A.

'Don Joan y Don Ramon' is a ballad in which a young man returns to his mother mortally wounded, and therefore would be likely to blend in the memory of reciters with any other ballad in which the same incident occurred. A version from the Balearic Islands may be put first, which has not yet taken up any characteristic part of the story of Renaud: Recuerdos y Bellezas de España, Mallorca, p. 336, 1842 == Milá, 1853, p. 114, No 15, Briz, III, 172; Die Balearen in Wort und Bild geschildert, by the Archduke Ludwig Salvator, Leipzig, 1871, II, 556.[364]

Don Joan and Don Ramon are returning from the chase. Don Ramon falls from his horse;Don Joan rides off. Don Ramon's mother sees her son coming through a field, gathering plants to heal his wounds. "What is the matter?" she asks; "you are pale." "I have been bled, and they made a mistake." "Ill luck to the barber!" "Curse him not; it is the last time. Between me and my horse we have nine and twenty lance thrusts; the horse has nine and I the rest. The horse will die to-night and I in the morning. Bury him in the best place in the stable, and me in St Eulalia; lay a sword crosswise over my grave, and if it is asked who killed me, let the answer be, Don Joan de la cassada."

There are numerous Catalan versions, and most of them add something to this story: Milá, 2d ed., 'El guerrero mal herido,' p. 171, No 210,A-F,A1-G1,A11; Briz, III, 171 f, two copies. These disagree considerably as to the cause of the hero's death, and the names are not constant. InA1of Milá, as in the Balearic ballad, Don Joan and Don Ramon are coming from the chase, and have a passage at lances; Don Joan is left dead, and Don Ramon is little short of it.A,B, of Milá, tell us that Don Pedro died on the field of battle and Don Joan came home mortally wounded.Esays that Don Joan and Don Ramon come from the chase, but Don Joan immediately says that he comes from a great battle. It is battle inF1, inE1(with Gastó returning), and in both the Catalan copies of Briz, the hero being Don Joan in the first of these last, and in the other nameless. The wounded man says he has been badly bled, Milá,A,B,A1,C1, Briz 2; he and his horse have lance wounds fifty-nine, thirty-nine, twenty-nine, etc., the horse nine and he the rest, Milá,A,B,E,A1, Briz 1. His mother informs him that his wife has borne a child, "a boy like the morning star," Briz 1, and says that if he will go to the best chamber he will find her surrounded by dames and ladies. This gives him no pleasure; he does not care for wife, nor dames, nor ladies, nor boys, nor morning stars: Briz 1, Milá,A1-G1. He asks to have his bed made, Milá,A-D,B1,C1, Briz 1, 2, for he shall die at midnight and his horse at dawn,A-D,A1, Briz 2, and gives directions for his burial and that of his horse. Let the bells toll when he is dead, and when people ask for whom it is, the answer will be, For Don Joan, Briz 1, Gastó, Milá,E1, who was killed in battle. Let his arms be put over the place where his horse is buried, and when people ask whose arms they are his mother will say, My son's, who died in battle, MiláA,B1. Let a drawn sword be laid across his grave, and let those that ask who killed him be told, Don Joan, at the chase, Milá,A1.[365]

We have, probably, to do with two different ballads here, versionsA-Fof Milá's 'Guerrero mal herido,' and Briz's second, belonging with 'Don Joan y Don Ramon,' whileA1-G1of Milá, and Briz's first, represent a ballad of the Renaud class. It is, however, possible that the first series may be imperfect copies of the second.

'Don Joan y Don Ramon' has agreements with ItalianB,A: inB, particularly, we note the hundred and fifty stabs of the knight and the ninety of his horse.

Portuguese.A good Portuguese version, 'D. Pedro e D. Leonarda,' in fifty short verses, unfortunately lacking the conclusion, has been lately communicated to Romania (XI, 585) by Leite de Vasconcellos. Dom Pedro went hunting, to be gone a year and a day, but was compelled to return home owing to a malady which seized him. His mother greets him with the information that his wife has given birth to a son. "Comfort and cheer her," he says, "and for me make a bed, which I shall never rise from." The wife asks, Where is my husband, that he does not come to see me? "He has gone a-hunting for a year and a day," replies the mother. What is this commotion in the house? "Only visitors." But the bells are tolling! Could it be for my husband? "No, no; it is for a feast-day." When do women go to mass after child-birth? "Some in three weeks and some in two, but a lady of your rank after a year and a day." And what color do theywear? "Some light blue and some a thousand wonders, but you, as a lady of rank, will go in mourning." The ballad stops abruptly with a half-pettish, half-humorous imprecation from the daughter-in-law against the mother for keeping her shut up so long.

There is a Slavic ballad, which, like the versions that are so popular with the Romance nations, abridges the first part of the story, and makes the interest turn upon the gradual discovery of the hero's death, but in other respects agrees with northern tradition.

Bohemian.A a.Erben, p. 473, No 9, Heřman a Dornička == Waldau, Böhmische Granaten, I, 73, No 100;b.Čelakowsky, I, 26 == Haupt u. Schmaler, I, 327.B.Erben, p. 475.C.Moravian, Sušil, p. 82, No 89 a, 'Nešt'astná svatba,' 'The Doleful Wedding.'D.Sušil, p. 83, No 89 b.E.Slovak, Čelakowsky, I, 80.

Wendish.A.Haupt und Schmaler, I, 31, No 3, 'Zrudny kwas,' 'The Doleful Wedding.'B.II, 131, No 182, 'Plakajuen ńeẃesta,' 'The Weeping Bride' (the last eight stanzas, the ten before being in no connection).

The hero on his wedding day is making ready his horse to fetch the bride; for he is, as in the Scandinavian ballads, not yet a married man. His mother, BohemianA, ascertaining his intention, begs him not to go himself with the bridal escort. Obviously she has a premonition of misfortune. Herman will never invite guests, and not go for them. The mother, in an access of passion, exclaims, If you go, may you break your neck, and never come back! Here we are reminded of the Färöe ballad. BohemianC,Dmake the forebodings to rise in Herman's mind, not in his mother's. The mother opposes the match in BohemianE, and the sister wishes that he may break his neck. WendishAhas nothing of opposition or bodement before the start, but the crows go winging about the young men who are going for the bride, and caw a horrible song, how the bridegroom shall fall from his horse and break his neck. The train sets off with a band of trumpets, drums, and stringed instruments, or, BohemianD, with a discharge of a hundred muskets, and when they come to a linden in a meadow Herman's horse "breaks his foot," and the rider his neck; BohemianD, when they come to a copse in a meadow the hundred pieces are again discharged, and Herman is mortally wounded. His friends stand debating what they shall do. The dying man bids them keep on: since the bride cannot be his, she shall be his youngest brother's, BohemianA,C; cf. DanishL,O,R, NorwegianC,F. The train arrives at the bride's house; the bride comes out to greet them, but, not seeing the bridegroom, inquires affrightedly what has become of him. They pretend that he has remained at home to see to the tables. The mother is reluctant to give them the bride, but finally yields. When the train comes again to the linden in the mead, Dorothy sees blood. It is Herman's! she cries; but they assure her that it is the blood of a deer that Herman had killed for the feast. They reach Herman's house, where the bride has an appalling reception, which need not be particularized.

