H.

Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 244; ed. 1776,I, 83.

1As Bothwell was walking in the lowlands alane,Hey down and a downHe met six ladies sae gallant and fine.Hey down and a down2He cast his lot amang them a',And on the youngest his lot did fa.3He's brought her frae her mother's bower,Unto his strongest castle and tower.4But ay she cried and made great moan,And ay the tear came trickling down.5'Come up, come up,' said the foremost man,'I think our bride comes slowly on.'6'O lady, sits your saddle awry,Or is your steed for you owre high?'7'My saddle is not set awry,Nor carries me my steed owre high;8'But I am weary of my life,Since I maun be Lord Bothwell's wife.'9He's blawn his horn sae sharp and shrill,Up start the deer on evry hill.10He's blawn his horn sae lang and loud,Up start the deer in gude green-wood.11His lady mother lookit owre the castle wa,And she saw them riding ane and a'.12She's calld upon her maids by seven,To mak his bed baith saft and even.13She's calld upon her cooks by nine,To make their dinner fair and fine.14When day was gane, and night was come,'What ails my love on me to frown?15'Or does the wind blow in your glove?Or runs your mind on another love?'16'Nor blows the wind within my glove,Nor runs my mind on another love;17'But I nor maid nor maiden am,For I'm wi bairn to another man.'18'I thought I'd a maiden sae meek and sae mild,But I've nought but a woman wi child.'19His mother's taen her up to a tower,And lockit her in her secret bower.20'Now, doughter mine, come tell to me,Wha's bairn this is that you are wi.'21'O mother dear, I canna learnWha is the faither of my bairn.22'But as I walkd in the lowlands my lane,I met a gentleman gallant and fine.23'He keepit me there sae late and sae lang,Frae the evning late till the morning dawn.24'And a' that he gied me to my propineWas a pair of green gloves and a gay gold ring;25'Three lauchters of his yellow hair,In case that we shoud meet nae mair.'26His lady mother went down the stair:. . . . . . .27'Now son, now son, come tell to me,Where's the green gloves I gave to thee?'28'I gied to a lady sae fair and so fineThe green gloves and a gay gold ring.29'But I wad gie my castles and towers,I had that lady within my bowers.30'But I wad gie my very life,I had that lady to be my wife.'31'Now keep, now keep your castles and towers,You have that lady within your bowers.32'Now keep, now keep your very life,You have that lady to be your wife.'33'O row my lady in sattin and silk,And wash my son in the morning milk.'

1As Bothwell was walking in the lowlands alane,Hey down and a downHe met six ladies sae gallant and fine.Hey down and a down

2He cast his lot amang them a',And on the youngest his lot did fa.

3He's brought her frae her mother's bower,Unto his strongest castle and tower.

4But ay she cried and made great moan,And ay the tear came trickling down.

5'Come up, come up,' said the foremost man,'I think our bride comes slowly on.'

6'O lady, sits your saddle awry,Or is your steed for you owre high?'

7'My saddle is not set awry,Nor carries me my steed owre high;

8'But I am weary of my life,Since I maun be Lord Bothwell's wife.'

9He's blawn his horn sae sharp and shrill,Up start the deer on evry hill.

10He's blawn his horn sae lang and loud,Up start the deer in gude green-wood.

11His lady mother lookit owre the castle wa,And she saw them riding ane and a'.

12She's calld upon her maids by seven,To mak his bed baith saft and even.

13She's calld upon her cooks by nine,To make their dinner fair and fine.

14When day was gane, and night was come,'What ails my love on me to frown?

15'Or does the wind blow in your glove?Or runs your mind on another love?'

16'Nor blows the wind within my glove,Nor runs my mind on another love;

17'But I nor maid nor maiden am,For I'm wi bairn to another man.'

18'I thought I'd a maiden sae meek and sae mild,But I've nought but a woman wi child.'

19His mother's taen her up to a tower,And lockit her in her secret bower.

20'Now, doughter mine, come tell to me,Wha's bairn this is that you are wi.'

21'O mother dear, I canna learnWha is the faither of my bairn.

22'But as I walkd in the lowlands my lane,I met a gentleman gallant and fine.

23'He keepit me there sae late and sae lang,Frae the evning late till the morning dawn.

24'And a' that he gied me to my propineWas a pair of green gloves and a gay gold ring;

25'Three lauchters of his yellow hair,In case that we shoud meet nae mair.'

26His lady mother went down the stair:. . . . . . .

