7'Nine lands have I visited, ten women I've beguiled;8'Thou art now the eleventh, I'll not let thee slip.'

1Ása went along the street, she heard a sweet sound.

2Ása went into the house, she saw the villain bound.

3'Little Ása, loose me! I will not beguile thee.'

4'I dare not loose thee, I know not whether thou'lt beguile me.'

5'God almighty take note who deceives the other!'

6She loosed the bands from his hand, the fetter from his foot.

7'Nine lands have I visited, ten women I've beguiled;

8'Thou art now the eleventh, I'll not let thee slip.'

A copy, from the beginning of the 18th century, has, in stanza 2, "Ása went into thewood," a recent copy, "over the fields;" and stanza 3, in the former, with but slight differences in all the modern copies, reads,

'Welcome art thou, Ása maid! thou wilt mean to loose me.'

Some recent copies (there is one in Berggreen, Danske Folkesange, 2d ed.,I, 162) allow the maid to escape, adding,

9'Wait for me a little space, whilst I go into the green wood.'10He waited for her a long time, but she never came back to him.11Ása took her white steed, of all women she rode most.12Ása went into a holy cell, never did she harm to man.

9'Wait for me a little space, whilst I go into the green wood.'

10He waited for her a long time, but she never came back to him.

11Ása took her white steed, of all women she rode most.

12Ása went into a holy cell, never did she harm to man.

This is certainly one of the most important of theGermanballads, and additions are constantly making to a large number of known versions. Excepting two broadsides of about 1560, and two copies from recitation printed in 1778, all these, twenty-six in number, have been obtained from tradition since 1800.[35]They are as follows:A a, 'Gert Olbert,' 'Die Mörners Sang,' in Low German, as written down by William Grimm, in the early years of this century, 61 vv, Reifferscheid, p. 161,II.A b, "from the Münster region," communicated to Uhland by the Baroness Annette von Droste-Hüllshof, 46 vv, Uhland,I, 151, No 74 C; repeated in Mittler, No 79.A c, a fragment from the same source as the preceding, and written down at the beginning of this century, 35 vv, Reifferscheid, p. 161,I.B, 'Es wollt sich ein Markgraf ausreiten,' from Bökendorf, Westphalia, as taken down by W. Grimm, in 1813, 41 vv, Reifferscheid, p. 116.C a, 'Die Gerettete,' "from the Lower Rhine," twenty-six two-line stanzas, Zuccalmaglio, No 28, p. 66; Mittler, No 85.C b, eleven two-line stanzas, Montanus (== Zuccalmaglio) Die deutschen Volksfeste, p. 45.D, 'Von einem wackern Mägdlein, Odilia geheissen,' etc., from the Rhine, 34 vv [Longard], No 24, p. 48.E, 'Schondilie,' Menzenberg and Breitbach, 59 vv, Simrock, No 7, p. 19; Mittler, No 86.F, 'Jungfrau Linnich,' communicated by Zuccalmaglio as from the Rhine region, Berg and Mark, fourteen two-line stanzas, Erlach,IV, 598, and Kretzschmer (nearly), No 92, p. 164; Mittler, No 87.G a, 'Ulinger,' 120 vv, Nuremberg broadside "of about 1555" (Böhme) in Wunderhorn, ed. 1857,IV, 101, Böhme, No 13a, p. 56.G b c, Basel broadsides, "of about 1570" (Böhme), and of 1605, in Uhland, No 74 A,I, 141; Mittler, No 77.H, 'Adelger,' 120 vv, an Augsburg broadside, "of about 1560" (Böhme), Uhland, No 74 B,I, 146; Böhme, No 13b, p. 58; Mittler, No 76.I, 'Der Brautmörder,' in the dialect of the Kuhländchen (Northeast Moravia and Austrian Silesia), 87 vv, Meinert, p. 61; Mittler, No 80.J, 'Annele,' Swabian, from Hirrlingen and Obernau, 80 vv, Meier, Schwäbische V. L., No 168, p. 298.K, another Swabian version, from Hirrlingen, Immenried, and many other localities, 80 vv, Scherer, Jungbrunnen, No 5 B, p. 25.L a, from the Swabian-Würtemberg border, 81 VV, Birlinger, Schwäbisch-Augsburgisches Wörterbuch, p. 458.L b, [Birlinger], Schwäbische V. L., p. 159, from Immenried, nearly word for word the same.M, 'Der falsche Sänger,' 40 vv, Meier, No 167, p. 296.N, 'Es reitets ein Ritter durch Haber und Klee,' 43 vv, a fifth Swabian version, from Hirrlingen, Meier, p. 302.O, 'Alte Ballade die in Entlebuch noch gesungen wird,' twenty-three double stanzas, in the local dialect, Schweizerblätter von Henne und Reithard, 1833,IIrJahrgang, 210-12.P, 'Das Guggibader-Lied,' twenty-one treble stanzas (23?), in the Aargau dialect, Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau,I24.Q, 'Es sitzt gut Ritter auf und ritt,' a copy taken down in 1815 by J. Grimm, from the recitation of a lady who had heard it as a child in German Bohemia, 74 vv, Reifferscheid, p. 162.R, 'Bie wrüe işt auv der ritterşmàn, 'in the dialect ofGottschee, Carniola, 86 vv, Schröer, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Ak., phil-hist. Cl,LX, 462.S, 'Das Lied von dem falschen Rittersmann,' 60 vv, from Styria, Rosegger and Heuberger, Volkslieder aus Steiermark, No 19, p. 17.T, 'Ulrich und Ännchen,'[36]49 vv, Herder's Volkslieder, 1778,I, 79; Mittler, No 78.U, 'Schön Ulrich und Roth-Aennchen,' 46 vv, in Taschenbuch für Dichter und Dichterfreunde, Abth. viii, 126, 1778, from Upper Lusatia (slightly altered by the contributor, Meissner); Mittler, No 84. A copy from Kapsdorf, in Hoffmann and Richter's Schlesische V. L., No 13, p. 27, is the same, differing by only three words.V, 'Schön-Aennelein,' 54 vv, from the eastern part of Brandenburg, Erk u. Irmer, 6th Heft, p. 64, No 56 (stanzas 4-8 from the preceding).W, 'Schön Ullerich und Hanselein,' twenty-nine two-line stanzas, from the neighborhood of Breslau, in Gräter's Idunna und Hermode, No 35, Aug. 29, 1812, following p. 140. The same in Schlesische V. L., No 12, p. 23, 'Schön Ulrich u. Rautendelein,' with a stanza (12) inserted; and Mittler, No 81.X, 'Der Albrecht u. der Hanselein,' 42 vv, from Natangen, East Prussia, in Neue preussische Provinzial-Blätter, 2d series,III, 158, No 8.Y, 'Ulrich u. Annle,' nineteen two-line stanzas, a second Kuhländchen version, Meinert, p. 66; Mittler, No 83.Z a, 'Von einem frechen Räuber, Herr Ulrich geheissen,' nineteen two-line stanzas, from the Rhine [Longard], No 23, p. 46.Z b, 'Ulrich,' as sung on the Lower Rhine, the same ballad, with unimportant verbal differences, and the insertion of one stanza (7, the editor's?), Zuccalmaglio, No 15, p. 39; Mittler, No 82.