In BohemianA, while they are at supper (or at half-eve == three in the afternoon), a death-bell is heard. Dorothy turns pale. For whom are they tolling? Surely it is for Herman. They tell her that Herman is lying in his room with a bad headache, and that the bell is ringing for a child. But she guesses the truth, sinks down and dies,a. She wears two knives in her hair, and thrusts one of them into her heart,b. The two are buried in one grave. In BohemianBthe bell sounds for the first time as the first course is brought on, and a second time when the second course comes. The bride is told in each case that the knell is for a child. Upon the third sounding, when the third course is brought in, they tell her that it is for Herman. She seizes two knives and runs to the graveyard: with one she digs herself a grave, and with the other stabs herself. In the Wendish fragmentB, at the first and second course (there is no bell) the bride asks where the bridegroom is, and at the third repeats the question with tears. She is told that he is ranging the woods, killing game for his wedding. InBohemianCthe bell tolls while they are getting the table ready. The bride asks if it is for Herman, and is told that it is for a child. When they sit down to table, the bells toll again. For whom should this be? For whom but Herman? She springs out of the window, and the catastrophe is the same as in BohemianB. InDthe bride hears the bell as the train is approaching the house, and they say it is for a child. On entering the court she asks where Herman is. He is in the cellar drawing wine for his guests. She asks again for Herman as the company sits down to table, and the answer is, In the chamber, lying in a coffin. She springs from the table and rushes to the chamber, seizing two golden knives, one of which she plunges into her heart. In BohemianE, when the bride arrives at John the bridegroom's house, and asks where he is, they tell her she had better go to bed till midnight. The moment she touches John she springs out of bed, and cries, Dear people, why have ye laid a living woman with a dead man? They stand, saying, What shall we give her, a white cap or a green chaplet? "I have not deserved the white (widow's) cap," she says; "I have deserved a green chaplet." In WendishA, when the bell first knolls, the bride asks, Where is the bridegroom? and they answer, In the new chamber, putting on his fine clothes. A second toll evokes a second inquiry; and they say he is in the new room, putting on his sword. The third time they conceal nothing: He fell off his horse and broke his neck. "Then tear off my fine clothes and dress me in white, that I may mourn a year and a day, and go to church in a green chaplet, and never forget him that loved me!" It will be remembered that the bride takes her own life in NorwegianA,C,D, and in SwedishE, as she does in BohemianA b,B,C,D.

Bis translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 305, No 48; by Doenniges, p. 25.

'Der Ritter von Staufenberg' is translated by Jamieson, from the "Romanzen" in the Wunderhorn, in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 257. DanishAby Prior, II, 301;Bby Jamieson, Popular Ballads, I, 219, and by Prior, II, 306, Buchanan, p. 52. 'The Erl-King's Daughter,' "Danish," in Lewis's Tales of Wonder, I, 53, No 10, is rendered from Herder. SwedishAby Keightley, Fairy Mythology, p. 84;Bby Keightley, p. 82, and by William and Mary Howitt, Literature and Romance of Northern Europe, I, 269. There is a version from Swedish by J. H. Dixon, in Notes and Queries, 4th Series, I, 168. BretonDby Keightley, as above, p. 433, and by Tom Taylor, Ballads and Songs of Brittany, 'Lord Nann and the Fairy,' p. 9. BohemianA bby Bowring, Cheskian Anthology, p. 69.

From a transcript from William Tytler's Brown MS.

From a transcript from William Tytler's Brown MS.

1Clark Colven and his gay ladie,As they walked to yon garden green,A belt about her middle gimp,Which cost Clark Colven crowns fifteen:2'O hearken weel now, my good lord,O hearken weel to what I say;When ye gang to the wall o Stream,O gang nae neer the well-fared may.'3'O haud your tongue, my gay ladie,Tak nae sic care o me;For I nae saw a fair womanI like so well as thee.'4He mounted on his berry-brown steed,And merry, merry rade he on,Till he came to the wall o Stream,And there he saw the mermaiden.5'Ye wash, ye wash, ye bonny may,And ay's ye wash your sark o silk:''It's a' for you, ye gentle knight,My skin is whiter than the milk.'6He's taen her by the milk-white hand,He's taen her by the sleeve sae green,And he's forgotten his gay ladie,And away with the fair maiden.*   *   *   *   *7'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven,'And aye sae sair's I mean my head!'And merrily leugh the mermaiden,'O win on till you be dead.8'But out ye tak your little pen-knife,And frae my sark ye shear a gare;Row that about your lovely head,And the pain ye'll never feel nae mair.'9Out he has taen his little pen-knife,And frae her sark he's shorn a gare,Rowed that about his lovely head,But the pain increased mair and mair.10'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven,'An aye sae sair's I mean my head!'And merrily laughd the mermaiden,'It will ay be war till ye be dead.'11Then out he drew his trusty blade,And thought wi it to be her dead,But she's become a fish again,And merrily sprang into the fleed.12He's mounted on his berry-brown steed,And dowy, dowy rade he home,And heavily, heavily lighted downWhen to his ladie's bower-door he came.13'Oh, mither, mither, mak my bed,And, gentle ladie, lay me down;Oh, brither, brither, unbend my bow,'T will never be bent by me again.'14His mither she has made his bed,His gentle ladie laid him down,His brither he has unbent his bow,'T was never bent by him again.

1Clark Colven and his gay ladie,As they walked to yon garden green,A belt about her middle gimp,Which cost Clark Colven crowns fifteen:

2'O hearken weel now, my good lord,O hearken weel to what I say;When ye gang to the wall o Stream,O gang nae neer the well-fared may.'

3'O haud your tongue, my gay ladie,Tak nae sic care o me;For I nae saw a fair womanI like so well as thee.'

4He mounted on his berry-brown steed,And merry, merry rade he on,Till he came to the wall o Stream,And there he saw the mermaiden.

5'Ye wash, ye wash, ye bonny may,And ay's ye wash your sark o silk:''It's a' for you, ye gentle knight,My skin is whiter than the milk.'

6He's taen her by the milk-white hand,He's taen her by the sleeve sae green,And he's forgotten his gay ladie,And away with the fair maiden.

*   *   *   *   *

7'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven,'And aye sae sair's I mean my head!'And merrily leugh the mermaiden,'O win on till you be dead.

8'But out ye tak your little pen-knife,And frae my sark ye shear a gare;Row that about your lovely head,And the pain ye'll never feel nae mair.'

9Out he has taen his little pen-knife,And frae her sark he's shorn a gare,Rowed that about his lovely head,But the pain increased mair and mair.

10'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven,'An aye sae sair's I mean my head!'And merrily laughd the mermaiden,'It will ay be war till ye be dead.'

11Then out he drew his trusty blade,And thought wi it to be her dead,But she's become a fish again,And merrily sprang into the fleed.

12He's mounted on his berry-brown steed,And dowy, dowy rade he home,And heavily, heavily lighted downWhen to his ladie's bower-door he came.

13'Oh, mither, mither, mak my bed,And, gentle ladie, lay me down;Oh, brither, brither, unbend my bow,'T will never be bent by me again.'

14His mither she has made his bed,His gentle ladie laid him down,His brither he has unbent his bow,'T was never bent by him again.

Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 302; ed. 1776, I, 161.

Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 302; ed. 1776, I, 161.