27'Now son, now son, come tell to me,Where's the green gloves I gave to thee?'

28'I gied to a lady sae fair and so fineThe green gloves and a gay gold ring.

29'But I wad gie my castles and towers,I had that lady within my bowers.

30'But I wad gie my very life,I had that lady to be my wife.'

31'Now keep, now keep your castles and towers,You have that lady within your bowers.

32'Now keep, now keep your very life,You have that lady to be your wife.'

33'O row my lady in sattin and silk,And wash my son in the morning milk.'

Kinloch MSS,V, 335, in the handwriting of Dr John Hill Burton.

1We were seven sisters in a bower,Adown adown, and adown and adownThe flower of a' fair Scotland ower.Adown adown, and adown and adown2We were sisters, sisters seven,The fairest women under heaven.3There fell a dispute us amang,Wha would to the greenwood gang.4They kiest the kevels them amang,O wha would to the greenwood gang.5The kevels they gied thro the ha,And on the youngest it did fa.6The kevel fell into her hand,To greenwood she was forced to gang.7She hedna pued a flower but ane,When by there came an earl's son.8'And was he well or was he wae,He keepet me that summer's day.'9And was he weel or was he weight,He keepet her that summer's night.10And he gave her a gay goud ringHis mother got at her wedding.* * * * *11'Oh is yer stirrup set too high?Or is your saddle set awry?12'Oh is yer stirrup set too side?Or what's the reason ye canna ride?'* * * * *13When all were at the table set,Then not a bit could this lady eat.14When all made merry at the feast,This lady wished she were at her rest.* * * * *

1We were seven sisters in a bower,Adown adown, and adown and adownThe flower of a' fair Scotland ower.Adown adown, and adown and adown

2We were sisters, sisters seven,The fairest women under heaven.

3There fell a dispute us amang,Wha would to the greenwood gang.

4They kiest the kevels them amang,O wha would to the greenwood gang.

5The kevels they gied thro the ha,And on the youngest it did fa.

6The kevel fell into her hand,To greenwood she was forced to gang.

7She hedna pued a flower but ane,When by there came an earl's son.

8'And was he well or was he wae,He keepet me that summer's day.'

9And was he weel or was he weight,He keepet her that summer's night.

10And he gave her a gay goud ringHis mother got at her wedding.

* * * * *

11'Oh is yer stirrup set too high?Or is your saddle set awry?

12'Oh is yer stirrup set too side?Or what's the reason ye canna ride?'

* * * * *

13When all were at the table set,Then not a bit could this lady eat.

14When all made merry at the feast,This lady wished she were at her rest.

* * * * *

A. a.

In the MS. two lines are written continuously, and two of these double lines numbered as one stanza.191, 231, 692, 712,perhapsgate,gatesin MS.541,MS.be a nae.56.1casketin MS.?b.1.

In the MS. two lines are written continuously, and two of these double lines numbered as one stanza.

191, 231, 692, 712,perhapsgate,gatesin MS.

541,MS.be a nae.

56.1casketin MS.?

b.1.

Chil Brenton has sent oer the faem,Chil Brenton's brought his lady hame.

Printed by Scott in four-line stanzas. 7, 55, 56, 58, 61, seem to be the stanzas transferred from Herd, but only the last without change.

The stanzas are not divided in Cromek. Between 14 and 15 the following nineteen couplets have been omitted.

First blew the sweet, the simmer wind,Then autumn wi her breath sae kind,Before that eer the guid knight cameThe tokens of his luve to claim.Then fell the brown an yellow leafAfore the knight o luve shawed prief;Three morns the winter's rime did fa,When loud at our yett my luve did ca.'Ye hae daughters, ye hae seven,Ye hae the fairest under heaven.I am the lord o lands wide,Ane o them maun be my bride.I am lord of a baronie,Ane o them maun lie wi me.O cherry lips are sweet to pree,A rosie cheek's meet for the ee;Lang brown locks a heart can bind,Bonny black een in luve are kind;Sma white arms for clasping's meet,Whan laid atween the bridal-sheets;A kindlie heart is best of a',An debonnairest in the ha.Ane by ane thae things are sweet,Ane by ane in luve they're meet;But when they a' in ae maid bide,She is fittest for a bride.Sae be it weel or be it wae,The youngest maun be my ladie;Sae be it gude, sae be it meet,She maun warm my bridal-sheet.Little kend he, whan aff he rode,I was his tokend luve in the wood;Or when he gied me the wedding-token,He was sealing the vows he thought were broken.First came a page on a milk-white steed,Wi golden trappings on his head:A' gowden was the saddle lap,And gowden was the page's cap.