The German ballads, as Grundtvig has pointed out, divide into three well-marked classes. The first class, embracing the versionsA-F(6), and coming nearest to English and Dutch tradition, has been found along the lower half of the Rhine and in Westphalia, or in Northwest Germany; the second, includingG-S(13), is met with in Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, Carniola, or in South Germany; the third,T-Z(7), in East Prussia, the eastern part of Brandenburg and of Saxony, Silesia, and, again, Moravia, or, roughly speaking, in North and East Germany; but, besides the Moravian, there is also of this third class one version, in two copies, from the Rhine.

(I.)Aruns thus. She that would ride out with Gert Olbert must dress in silk and gold. When fair Helena had so attired herself, she called from her window, Gert Olbert, come and fetch the bride. He took her by her silken gown and swung her on behind him, and they rode three days and nights. Helena then said, We must eat and drink; but Gert Olbert said, We must go on further. They rode over the green heath, and Helena once more tenderly asked for refreshment. Under yon fir [linden], said Gert Olbert, and kept on till they came to a green spot, where nine maids were hanging. Then it was, Wilt thou choose the fir-tree, the running stream, or the naked sword? She chose the sword, but begged him to take off his silken coat, "for a maid's blood spirts far, and I should be sorry to spatter it." While he was engaged in drawing off his coat, she cut off his head. But still the false tongue spoke. It bade her blow in his horn; then she would have company enough. She was not so simple as to do this. She rode three days and nights, and blew the horn when she reached her father's castle. Then all the murderers came running, like hounds after a hare. Frau Clara [Jutte] called out, Where is my son? Under the fir-tree, sporting with nine maids; he meant me to be the tenth, said Helena.

Bis the same story told of a margrave and Fair Annie, but some important early stanzas are lost, and the final ones have suffered injury; for the ballad ends with this conceit, "She put the horn to her mouth, and blew the margrave quite out of her heart." Here, by a transference exceedingly common in tradition, it is the man, and not the maid, that "would ride in velvet and silk and red gold."

C ahas the names Odilia and Hilsinger, a trooper (reiter). Odilia was early left an orphan, and as she grew up "she grew intothe trooper's bosom." He offered her seven pounds of gold to be his, and "she thought seven pounds of gold a good thing." We now fall into the track ofA. Odilia dresses herself like a bride, and calls to the trooper to come and get her. They ride first to a high hill, where she asks to eat and drink, and then go on to a linden-tree, on which seven maids are hanging. The choice of three deaths is offered, the sword chosen, he is entreated to spare his coat, she seizes his sword and hews off his head. The false tongue suggests blowing the horn. Odilia thinks "much biding or blowing is not good." She rides away, and presently meets the trooper's "little foot-page" (bot), who fancies she has Hilsinger's horse and sword. "He sleeps," she says, "with seven maids, and thought I was to be the eighth." This copy concludes with a manifestly spurious stanza.C bagrees withC afor ten stanzas, as to the matter, and so far seems to beC aimproved by Zuccalmaglio, with such substitutions as a princely castle for "seven pounds of gold." The last stanza (11),

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