1Clerk Colvill and his lusty dameWere walking in the garden green;The belt around her stately waistCost Clerk Colvill of pounds fifteen.2'O promise me now, Clerk Colvill,Or it will cost ye muckle strife,Ride never by the wells of Slane,If ye wad live and brook your life.'3'Now speak nae mair, my lusty dame,Now speak nae mair of that to me;Did I neer see a fair woman,But I wad sin with her body?'4He's taen leave o his gay lady,Nought minding what his lady said,And he's rode by the wells of Slane,Where washing was a bonny maid.5'Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid,That wash sae clean your sark of silk;''And weel fa you, fair gentleman,Your body whiter than the milk.'*   *   *   *   *6Then loud, loud cry'd the Clerk Colvill,'O my head it pains me sair;''Then take, then take,' the maiden said,'And frae my sark you'll cut a gare.'7Then she's gied him a little bane-knife,And frae her sark he cut a share;She's ty'd it round his whey-white face,But ay his head it aked mair.8Then louder cry'd the Clerk Colvill,'O sairer, sairer akes my head;''And sairer, sairer ever will,'The maiden crys, 'till you be dead.'9Out then he drew his shining blade,Thinking to stick her where she stood,But she was vanishd to a fish,And swam far off, a fair mermaid.10'O mother, mother, braid my hair;My lusty lady, make my bed;O brother, take my sword and spear,For I have seen the false mermaid.'

1Clerk Colvill and his lusty dameWere walking in the garden green;The belt around her stately waistCost Clerk Colvill of pounds fifteen.

2'O promise me now, Clerk Colvill,Or it will cost ye muckle strife,Ride never by the wells of Slane,If ye wad live and brook your life.'

3'Now speak nae mair, my lusty dame,Now speak nae mair of that to me;Did I neer see a fair woman,But I wad sin with her body?'

4He's taen leave o his gay lady,Nought minding what his lady said,And he's rode by the wells of Slane,Where washing was a bonny maid.

5'Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid,That wash sae clean your sark of silk;''And weel fa you, fair gentleman,Your body whiter than the milk.'

*   *   *   *   *

6Then loud, loud cry'd the Clerk Colvill,'O my head it pains me sair;''Then take, then take,' the maiden said,'And frae my sark you'll cut a gare.'

7Then she's gied him a little bane-knife,And frae her sark he cut a share;She's ty'd it round his whey-white face,But ay his head it aked mair.

8Then louder cry'd the Clerk Colvill,'O sairer, sairer akes my head;''And sairer, sairer ever will,'The maiden crys, 'till you be dead.'

9Out then he drew his shining blade,Thinking to stick her where she stood,But she was vanishd to a fish,And swam far off, a fair mermaid.

10'O mother, mother, braid my hair;My lusty lady, make my bed;O brother, take my sword and spear,For I have seen the false mermaid.'

Notes and Queries, 4th Series, VIII, 510, from the recitation of a lady in Forfarshire.

Notes and Queries, 4th Series, VIII, 510, from the recitation of a lady in Forfarshire.

1Clerk Colin and his mother dearWere in the garden green;The band that was about her neckCost Colin pounds fifteen;The belt about her middle sae smaCost twice as much again.2'Forbidden gin ye wad be, love Colin,Forbidden gin ye wad be,And gang nae mair to Clyde's water,To court yon gay ladie.'3'Forbid me frae your ha, mother,Forbid me frae your bour,But forbid me not frae yon ladie;She's fair as ony flour.4'Forbidden I winna be, mother,Forbidden I winna be,For I maun gang to Clyde's water,To court yon gay ladie.'5An he is on his saddle set,As fast as he could win,An he is on to Clyde's water,By the lee licht o the moon.6An when he cam to the Clyde's waterHe lichted lowly down,An there he saw the mermaiden,Washin silk upon a stane.7'Come down, come down, now, Clerk Colin,Come down an [fish] wi me;I'll row ye in my arms twa,An a foot I sanna jee.'*   *   *   *   *8'O mother, mother, mak my bed,And, sister, lay me doun,An brother, tak my bow an shoot,For my shooting is done.'9He wasna weel laid in his bed,Nor yet weel fa'en asleep,When up an started the mermaiden,Just at Clerk Colin's feet.10'Will ye lie there an die, Clerk Colin,Will ye lie there an die?Or will ye gang to Clyde's water,To fish in flood wi me?'11'I will lie here an die,' he said,'I will lie here an die;In spite o a' the deils in hellI will lie here an die.'

1Clerk Colin and his mother dearWere in the garden green;The band that was about her neckCost Colin pounds fifteen;The belt about her middle sae smaCost twice as much again.

2'Forbidden gin ye wad be, love Colin,Forbidden gin ye wad be,And gang nae mair to Clyde's water,To court yon gay ladie.'

3'Forbid me frae your ha, mother,Forbid me frae your bour,But forbid me not frae yon ladie;She's fair as ony flour.

4'Forbidden I winna be, mother,Forbidden I winna be,For I maun gang to Clyde's water,To court yon gay ladie.'

5An he is on his saddle set,As fast as he could win,An he is on to Clyde's water,By the lee licht o the moon.

6An when he cam to the Clyde's waterHe lichted lowly down,An there he saw the mermaiden,Washin silk upon a stane.

7'Come down, come down, now, Clerk Colin,Come down an [fish] wi me;I'll row ye in my arms twa,An a foot I sanna jee.'

*   *   *   *   *

8'O mother, mother, mak my bed,And, sister, lay me doun,An brother, tak my bow an shoot,For my shooting is done.'

9He wasna weel laid in his bed,Nor yet weel fa'en asleep,When up an started the mermaiden,Just at Clerk Colin's feet.

10'Will ye lie there an die, Clerk Colin,Will ye lie there an die?Or will ye gang to Clyde's water,To fish in flood wi me?'

11'I will lie here an die,' he said,'I will lie here an die;In spite o a' the deils in hellI will lie here an die.'

A.

73.laugh; but we havelaughdin 103.93.Rowedseems to be writtenRound, possiblyRowad.143. brother.

73.laugh; but we havelaughdin 103.

93.Rowedseems to be writtenRound, possiblyRowad.

143. brother.

B.

54.The edition of 1776 hasbody's.

54.The edition of 1776 hasbody's.

C.

7. When they part he returns home, and on the way his head becomes "wondrous sair:"seemingly a comment of the reciter.The Abbotsford copy in "Scottish Songs," fol. 3, has these readings, not found in Lewis, the Brown MS., or Herd.

7. When they part he returns home, and on the way his head becomes "wondrous sair:"seemingly a comment of the reciter.

The Abbotsford copy in "Scottish Songs," fol. 3, has these readings, not found in Lewis, the Brown MS., or Herd.

32.And dinna deave me wi your din:Lewis,And haud, my Lady gay, your din.

32.And dinna deave me wi your din:Lewis,And haud, my Lady gay, your din.