Little kend he, whan aff he rode,I was his tokend luve in the wood;Or when he gied me the wedding-token,He was sealing the vows he thought were broken.First came a page on a milk-white steed,Wi golden trappings on his head:A' gowden was the saddle lap,And gowden was the page's cap.

15-21 have been allowed to stand principally on account of 18.There is small risk in pronouncing 24, 25, 42, 43, 80, 81 spurious, and Cunningham surpasses his usual mawkishness in 83.

15-21 have been allowed to stand principally on account of 18.

There is small risk in pronouncing 24, 25, 42, 43, 80, 81 spurious, and Cunningham surpasses his usual mawkishness in 83.

is written in four-line stanzas.19. mother,in the margin.20. lady,in the margin.

is written in four-line stanzas.

19. mother,in the margin.

20. lady,in the margin.

F. a.

72.MS. Till [Still?].72and 8, 17 and 181, 201and 21, 231and 24, 32 and 332, 501and 51, are respectively written as a stanza in the MS.121, 411.Motherwell conjectures

72.MS. Till [Still?].

72and 8, 17 and 181, 201and 21, 231and 24, 32 and 332, 501and 51, are respectively written as a stanza in the MS.

121, 411.Motherwell conjectures

Would I wait, or would I away.

131, 421.Motherwell conjectures

Would I away, or would I wait.

142, 432.MS.green sleeves: but see 511, and alsoE221,G242, 282.292,above you do not know't is written knownot who till, apparently a conjecture of Motherwell's.302,sometimes recited

142, 432.MS.green sleeves: but see 511, and alsoE221,G242, 282.

292,above you do not know't is written knownot who till, apparently a conjecture of Motherwell's.

302,sometimes recited

Till owre the bed this lady he flang.

531.MS.abroad.b.1.

531.MS.abroad.

b.1.

Seven ladies livd in a bower,Hey down and ho downAnd aye the youngest was the flower.Hey down and ho down

The stanzas are not divided in Herd.

4 is crossed through in the MS., but no reason given.

FOOTNOTES:[94]In his note-book, p. 117, Motherwell writes, with less than his usual discretion: "The ballad of Bothwell, Cospatric, or Gil Brenton, appears to be copied from an account of the birth of Makbeth given by Wintown." The substance of this account is, that Macbeth's mother had a habit of repairing to the woods for wholesome air, and that, during one of her rambles, she fell in with a fair man, really the Devil, who passed the day with her, and got on her a son."And of that dede in taknyngHe gave his lemman thare a ryng,And bad hyr that scho suld kepe that wele,And hald for hys luve that jwele."Cronykil, Book VI, ch. xviii, 57-90.[95]Scott says: "Cospatrick, Comes Patricius;" but Cos- (Gos-)patrick is apparently Servant of Patrick, like Gil-patrick (Kil-patrick). Mr Macmath suggests to me that Gil Brenton may have originally been Gil-brandon, which seems very likely. See Notes and Queries, 5th S., x, 443.[96]A fragment in Rancken's 'Några Prof af Folksång,' p. 14 f, belongs not to 'Riddar Olle,' as there said, but to 'Herr Äster och Fröken Sissa,' though the burden is 'Riddar Olof.' Other verses, at p. 16, might belong to either. 'Riddar Ola,' E. Wigström's Folkdiktning, p. 37, No 18, belongs with the Danish 'Guldsmedens Datter,' Grundtvig No 245.[97]The inquiry seems to refer to the morning gift. "Die Morgengabe ist ein Geschenk des Mannes als Zeichen der Liebe (in signum amoris), für die Uebergabe der vollen Schönheit (in honore pulchritudinis) und der Jungfräulichkeit (pretium virginitatis)." Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen in dem Mittelalter, S. 270.[98]And again, "Is it the saddle, your horse, or your true-love?" almost exactly as in ourB,E,F, Grundtvig, 40C,E,F, Afzelius, 91, Landstad, 45, 52. So the Scottish ballad, 'The Cruel Brother,'B15 f.[99]The auld belly-blind man in 'Earl Richard,' 443, 451, Kinloch's A. S. Ballads, p. 15, retains the bare name; and Belly Blind, or Billie Blin, is the Scotch name for the game of Blindman's-buff.[100]Gisbertus Voetius, De Miraculis, Disput.,II, 1018. Cited also by Schmeller, Bayerisches Wörterbuch, from J. Prætorius's Alectryomantia, p. 3.[101]Merlin, in Layamon,v. 17130 ff (as pointed out by Grundtvig,I, 274), says that his mind is balewise, "mi gæst is bæliwis," and that he is not disposed to gladness, mirth, or good words.