63. He's laid her on the flowery green.

63. He's laid her on the flowery green.

FOOTNOTES:[345]"From a MS. in my grandfather's writing, with the following note: Copied from an old MS. in the possession of Alexander Fraser Tytler." Note of Miss Mary Fraser Tytler. The first stanza agrees with that which is cited from the original by Dr Anderson in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, and the number of stanzas is the same.Colvill, which has become familiar from Herd's copy, is the correct form, and Colven, Colvin, a vulgarized one, which inClapses into Colin.[346]Still, though theseparticular versesappear to have come from 'The Drowned Lovers,' they may represent other original ones which were to the same effect. See, further on, the beginning of some Färöe versions.[347]Hoc equidem a viris omni exceptione majoribus quotidie scimus probatum, quod quosdam hujusmodi larvarum quas fadas nominant amatores audivimus, et cum ad aliarum foeminarum matrimonia se transtulerunt, ante mortuos quam cum superinductis carnali se copula immiscuerunt. Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia (of about 1211), Liebrecht, p. 41.[348]Der Ritter von Stauffenberg, from a MS. of perhaps 1437, C. M. Engelhardt, Strassburg, 1823. Edited by Oskar Jänicke, in Altdeutsche Studien von O. Jänicke, E. Steinmeyer, W. Wilmanns, Berlin, 1871. Die Legende vom Ritter Herrn Peter Diemringer von Staufenberg in der Ortenau, reprint by F. Culemann of the Strassburg edition of Martin Schott, 1480-82. The old printed copy was made over by Fischart in 1588 (Jobin, Strassburg, in that year), and this 'ernewerte Beschreibung der alten Geschicht' is rehashed in seven 'Romanzen' in Wunderhorn, I, 407-18, ed. 1806, 401-12, ed. 1853. Simrock, Die deutschen Volksbücher, III, 1-48.[349]Engelhardt, pp 6, 13 f: Sagen aus Baden und der Umgegend, Carlsruhe, 1834, pp 107-122.[350]Separately printed, under the title, Elveskud, dansk, svensk, norsk, færøsk, islandsk, skotsk, vendisk, bømisk, tysk, fransk, italiensk, katalonsk, spansk, bretonsk Folkevise, i overblik ved Svend Grundtvig. Kjøbenhavn, 1881.[351]All the Norse versions are in two-line stanzas.[352]In 'Jomfruen og Dværgekongen,'C25, 26, Grundtvig, No 37, the woman who has been carried off to the hill, wishing to die, asks that atter-corns may be put into her drink. She evidently gets, however, only the villar-konn, elvar-konn, of Landstad, Nos 42-45, which are of lethean property. But in J. og D.F, we may infer an atter-corn, though none is mentioned, from the effect of the draughts, which is that belt, stays, and sark successively burst. See p. 363 f.[353]So, also, SwedishA,F, NorwegianA,C. This is a cantrip sleight of the elves. The Icelandic burden supposes this illumination, "The low was burning red;" and when Olaf seeks to escape, in NorwegianA,C,E,G,I,K, he has to make his way through the elf-flame, elvelogi.[354]Grundtvig remarks that Herder's translation, 'Erlkönigs Tochter,' Volkslieder, II, 158, took so well with the Germans that at last it came to pass for an original German ballad. The Wunderhorn, I, 261, ed. 1806, gives it with the title, 'Herr Olof,' as from a flying sheet (== Scherer's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1851, p. 371). It appears, with some little changes, in Zarnack's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1819, I, 29, whence it passed into Erlach, IV, 6, and Richter und Marschner, p. 60. Kretzschmer has the translation, again, with a variation here and there, set to a "North German" and to a "Westphalian" air, p. 8, p. 9.[355]Owing to a close resemblance of circumstances in 'The Elf-shot,' in 'Frillens Hævn' ('The Leman's Wreak'), Grundtvig, No 208, and in 'Ribold og Guldborg,' Grundtvig, No 82, these ballads naturally have details in common. The pretence that the horse was not sure-footed and hurtled his rider against a tree; the request to mother, father, etc., to make the bed, take care of the horse, apply a bandage, send for a priest, etc.; the testament, the assignment of the bride by the dying man to his brother, and her declaration that she will never give her troth to two brothers; and the nearly simultaneous death of hero, bride, and mother, occur in many versions of both Elveskud and Ribold, and most of them in Frillens Hævn. A little Danish ballad, 'Hr. Olufs Død,' cited by Grundtvig, IV, 847, seems to be Elveskud with the elf-shot omitted.[356]Luzel was in possession of other versions, but he assures us that every detail is contained in one or the other of these three.[357]B13, "You must marry me straightway, or give me my weight in silver;"then, "or die in three days," etc. It is not impossible that this stanza, entirely out of place in this ballad, was derived from 'Le Comte des Chapelles,' Luzel, p. 457, from which certain French versions have taken a part of their story. See Luzel, the eighth and ninth stanzas, on p. 461.[358]B50, "A white gown, orbroget, or my violet petticoat?" Luzel says he does not understandbroget, and in his Observations, prefixed to the volume, expresses a conjecture that it must have been altered fromdroged, robe d'enfant, robe de femme, but we evidently want a color. Grundtvig remarks thatbrogetwould make sense in Danish, where it means party-colored. Scotchbroakitis black and white. Icelandicbrók, tartan, party-colored cloth, is said to be from Gaelicbreac, versicolor (Vigfusson). This points to a suitable meaning for Bretonbroget.[359]Dadds: "It was a marvel to see, the night after husband and wife had been buried, two oaks rise from the common tomb, and on their branches two white doves, which sang there at daybreak, and then took flight for the skies."[360]It will be observed that some of the Renaud ballads in the Poésies populaires de la France were derived from earlier publications: such as were communicated by collectors appear to have been sent in in 1852 or 1853. The versions cited by Rathery, Revue Critique, II, 287 ff, are all from the MS. Poésies populaires.BB,CChave either been overlooked by me in turning over the first five volumes, or occur in vol. vi, which has not yet been received.GGcame to hand too late to be ranked at its proper place.[361]InCthe mother-in-law tells her daughter, austerely:Vous aurez plutôt trouvé un mariQue moi je n'aurai trouvé un fils.SoE, nearly. A mother makes a like remark to the betrothed of a dead son in the Danish ballad of 'Ebbe Tygesen,' Grundtvig, Danske Kæmpeviser og Folkesange, fornyede i gammel Stil, 1867, p. 122, st. 14.FandTconclude with these words of the wife:'Ma mère, dites au fossoyeurQu'il creuse une fosse pour deux;'Et que l'espace y soit si grandQue l'on y mette aussi l'enfant.'The burial of father, mother, and child in a common grave is found elsewhere in ballads, as in 'Redselille og Medelvold,' Grundtvig, No 271,A37,G20,M26,X27.[362]Shutting our eyes to other Romance versions, or, we may say, opening them to Scandinavian ones, we might see in these stabs the wounds made by the elf-knives in DanishD,G,H,N,O,R,X, SwedishG, NorwegianH,I. See 'Don Joan y Don Ramon,' further on.[363]The ballad of 'Luggieri,' published by Salvatori in the Rassegna Settimanale, Rome, June 22, 1879, and reprinted by Nigra in Romania, XI, 391 (a variety of 'Rizzardo bello,' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 62, No 83), appears to me not to belong with 'Renaud,' but with the class of 'The Cruel Brother,' as already remarked of the Venetian ballad at p. 142.[364]The version in the Recuerdos was obtained in Majorca by Don J. M. Quadrado. The editor remarks that the employment of the articles Il and La instead of Es and Sa proves it to be as old as the sixteenth century. Die Balearen, etc., is cited after Grundtvig.[365]I do not entirely understand Professor Milá's arrangement of those texts which he has not printed in full, and it is very likely that more of his copies than I have cited exhibit some of the traits specified.

[345]"From a MS. in my grandfather's writing, with the following note: Copied from an old MS. in the possession of Alexander Fraser Tytler." Note of Miss Mary Fraser Tytler. The first stanza agrees with that which is cited from the original by Dr Anderson in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, and the number of stanzas is the same.Colvill, which has become familiar from Herd's copy, is the correct form, and Colven, Colvin, a vulgarized one, which inClapses into Colin.

[345]"From a MS. in my grandfather's writing, with the following note: Copied from an old MS. in the possession of Alexander Fraser Tytler." Note of Miss Mary Fraser Tytler. The first stanza agrees with that which is cited from the original by Dr Anderson in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, and the number of stanzas is the same.

Colvill, which has become familiar from Herd's copy, is the correct form, and Colven, Colvin, a vulgarized one, which inClapses into Colin.

[346]Still, though theseparticular versesappear to have come from 'The Drowned Lovers,' they may represent other original ones which were to the same effect. See, further on, the beginning of some Färöe versions.

[346]Still, though theseparticular versesappear to have come from 'The Drowned Lovers,' they may represent other original ones which were to the same effect. See, further on, the beginning of some Färöe versions.

[347]Hoc equidem a viris omni exceptione majoribus quotidie scimus probatum, quod quosdam hujusmodi larvarum quas fadas nominant amatores audivimus, et cum ad aliarum foeminarum matrimonia se transtulerunt, ante mortuos quam cum superinductis carnali se copula immiscuerunt. Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia (of about 1211), Liebrecht, p. 41.

[347]Hoc equidem a viris omni exceptione majoribus quotidie scimus probatum, quod quosdam hujusmodi larvarum quas fadas nominant amatores audivimus, et cum ad aliarum foeminarum matrimonia se transtulerunt, ante mortuos quam cum superinductis carnali se copula immiscuerunt. Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia (of about 1211), Liebrecht, p. 41.

[348]Der Ritter von Stauffenberg, from a MS. of perhaps 1437, C. M. Engelhardt, Strassburg, 1823. Edited by Oskar Jänicke, in Altdeutsche Studien von O. Jänicke, E. Steinmeyer, W. Wilmanns, Berlin, 1871. Die Legende vom Ritter Herrn Peter Diemringer von Staufenberg in der Ortenau, reprint by F. Culemann of the Strassburg edition of Martin Schott, 1480-82. The old printed copy was made over by Fischart in 1588 (Jobin, Strassburg, in that year), and this 'ernewerte Beschreibung der alten Geschicht' is rehashed in seven 'Romanzen' in Wunderhorn, I, 407-18, ed. 1806, 401-12, ed. 1853. Simrock, Die deutschen Volksbücher, III, 1-48.

[348]Der Ritter von Stauffenberg, from a MS. of perhaps 1437, C. M. Engelhardt, Strassburg, 1823. Edited by Oskar Jänicke, in Altdeutsche Studien von O. Jänicke, E. Steinmeyer, W. Wilmanns, Berlin, 1871. Die Legende vom Ritter Herrn Peter Diemringer von Staufenberg in der Ortenau, reprint by F. Culemann of the Strassburg edition of Martin Schott, 1480-82. The old printed copy was made over by Fischart in 1588 (Jobin, Strassburg, in that year), and this 'ernewerte Beschreibung der alten Geschicht' is rehashed in seven 'Romanzen' in Wunderhorn, I, 407-18, ed. 1806, 401-12, ed. 1853. Simrock, Die deutschen Volksbücher, III, 1-48.

[349]Engelhardt, pp 6, 13 f: Sagen aus Baden und der Umgegend, Carlsruhe, 1834, pp 107-122.

[349]Engelhardt, pp 6, 13 f: Sagen aus Baden und der Umgegend, Carlsruhe, 1834, pp 107-122.

[350]Separately printed, under the title, Elveskud, dansk, svensk, norsk, færøsk, islandsk, skotsk, vendisk, bømisk, tysk, fransk, italiensk, katalonsk, spansk, bretonsk Folkevise, i overblik ved Svend Grundtvig. Kjøbenhavn, 1881.

[350]Separately printed, under the title, Elveskud, dansk, svensk, norsk, færøsk, islandsk, skotsk, vendisk, bømisk, tysk, fransk, italiensk, katalonsk, spansk, bretonsk Folkevise, i overblik ved Svend Grundtvig. Kjøbenhavn, 1881.

[351]All the Norse versions are in two-line stanzas.

[351]All the Norse versions are in two-line stanzas.

[352]In 'Jomfruen og Dværgekongen,'C25, 26, Grundtvig, No 37, the woman who has been carried off to the hill, wishing to die, asks that atter-corns may be put into her drink. She evidently gets, however, only the villar-konn, elvar-konn, of Landstad, Nos 42-45, which are of lethean property. But in J. og D.F, we may infer an atter-corn, though none is mentioned, from the effect of the draughts, which is that belt, stays, and sark successively burst. See p. 363 f.

[352]In 'Jomfruen og Dværgekongen,'C25, 26, Grundtvig, No 37, the woman who has been carried off to the hill, wishing to die, asks that atter-corns may be put into her drink. She evidently gets, however, only the villar-konn, elvar-konn, of Landstad, Nos 42-45, which are of lethean property. But in J. og D.F, we may infer an atter-corn, though none is mentioned, from the effect of the draughts, which is that belt, stays, and sark successively burst. See p. 363 f.

[353]So, also, SwedishA,F, NorwegianA,C. This is a cantrip sleight of the elves. The Icelandic burden supposes this illumination, "The low was burning red;" and when Olaf seeks to escape, in NorwegianA,C,E,G,I,K, he has to make his way through the elf-flame, elvelogi.

[353]So, also, SwedishA,F, NorwegianA,C. This is a cantrip sleight of the elves. The Icelandic burden supposes this illumination, "The low was burning red;" and when Olaf seeks to escape, in NorwegianA,C,E,G,I,K, he has to make his way through the elf-flame, elvelogi.

[354]Grundtvig remarks that Herder's translation, 'Erlkönigs Tochter,' Volkslieder, II, 158, took so well with the Germans that at last it came to pass for an original German ballad. The Wunderhorn, I, 261, ed. 1806, gives it with the title, 'Herr Olof,' as from a flying sheet (== Scherer's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1851, p. 371). It appears, with some little changes, in Zarnack's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1819, I, 29, whence it passed into Erlach, IV, 6, and Richter und Marschner, p. 60. Kretzschmer has the translation, again, with a variation here and there, set to a "North German" and to a "Westphalian" air, p. 8, p. 9.

[354]Grundtvig remarks that Herder's translation, 'Erlkönigs Tochter,' Volkslieder, II, 158, took so well with the Germans that at last it came to pass for an original German ballad. The Wunderhorn, I, 261, ed. 1806, gives it with the title, 'Herr Olof,' as from a flying sheet (== Scherer's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1851, p. 371). It appears, with some little changes, in Zarnack's Deutsche Volkslieder, 1819, I, 29, whence it passed into Erlach, IV, 6, and Richter und Marschner, p. 60. Kretzschmer has the translation, again, with a variation here and there, set to a "North German" and to a "Westphalian" air, p. 8, p. 9.

[355]Owing to a close resemblance of circumstances in 'The Elf-shot,' in 'Frillens Hævn' ('The Leman's Wreak'), Grundtvig, No 208, and in 'Ribold og Guldborg,' Grundtvig, No 82, these ballads naturally have details in common. The pretence that the horse was not sure-footed and hurtled his rider against a tree; the request to mother, father, etc., to make the bed, take care of the horse, apply a bandage, send for a priest, etc.; the testament, the assignment of the bride by the dying man to his brother, and her declaration that she will never give her troth to two brothers; and the nearly simultaneous death of hero, bride, and mother, occur in many versions of both Elveskud and Ribold, and most of them in Frillens Hævn. A little Danish ballad, 'Hr. Olufs Død,' cited by Grundtvig, IV, 847, seems to be Elveskud with the elf-shot omitted.