[94]In his note-book, p. 117, Motherwell writes, with less than his usual discretion: "The ballad of Bothwell, Cospatric, or Gil Brenton, appears to be copied from an account of the birth of Makbeth given by Wintown." The substance of this account is, that Macbeth's mother had a habit of repairing to the woods for wholesome air, and that, during one of her rambles, she fell in with a fair man, really the Devil, who passed the day with her, and got on her a son."And of that dede in taknyngHe gave his lemman thare a ryng,And bad hyr that scho suld kepe that wele,And hald for hys luve that jwele."Cronykil, Book VI, ch. xviii, 57-90.

"And of that dede in taknyngHe gave his lemman thare a ryng,And bad hyr that scho suld kepe that wele,And hald for hys luve that jwele."

Cronykil, Book VI, ch. xviii, 57-90.

[95]Scott says: "Cospatrick, Comes Patricius;" but Cos- (Gos-)patrick is apparently Servant of Patrick, like Gil-patrick (Kil-patrick). Mr Macmath suggests to me that Gil Brenton may have originally been Gil-brandon, which seems very likely. See Notes and Queries, 5th S., x, 443.

[96]A fragment in Rancken's 'Några Prof af Folksång,' p. 14 f, belongs not to 'Riddar Olle,' as there said, but to 'Herr Äster och Fröken Sissa,' though the burden is 'Riddar Olof.' Other verses, at p. 16, might belong to either. 'Riddar Ola,' E. Wigström's Folkdiktning, p. 37, No 18, belongs with the Danish 'Guldsmedens Datter,' Grundtvig No 245.

[97]The inquiry seems to refer to the morning gift. "Die Morgengabe ist ein Geschenk des Mannes als Zeichen der Liebe (in signum amoris), für die Uebergabe der vollen Schönheit (in honore pulchritudinis) und der Jungfräulichkeit (pretium virginitatis)." Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen in dem Mittelalter, S. 270.

[98]And again, "Is it the saddle, your horse, or your true-love?" almost exactly as in ourB,E,F, Grundtvig, 40C,E,F, Afzelius, 91, Landstad, 45, 52. So the Scottish ballad, 'The Cruel Brother,'B15 f.

[99]The auld belly-blind man in 'Earl Richard,' 443, 451, Kinloch's A. S. Ballads, p. 15, retains the bare name; and Belly Blind, or Billie Blin, is the Scotch name for the game of Blindman's-buff.

[100]Gisbertus Voetius, De Miraculis, Disput.,II, 1018. Cited also by Schmeller, Bayerisches Wörterbuch, from J. Prætorius's Alectryomantia, p. 3.

[101]Merlin, in Layamon,v. 17130 ff (as pointed out by Grundtvig,I, 274), says that his mind is balewise, "mi gæst is bæliwis," and that he is not disposed to gladness, mirth, or good words.

a.'Willie's Lady,' Fraser-Tytler MS.b.'Sweet Willy,' Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.

a.'Willie's Lady,' Fraser-Tytler MS.

b.'Sweet Willy,' Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.

a, 'Willie's Lady,' was No 1 in the manuscript of fifteen ballads furnished William Tytler by Mrs Brown in 1783, and having been written down a little later thanbmay be regarded as a revised copy. This manuscript, as remarked under No 5, is not now in the possession of the Fraser-Tytler family, having often been most liberally lent, and, probably, at last not returned. But a transcript had been made by the grandfather of the present family of two of the pieces contained in it, and 'Willie's Lady' is one of these two.