[355]Owing to a close resemblance of circumstances in 'The Elf-shot,' in 'Frillens Hævn' ('The Leman's Wreak'), Grundtvig, No 208, and in 'Ribold og Guldborg,' Grundtvig, No 82, these ballads naturally have details in common. The pretence that the horse was not sure-footed and hurtled his rider against a tree; the request to mother, father, etc., to make the bed, take care of the horse, apply a bandage, send for a priest, etc.; the testament, the assignment of the bride by the dying man to his brother, and her declaration that she will never give her troth to two brothers; and the nearly simultaneous death of hero, bride, and mother, occur in many versions of both Elveskud and Ribold, and most of them in Frillens Hævn. A little Danish ballad, 'Hr. Olufs Død,' cited by Grundtvig, IV, 847, seems to be Elveskud with the elf-shot omitted.

[356]Luzel was in possession of other versions, but he assures us that every detail is contained in one or the other of these three.

[356]Luzel was in possession of other versions, but he assures us that every detail is contained in one or the other of these three.

[357]B13, "You must marry me straightway, or give me my weight in silver;"then, "or die in three days," etc. It is not impossible that this stanza, entirely out of place in this ballad, was derived from 'Le Comte des Chapelles,' Luzel, p. 457, from which certain French versions have taken a part of their story. See Luzel, the eighth and ninth stanzas, on p. 461.

[357]B13, "You must marry me straightway, or give me my weight in silver;"then, "or die in three days," etc. It is not impossible that this stanza, entirely out of place in this ballad, was derived from 'Le Comte des Chapelles,' Luzel, p. 457, from which certain French versions have taken a part of their story. See Luzel, the eighth and ninth stanzas, on p. 461.

[358]B50, "A white gown, orbroget, or my violet petticoat?" Luzel says he does not understandbroget, and in his Observations, prefixed to the volume, expresses a conjecture that it must have been altered fromdroged, robe d'enfant, robe de femme, but we evidently want a color. Grundtvig remarks thatbrogetwould make sense in Danish, where it means party-colored. Scotchbroakitis black and white. Icelandicbrók, tartan, party-colored cloth, is said to be from Gaelicbreac, versicolor (Vigfusson). This points to a suitable meaning for Bretonbroget.

[358]B50, "A white gown, orbroget, or my violet petticoat?" Luzel says he does not understandbroget, and in his Observations, prefixed to the volume, expresses a conjecture that it must have been altered fromdroged, robe d'enfant, robe de femme, but we evidently want a color. Grundtvig remarks thatbrogetwould make sense in Danish, where it means party-colored. Scotchbroakitis black and white. Icelandicbrók, tartan, party-colored cloth, is said to be from Gaelicbreac, versicolor (Vigfusson). This points to a suitable meaning for Bretonbroget.

[359]Dadds: "It was a marvel to see, the night after husband and wife had been buried, two oaks rise from the common tomb, and on their branches two white doves, which sang there at daybreak, and then took flight for the skies."

[359]Dadds: "It was a marvel to see, the night after husband and wife had been buried, two oaks rise from the common tomb, and on their branches two white doves, which sang there at daybreak, and then took flight for the skies."

[360]It will be observed that some of the Renaud ballads in the Poésies populaires de la France were derived from earlier publications: such as were communicated by collectors appear to have been sent in in 1852 or 1853. The versions cited by Rathery, Revue Critique, II, 287 ff, are all from the MS. Poésies populaires.BB,CChave either been overlooked by me in turning over the first five volumes, or occur in vol. vi, which has not yet been received.GGcame to hand too late to be ranked at its proper place.

[360]It will be observed that some of the Renaud ballads in the Poésies populaires de la France were derived from earlier publications: such as were communicated by collectors appear to have been sent in in 1852 or 1853. The versions cited by Rathery, Revue Critique, II, 287 ff, are all from the MS. Poésies populaires.BB,CChave either been overlooked by me in turning over the first five volumes, or occur in vol. vi, which has not yet been received.GGcame to hand too late to be ranked at its proper place.

[361]InCthe mother-in-law tells her daughter, austerely:Vous aurez plutôt trouvé un mariQue moi je n'aurai trouvé un fils.SoE, nearly. A mother makes a like remark to the betrothed of a dead son in the Danish ballad of 'Ebbe Tygesen,' Grundtvig, Danske Kæmpeviser og Folkesange, fornyede i gammel Stil, 1867, p. 122, st. 14.FandTconclude with these words of the wife:'Ma mère, dites au fossoyeurQu'il creuse une fosse pour deux;'Et que l'espace y soit si grandQue l'on y mette aussi l'enfant.'The burial of father, mother, and child in a common grave is found elsewhere in ballads, as in 'Redselille og Medelvold,' Grundtvig, No 271,A37,G20,M26,X27.

[361]InCthe mother-in-law tells her daughter, austerely:

Vous aurez plutôt trouvé un mariQue moi je n'aurai trouvé un fils.

Vous aurez plutôt trouvé un mariQue moi je n'aurai trouvé un fils.

SoE, nearly. A mother makes a like remark to the betrothed of a dead son in the Danish ballad of 'Ebbe Tygesen,' Grundtvig, Danske Kæmpeviser og Folkesange, fornyede i gammel Stil, 1867, p. 122, st. 14.FandTconclude with these words of the wife:

'Ma mère, dites au fossoyeurQu'il creuse une fosse pour deux;'Et que l'espace y soit si grandQue l'on y mette aussi l'enfant.'

'Ma mère, dites au fossoyeurQu'il creuse une fosse pour deux;'Et que l'espace y soit si grandQue l'on y mette aussi l'enfant.'

The burial of father, mother, and child in a common grave is found elsewhere in ballads, as in 'Redselille og Medelvold,' Grundtvig, No 271,A37,G20,M26,X27.

[362]Shutting our eyes to other Romance versions, or, we may say, opening them to Scandinavian ones, we might see in these stabs the wounds made by the elf-knives in DanishD,G,H,N,O,R,X, SwedishG, NorwegianH,I. See 'Don Joan y Don Ramon,' further on.

[362]Shutting our eyes to other Romance versions, or, we may say, opening them to Scandinavian ones, we might see in these stabs the wounds made by the elf-knives in DanishD,G,H,N,O,R,X, SwedishG, NorwegianH,I. See 'Don Joan y Don Ramon,' further on.

[363]The ballad of 'Luggieri,' published by Salvatori in the Rassegna Settimanale, Rome, June 22, 1879, and reprinted by Nigra in Romania, XI, 391 (a variety of 'Rizzardo bello,' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 62, No 83), appears to me not to belong with 'Renaud,' but with the class of 'The Cruel Brother,' as already remarked of the Venetian ballad at p. 142.

[363]The ballad of 'Luggieri,' published by Salvatori in the Rassegna Settimanale, Rome, June 22, 1879, and reprinted by Nigra in Romania, XI, 391 (a variety of 'Rizzardo bello,' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 62, No 83), appears to me not to belong with 'Renaud,' but with the class of 'The Cruel Brother,' as already remarked of the Venetian ballad at p. 142.

[364]The version in the Recuerdos was obtained in Majorca by Don J. M. Quadrado. The editor remarks that the employment of the articles Il and La instead of Es and Sa proves it to be as old as the sixteenth century. Die Balearen, etc., is cited after Grundtvig.

[364]The version in the Recuerdos was obtained in Majorca by Don J. M. Quadrado. The editor remarks that the employment of the articles Il and La instead of Es and Sa proves it to be as old as the sixteenth century. Die Balearen, etc., is cited after Grundtvig.