Lewis had access to William Tytler's copy, and, having regulated the rhymes, filled out a gap, dropped the passage about the girdle, and made other changes to his taste, printed the ballad in 1801 as No 56 of his Tales of Wonder. The next year Scott gave the "ancient copy, never before published," "in its native simplicity, as taken from Mrs Brown of Falkland's MS.,"—William Tytler's,—in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,II, 27, but not with literal accuracy. Jamieson, in 1806, gave 'Sweet Willy,' almost exactly according to the text of his Brown manuscript, in an appendix to the second volume of his collection, p. 367, and at p. 175 of the same volume, a reconstruction of the ballad which might have been spared.

blacks altogether the passage which makes proffer of the cup,a, stanzas 5-11, and substitutes at that place the girdle ofa21-28. The woodbine ina36, 41, is also wanting, and the concluding stanza. A deficiency both in matter and rhyme ata32, is supplied byb25, 26, but not happily:

'An do you to your mither then,An bid her come to your boy's christnen;'For dear's the boy he's been to you:Then notice well what she shall do.'

'An do you to your mither then,An bid her come to your boy's christnen;

'For dear's the boy he's been to you:Then notice well what she shall do.'

Again, the transition ina, from st. 33 to st. 34, is abrupt even for a ballad, andbintroduces here four stanzas narrating the execution of the Billy Blind's injunctions, and ending,

And notic'd well what she did say,

whereby we are prepared for the witch's exclamations.[102]

Danish versions of this ballad are numerous:A-I, 'Hustru og Mands Moder' ['Fostermoder,' 'Stifmoder'], Grundtvig, No 84,II, 404 ff;J-T, 'Hustru og Mands Moder,' Kristensen,II, 111 ff, No 35:U-X,'Barselkvinden,' Kristensen,I, 201 ff, No 74;Y, 'Hustru og Slegfred,' Grundtvig, No 85,II, 448 ff: in all twenty-five, but many of Kristensen's copies are fragments. Grundtvig's 84A,B, and 85aare from manuscripts of the sixteenth century. 84F-Iand several repetitions of 85 are of the seventeenth. Grundtvig's 84C,D,E, and all Kristensen's versions, are from recent oral tradition. Some of these, though taken down since 1870, are wonderfully well preserved.

The Danish ballads divide into two classes, principally distinguished by their employing or not employing of the artifice of wax children. (There is but one of these inN,R, Kristensen'sE,I,II, 116, 122, and in the oldest Swedish ballad, as in the Scottish: but children in Scandinavian ballads are mostly born in pairs.) Of the former class, to which our only known copy belongs, areF-I,N-T,X(Grundtvig, 84F-I, Kristensen,II, No 35,E-L,I, No 74D).NandIfurnish, perhaps, the most consistent story, which, in the former, runs thus: Sir Peter married Ellen (elsewhere Mettelille, Kirstin, Tidelil, Ingerlil), and gave her in charge to his mother, a formidable witch, and, as appears fromF, violently opposed to the match. The first night of her marriage Ellen conceived twins. She wrapped up her head in her cloak and paid a visit to her mother-in-law, to ask how long women go with child. The answer was,

'Forty weeks went Mary with Christ,And so each Danish woman must.'Forty weeks I went with mine,But eight years shalt thou go with thine.'

'Forty weeks went Mary with Christ,And so each Danish woman must.

'Forty weeks I went with mine,But eight years shalt thou go with thine.'

The forty weeks had passed, and Ellen began to long for relief. Sir Peter besought aid of his sister Ingerlin. If I help your young bride, she said, I must be traitor to my mother. Sir Peter insisted, and Ingerlin moulded a fine child of wax,[103]wrapped it in linen, and exhibited it to her mother, who, supposing that herarts had been baffled, burst out into exclamations of astonishment. She had thought she could twist a rope out of flying sand, lay sun and moon flat on the earth with a single word, turn the whole world round about! She had thought all the house was spell-bound, except the spot where the young wife's chest stood, the chest of red rowan, which nothing can bewitch! The chest was instantly taken away, and Ellen's bed moved to the place it had occupied; and no sooner was this done than Ellen gave birth to two children.

In the ballads of the other class, the young wife, grown desperate after eight years of suffering, asks to be taken back to her maiden home. Her husband's mother raises objections: the horses are in the meadow, the coachman is in bed. Then, she says, I will go on my bare feet. The moment her husband learns her wish, the carriage is at the door, but by the arts of the mother it goes to pieces on the way, and the journey has to be finished on horseback. The joy of her parents at seeing their daughter approaching was quenched on a nearer view: she looked more dead than quick. She called her family about her and distributed her effects. A great wail went up in the house when two sons were cut from the mother's side. (C,J,K,L,W: Grundtvig, 84C; Kristensen,II, No 35A,B,C;I, No 74C.)

The first son stood up and brushed his hair:'Most surely am I in my ninth year.'The second stood up both fair and red:'Most sure we'll avenge our dear mother dead.'[104]

The first son stood up and brushed his hair:'Most surely am I in my ninth year.'

The second stood up both fair and red:'Most sure we'll avenge our dear mother dead.'[104]

Several of the most important ballads of the first class have taken up a part of the story of those of the second class, to the detriment of consistency.F,G,H,O,P(Grundtvig, 84F,G,H, Kristensen,II, No 35F,G), make the wife quit her husband's house for her father's, not only without reason, but against reason. If the woman is to die, it is natural enough that she should wish to die with the friends of her early days, and away from her uncongenial mother-in-law; but there is no kind of occasion for transferring the scene of the trick with the wax children to her father's house; and, on the other hand, it is altogether strange that her husband's mother and the rowan-tree chest (which sometimes appears to be the property of the mother, sometimes that of the wife) should go with her.

Y, 'Hustru og Slegfred,' Grundtvig, 85, agrees with the second class up to the point when the wife is put to bed at her mother's house, but with the important variation that the spell is the work of a former mistress of the husband; instead of his mother, as in most of the ballads, or of the wife's foster-mother, as inC,D,J,K,M(Grundtvig, 84C,D, Kristensen,II, No 35A,B,D), or of the wife's step-mother as inAonly. The conclusion of 'Hustru og Slegfred' is rather flat. The wife, as she lies in bed, bids all her household hold up their hands and pray for her relief, which occurs on the same day. The news is sent to her husband, who rejoins his wife, is shown his children, praises God, and burns his mistress. Burning is also the fate of the mother-in-law inB,I,O,P, whereas inFshe dies of chagrin, and inGbursts into a hundred flinders (flentsteene).

This ballad, in the mixed form ofO,P(Kristensen,II, 35F,G), has been resolved into a tale in Denmark, a few lines of verse being retained. Recourse is had by the spell-bound wife to a cunning woman in the village, who informs her that in her house there is a place in which a rowan-tree chest has stood, and that she can get relief there. The cunning woman subsequently pointing out the exact spot, two boys are born, who are seven years old, and can both walk and talk. Word is sent the witch that her son's wife has been delivered of two sons, and that she herself shall be burned the day following. The witch says, "I have been able to twine a string out of running water. If I have not succeeded in bewitching the woman, she must have found the place where the damned rowan chest stood." (Grundtvig,III, 858, No 84b.)

Three Swedish versions of the ballad have been printed.A,B, from tradition of thiscentury, are given by Arwidsson,II, 252 ff, 'Liten Kerstins Förtrollning,' No 134. These resemble the Danish ballads of the second class closely. Liten Kerstin goes to her mother's house, gives birth to two children, and dies. InAthe children are a son and daughter. The son stands up, combs his hair, and says, "I am forty weeks on in my ninth year." He can run errands in the village, and the daughter sew red silk. InBboth children are boys. One combs his hair, and says, "Our grandmother shall be put on two wheels." The other draws his sword, and says, "Our mother is dead, our grandmother to blame. I hope our mother is with God. Our grandmother shall be laid on seven wheels." The other copy,C, mentioned by Grundtvig as being in Cavallius and Stephens' manuscript collection, has been printed in the Svenska Fornminnesföreningens Tidskrift, vol. ii, p. 72 ff, 1873-74. It dates from the close of the sixteenth century, and resembles the mixed ballads of the Danish first class, combining the flitting to the father's house with the artifice of the wax children. The conclusion of this ballad has suffered greatly. After the two sons are born, we are told that Kirstin, before unmentioned, goes to the chest and makes a wax child. If the chest were moved, Elin would be free of her child. And then the boy stands up and brushes his hair, and says he has come to his eighth year.

Three stanzas and some of the incidents of aNorwegianversion of this ballad have been communicated to Grundtvig,III, 858 f, No 84 c, by Professor Sophus Bugge. The only place which was unaffected by a spell was where Signelíti's bride-chest stood, and the chest being removed, the birth took place. The witch was a step-mother, as in DanishA.