[365]I do not entirely understand Professor Milá's arrangement of those texts which he has not printed in full, and it is very likely that more of his copies than I have cited exhibit some of the traits specified.

[365]I do not entirely understand Professor Milá's arrangement of those texts which he has not printed in full, and it is very likely that more of his copies than I have cited exhibit some of the traits specified.

A.'The Broomfield Hill.'a.Scott's Minstrelsy, III, 271, 1803.b.The same, II, 229, 1802.B.'I'll wager, I'll wager,' etc., Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 310.C.'Broomfield Hills,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 291.D.'Lord John,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 195.E.Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January, 1830, p. 7.F.'The Merry Broomfield, or The West Country Wager.'a.Douce Ballads, III, fol. 64b.b.The same, IV, fol. 10.

A.'The Broomfield Hill.'a.Scott's Minstrelsy, III, 271, 1803.b.The same, II, 229, 1802.

B.'I'll wager, I'll wager,' etc., Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 310.

C.'Broomfield Hills,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 291.

D.'Lord John,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 195.

E.Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January, 1830, p. 7.

F.'The Merry Broomfield, or The West Country Wager.'a.Douce Ballads, III, fol. 64b.b.The same, IV, fol. 10.

A song of 'Brume, brume on hil' is one of those named in The Complaint of Scotland, 1549, p. 64 of Dr J. A. H. Murray's edition. "The foot of the song" is sung, with others, by Moros in Wager's "very merry and pithy Comedy called The longer thou livest the more fool thou art," c. 1568. 'Broom, broom on hil' is also one of Captain Cox's "bunch of ballets and songs, all auncient," No 53 of the collection, 1575.[366]The lines that Moros sings are:

Brome, brome on hill,The gentle brome on hill, hill,Brome, brome on Hive hill,The gentle brome on Hive hill,The brome stands on Hive hilla.

Brome, brome on hill,The gentle brome on hill, hill,Brome, brome on Hive hill,The gentle brome on Hive hill,The brome stands on Hive hilla.

"A more sanguine antiquary than the editor," says Scott, "might perhaps endeavor to identify this poem, which is of undoubted antiquity, with the 'Broom, broom on hill' mentioned ... as forming part of Captain Cox's collection." Assuredly "Broom, broom on hill," if that were all, would justify no such identification, but the occurrence of Hive hill, both in the burden which Moros sings and in the eighth stanza of Scott's ballad, is a circumstance that would embolden even a very cautious antiquary, if he had received Hive hill from tradition, and was therefore unaffected by a suspicion that this locality had been introduced by an editor from the old song.[367]

Most of the versions give no explicit account of the knight's prolonged sleep. He must needs be asleep when the lady comes to him, else there would be no story; but his heavy slumber, not broken by all the efforts of his horse and his hawk, is as a matter of course not natural; es geht nicht zu mit rechten dingen; the witch-wife ofA4 is at the bottom of that. And yet the broom-flowers strewed on his hals-bane inA8,B3, and the roses inD6, are only to be a sign that the maid had been there and was gone. Considering the character of many of Buchan's versions, we cannot feel sure thatChas not borrowed the second and third stanzas fromB, and the witch-wife, in the sixth, fromA; butit would be extravagant to call in question the genuineness ofCas a whole. The eighth stanza gives us the light which we require.

'Ye'll pu the bloom frae aff the broom,Strew't at his head and feet,And aye the thicker that ye do strew,The sounder he will sleep.'

'Ye'll pu the bloom frae aff the broom,Strew't at his head and feet,And aye the thicker that ye do strew,The sounder he will sleep.'

The silver belt about the knight's head inA5 can hardly have to do with his sleeping, and to me seems meaningless. It is possible that roses are not used at random inD6, though, like the posie of pleasant perfume inF9, they serve only to prove that the lady had been there. An excrescence on the dog-rose, rosenschwamm, schlafkunz, kunz, schlafapfel, it is believed in Germany, if laid under a man's pillow, will make him sleep till it is taken away. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 1008, and Deutsches Wörterbuch (Hildebrand), V, 2753e.

Cmakes the lady hide in the broom to hear what the knight will say when he wakes, and in this point agrees with the broadsideF, as also in the comment made by the men on their master in stanza 24; cf.F16.

Mr J. W. Dixon has reprinted an Aldermary Churchyard copy of the broadside, differing as to four or five words only fromF, in Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 116, Percy Society, Volume XVII. The editor remarks thatAis evidently taken fromF; from which it is clear that the pungent buckishness of the broadside does not necessarily make an impression.Asmells of the broom;Fsuggests the groom.[368]

The sleep which is produced inAby strewing the flower of the broom on a man's head and feet, according to a witch's advice, is brought about in two Norse ballads by means not simply occult, but altogether preternatural; that is, by the power of runes. One of these, 'Sömn-runorna,' Arwidsson, II, 249, No 133, is preserved in a manuscript of the end of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth, century. The other, 'Sövnerunerne,' Grundtvig, II, 337, No 81, was taken down in 1847 from the singing of a woman seventy-five years of age.

The Swedish ballad runs thus. There is a damsel in our land who every night will sleep with a man, and dance a maid in the morning. The fame of this comes to the ears of the son of the king of England, who orders his horse, thinking to catch this damsel. When he arrives at the castle gate, there stands the lady, and asks him what is his haste. He frankly answers that he expects to get a fair maid's honor for his pains, and she bids him follow her to the upper room. She lays sheets on the bed, and writes strong runes on them. The youth sits down on the bed, and is asleep before he can stretch himself out. He sleeps through that day, and the next, and into the third. Then the lady rouses him. "Wake up; you are sleeping your two eyes out." He is still so heavy that he can hardly stir. He offers her his horse and saddle to report the matter as he wishes. "Keep your horse," she says; "shame fa such liars."

The Danish story is much the same. One of a king's five sons goes to make trial of the maid. She tells him to fasten his horse while she goes before and unlocks; calls to her maid to bring five feather-beds, feather-beds nine, and write a sleep on each of them. He sleeps through three days, and is roused the fourth, with "Wake up, wake up; you have slept away your pluck." He offers her a bribe, as before, which she scornfully rejects, assuring him that he will not be spared when she comes among maids and knights.

A sleep produced by runes or gramarye is one of the two main incidents of a tale in the Gesta Romanorum, better known through the other, which is the forfeit of flesh for money not forthcoming at the day set, as in the Merchant of Venice: Latin, Oesterley, No 195, p. 603;[369]English, Harleian MS. 7333, No 40, printed by Douce, Illustrations of Shakspere, I, 281, Madden, p. 130, Herrtage, p. 158; German, No 68, of the printed edition of 1489 (which I have not seen). A knight,who has a passion for an emperor's daughter, engages to give a thousand [hundred] marks for being once admitted to her bed. He instantly falls asleep, and has to be roused in the morning. Like terms are made for a second night, and the man's lands have to be pledged to raise the money. He sleeps as before, but stipulates for a third night at the same price. A merchant lends him the thousand marks, on condition that, if he breaks his day, his creditor may take the money's weight of flesh from his body. Feeling what a risk he is now running, the knight consults a philosopher, Virgil, in the English version. The philosopher (who in the Latin version says he ought to know, for he had helped the lady to her trick) tells the knight that between the sheet and coverlet of the bed there is a letter, which causes the sleep; this he must find, and, when found, cast far from the bed. The knight follows these directions, and gets the better of the lady, who conceives a reciprocal passion for him, and delivers him, in the sequel, from the fearful penalty of his bond by pleading that the flesh must be taken without shedding of blood.