There are two familiar cases of malicious arrest of childbirth in classic mythology,—those of Latona and Alcmene. The wrath of Juno was the cause in both, and perhaps the myth of Alcmene is only a repetition of an older story, with change of name. The pangs of Latona were prolonged through nine days and nights, at the end of which time Ilithyia came to her relief, induced by a bribe. (Hymn to the Delian Apollo, 91 ff.) Homer, Il. xix, 119, says only that Hera stopped the delivery of Alcmene and kept back Ilithyia. Antoninus Liberalis, in the second century of our era, in one of his abstracts from the Metamorphoses of Nicander, a poem of the second centuryB. C., or earlier, has this account: that when Alcmene was going with Hercules, the Fates and Ilithyia, to please Juno, kept her in her pains by sitting down and folding their hands; and that Galinthias, a playmate and companion of Alcmene, fearing that the suffering would drive her mad, ran out and announced the birth of a boy, upon which the Fates were seized with such consternation that they let go their hands, and Hercules immediately came into the world. (Antoninus Lib., Metam. c. xxix.) Ovid, Metamorphoses, ix, 281-315, is more circumstantial. After seven days and nights of torture, Lucina came, but, being bribed by Juno, instead of giving the aid for which she was invoked, sat down on the altar before Alcmene's door, with the right knee crossed over the left, and fingers interlocked, mumbling charms which checked the processes of birth. Galanthis, a servant girlmedia de plebe, was shrewd enough to suspect that Juno had some part in this mischief; and besides, as she went in and out of the house, she always saw Lucina sitting on the altar, with her hands clasped over her knees. At last, by a happy thought, she called out, "Whoever you are, wish my mistress joy; she is lighter, and has her wish." Lucina jumped up and unclasped her hands, and the birth followed instantly. Pausanias, ix, 11, tells a similar but briefer story, in which Historis, daughter of Tiresias, takes the place of Galanthis. See, for the whole matter, 'Ilithyia oder die Hexe,' in C. A. Böttiger's Kleine Schriften,I, 76 ff.

Apuleius, in his Metamorphoses, mentions a case of suspended childbirth, which, curiously enough, had lasted eight years,[105]as in the Danish and Swedish ballads. The witch is a mistress of her victim's husband, as in Grundtvig, 85, and as in a story cited by Scott from Heywood's 'Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels,' p. 474. "There is a curious tale about a Count of Westeravia [Vestravia, in diocesi Argentoratensi], whom a deserted concubine bewitched upon his marriage, so as to preclude all hopes of his becoming a father. The spell continued to operate for three years, till one day, the count happening to meet with his former mistress, she maliciously asked him about the increase of his family. The count, conceiving some suspicion from her manner, craftily answered that God had blessed him with three fine children; on which she exclaimed, like Willie's mother in the ballad, 'May Heaven confound the old hag by whose counsel I threw an enchanted pitcher into the draw-well of your palace!' The spell being found and destroyed, the count became the father of a numerous family."

A story like that of the ballad is told as a fact that took place in Arran within this century. A young man forsook his sweetheart and married another girl. When the wife's time came, she suffered excessively. A pack-man who was passing suspected the cause, went straight to the old love, and told her that a fine child was born; when up she sprang, and pulled out a large nail from the beam of the roof, calling out to her mother, "Muckle good your craft has done!" The wife was forthwith delivered. (Napier, in The Folklore Record,II, 117.)

In theSiciliantales, collected by Laura Gonzenbach, Nos 12 and 15, we have the spell of folded hands placed between the knees to prevent birth, and in No 54 hands raised to the head.[106]In all these examples the spell is finally broken by telling the witch a piece of false news, which causes her to forget herself and take away her hands. (Sicilianische Märchen aus dem Volksmund gesammelt, Leipzig, 1870.)

We find in aRoumaniantale, contributed to Das Ausland for 1857, p. 1029, by F. Obert, and epitomized by Grundtvig,III, 859, No 84 d, a wife condemned by her offended husband to go with child till he lays his hand upon her. It is twenty years before she obtains grace, and the son whom she then bears immediately slays his father. AWallachianform of this story (Walachische Märchen von Arthur u. Albert Schott, No 23) omits the revenge by the new-born child, and ends happily.

With respect to the knots in st. 34, it is to be observed that the tying of knots (as also the fastening of locks), either during the marriage ceremony or at the approach of parturition was, and is still, believed to be effectual for preventing conception or childbirth. The minister of Logierait, Perthshire, testifies, about the year 1793, that immediately before the celebration of a marriage it is the custom to loosen carefully every knot about bride and bridegroom,—garters, shoe-strings, etc. The knots are tied again before they leave the church. (Statistical Account of Scotland,V, 83.) So among the Laps and Norwegians, when a child is to be born, all the knots in the woman's clothes, or even all the knots in the house, must be untied, because of their impeding delivery. (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 322, who also cites the Statistical Account of Scotland.)