The romance of Dolopathos, a variety of the Seven Wise Masters, written about 1185, considerably before the earliest date which has hitherto been proposed for the compilation of the Gesta, has this story, with variations, of which only these require to be noted. The lady has herself been a student in magic. She is wooed of many; all comers are received, and pay a hundred marks; any one who accomplishes his will may wed her the next day. An enchanted feather of a screech-owl, laid under the pillow, makes all who enter the bed fall asleep at once, and many have been baffled by this charm. At last a youth of high birth, but small means, tries his fortune, and, failing at the first essay, tries once more. Thinking that the softness of his couch was the cause of his falling asleep, he puts away the pillow, and in this process the feather is thrown out: Iohannis de Alta Silva Dolopathos, ed. Oesterley, pp 57-59; Herbers, Li Romans de Dolopathos, Brunet et Montaiglon, vv 7096-7498, pp 244-59; Le Roux de Lincy, in a sequel to Loiseleur-Deslongchamps's Essai sur les Fables indiennes, pp 211 ff. This form of the tale is found in German, in a fifteenth-century manuscript, from which it was printed by Haupt in Altdeutsche Blätter, I, 143-49; but here the sleep is produced by the use ofboththe means employed in the Gesta and in Dolopathos, letter (runes) and feather, "the wild man's feather."[370]

Magic is dropped, and a sleeping draught administered, just as the man is going to bed, in a version of the story in the Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, Giornata, IVa, Nov. 1_{a} (last quarter of the fourteenth century). Upon the third trial the man, warned by a friendly chambermaid not to drink, pours the medicated wine into his bosom. The account of Ser Giovanni is adopted in Les Adventures d'Abdalla fils d'Hanif, etc., La Haye, 1713, Bibliothèque de Romans, 1778, Janvier, I, 112-14, 143 f.

Ellin writes sleep-runes on the cushions on which her husband is to sleep, in the Danish ballad 'Frændehævn,' Grundtvig, No 4,A33 [C45].

In Icelandic tales a sleep-thorn[371]is employed, probably a thorn inscribed with runes. The thorn is stuck into the clothes or into the head (the ears, according to the popular notion, Vigfusson), and the sleep lasts till the thorn is taken out. Odin stuck such a thorn into Brynhild's garments: Fáfnismál, 43; Sigrdrífumál, 7; Völsúnga Saga, Fornaldar Sögur, I, 166. The thorn is put into the clothes also in the Icelandic fairy-tale, Mærþöll, Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen, p. 286. Ólöf, to save herself from Helgi's violence, and to punish his insolence, sticks him with a sleep-thorn after he is dead drunk: HrólfsSaga Kraka, Forn. S. I, 18f, Torfæus, p. 32. Vilhjálmr sticks a sleep-thorn into Hrólfr, and he lies as if dead so long as the thorn is in him: Gaungu-Hrólfs Saga, Forn. S., III, 303, 306.

A pillow of soporific quality, which Kamele, by Isot's direction, puts under Kaedin's head, assures her safety though she lies all night by his side: Ulrich's continuation of Gottfried's Tristan, vv 1668-99, 1744-85; and Heinrich's continuation, omitting the last circumstance, vv 4861-4960 (J. Grimm).

The witch-woman, in the English ballad,A4, represents the philosopher in the Gesta, and the wager in the other versions the fee or fine exacted by the lady in the Gesta and elsewhere.

An Italian ballad, a slight and unmeritable thing, follows the story of Ser Giovanni, or agrees with it, in respect to the sleeping-draught. A man falls in with a girl at a spring, and offers her a hundred ducats, or scudi, per una nottina. The girl says that she must consult her mother. The mother advises her to accept the offer: she will give the man a drug, and the money will serve for a dowry. The man, roused in the morning, counts out the money with one hand and wipes his eyes with the other. When asked why he is crying, he replies that the money is not the loss he weeps for, and makes a second offer of the same amount. The girl wishes to refer the matter to her mother again, but the gallant says the mother shall not take him in a second time. One version (A) ends somewhat more respectably: the girl declares that, having come off with her honor once, she will not again expose herself to shame.A.Ferraro, Canti popolari monferrini, 'La Ragazza onesta,' p. 66, No 47.B.Ferraro, C. p. di Ferrara, Cento e Pontelagoscuro, p. 53 (Cento) No 4, 'La Ragazza onesta.'C.The same, p. 94 (Pontelagoscuro) No 8, 'La Brunetta,' previously in Rivista di Filologia Romanza, II, 200.D.Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 74, 'La Contadina alla Fonte.'E.Bernoni, C. p. veneziani, Puntata V, No 4, p. 6, 'La bella Brunetta.'F.Bolza, Canzoni p. comasche, p. 677, No 57, 'L'Amante deluso.'G.Ive, C. p. istriani, p. 324, No 4, 'La Contadina alla Fonte.'H.Ginandrea, C. p. marchigiani, p. 277, No 12, 'La Madre indegna.'I.Ferraro, C. p. della Bassa Romagna, Rivista di Letteratura popolare, p. 57, 'La Ragazza onesta.'J.Casetti e Imbriani, C. p. della Provincie meridionali, p. 1, No 1 (Chieti), the first sixteen verses.K.Archivio per Tradizioni popolari, I, 89, No 4, 'La Fandéll e lu Cavalére,' the first thirteen lines.

'The Sleepy Merchant,' a modern ballad, in Kinloch's MSS, V, 26, was perhaps fashioned on some traditional report of the story in Il Pecorone. The girl gives the merchant a drink, and when the sun is up starts to her feet, crying, "I'm a leal maiden yet!" The merchant comes back, and gets another dram, but "tooms it a' between the bolster and the wa," and then sits up and sings.

A ballad found everywhere in Germany, but always in what appears to be an extremely defective form, must originally, one would think, have had some connection with those which we are considering. A hunter meets a girl on the heath, and takes her with him to his hut, where they pass the night. She rouses him in the morning, and proclaims herself still a maid. The hunter is so chagrined that he is of a mind to kill her, but spares her life. 'Der Jäger,' 'Der ernsthafte Jäger,' 'Des Jägers Verdruss,' 'Der Jäger und die reine Jungfrau,' 'Der verschlafene Jäger:' Meinert, p. 203; Wunderhorn, 1857, I, 274, Birlinger u. Crecelius, I, 190; Büsching u. von der Hagen, p. 134, No 51; Nicolai, Almanach, I, 77 (fragment); Erk u. Irmer, ii, 12, No 15; Meier, p. 305, No 170; Pröhle, No 54, p. 81; Fiedler, p. 175; Erk, Liederhort, pp 377 f, Nos 174, 174a; Hoffmann u. Richter, p. 202, No 176; Ditfurth, Fränkische Volkslieder, II, 26 f, Nos 30, 31; Norrenberg, Des dülkener Fiedlers Liederbuch, No 16, p. 20; J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch im Voigtlande, p. 307; Jeitteles, Volkslied in Steiermark, Archiv für Lit. gesch., IX, 361, etc.; Uhland, No 104, Niederdeutsches Liederbuch, No 59, 'vermuthlich vom Eingang des 17.Jhd.' Cf. Die Mâeget, Flemish, Büsching u. von der Hagen, p. 311; Willems, p. 160, No 61.[372]

A ais translated by Doenniges, p. 3; by Gerhard, p. 146; by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 226.


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