Willie's Lady is translated by Schubart, p. 74, Talvj, p. 555, and by Gerhard, p. 139. Grundtvig, 84 H (== Syv, 90, Danske Viser, 43), is translated by Jamieson, Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 344, and by Prior, No 89.

a.A copy, by Miss Mary Fraser Tytler, of a transcript made by her grandfather from William Tytler's manuscript.b.Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.

1Willie has taen him oer the fame,He's woo'd a wife and brought her hame.2He's woo'd her for her yellow hair,But his mother wrought her mickle care.3And mickle dolour gard her dree,For lighter she can never be.4But in her bower she sits wi pain,And Willie mourns oer her in vain.5And to his mother he has gone,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.6He says: 'My ladie has a cup,Wi gowd and silver set about.7'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,And let her be lighter o her young bairn.'8'Of her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.9'But she shall die and turn to clay,And you shall wed another may.'10'Another may I'll never wed,Another may I'll neer bring home.'11But sighing says that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'12'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.13'And say your ladie has a steed,The like o'm's no in the lands of Leed.14'For he [i]s golden shod before,And he [i]s golden shod behind.15'And at ilka tet of that horse's main,There's a golden chess and a bell ringing.16'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'17'O her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.18'But she shall die and turn to clay,And ye shall wed another may.'19'Another may I['ll] never wed,Another may I['ll] neer bring hame.'20But sighing said that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'21'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.22'And say your ladie has a girdle,It's red gowd unto the middle.23'And ay at every silver hem,Hangs fifty silver bells and ten.24'That goodlie gift has be her ain,And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'25'O her young bairn she's neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.26'But she shall die and turn to clay,And you shall wed another may.'27'Another may I'll never wed,Another may I'll neer bring hame.'28But sighing says that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'29Then out and spake the Belly Blind;He spake aye in good time.30'Ye doe ye to the market place,And there ye buy a loaf o wax.31'Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like,And in twa glassen een ye pit;32'And bid her come to your boy's christening;Then notice weel what she shall do.33'And do you stand a little fore bye,And listen weel what she shall say.'34'Oh wha has loosed the nine witch knotsThat was amo that ladie's locks?35'And wha has taen out the kaims of careThat hangs amo that ladie's hair?36'And wha's taen down the bush o woodbineThat hang atween her bower and mine?37'And wha has killd the master kidThat ran beneath that ladie's bed?38'And wha has loosed her left-foot shee,And lotten that ladie lighter be?'39O Willie has loosed the nine witch knotsThat was amo that ladie's locks.40And Willie's taen out the kaims o careThat hang amo that ladie's hair.41And Willie's taen down the bush o woodbineThat hang atween her bower and thine.42And Willie has killed the master kidThat ran beneath that ladie's bed.43And Willie has loosed her left-foot shee,And letten his ladie lighter be.44And now he's gotten a bonny young son,And mickle grace be him upon.

1Willie has taen him oer the fame,He's woo'd a wife and brought her hame.

2He's woo'd her for her yellow hair,But his mother wrought her mickle care.

3And mickle dolour gard her dree,For lighter she can never be.

4But in her bower she sits wi pain,And Willie mourns oer her in vain.

5And to his mother he has gone,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

6He says: 'My ladie has a cup,Wi gowd and silver set about.

7'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,And let her be lighter o her young bairn.'

8'Of her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

9'But she shall die and turn to clay,And you shall wed another may.'

10'Another may I'll never wed,Another may I'll neer bring home.'

11But sighing says that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'

12'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

13'And say your ladie has a steed,The like o'm's no in the lands of Leed.

14'For he [i]s golden shod before,And he [i]s golden shod behind.

15'And at ilka tet of that horse's main,There's a golden chess and a bell ringing.

16'This goodlie gift shall be your ain,And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

17'O her young bairn she'll neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

18'But she shall die and turn to clay,And ye shall wed another may.'

19'Another may I['ll] never wed,Another may I['ll] neer bring hame.'

20But sighing said that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'

21'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again,That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

22'And say your ladie has a girdle,It's red gowd unto the middle.

23'And ay at every silver hem,Hangs fifty silver bells and ten.

24'That goodlie gift has be her ain,And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

25'O her young bairn she's neer be lighter,Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

26'But she shall die and turn to clay,And you shall wed another may.'

27'Another may I'll never wed,Another may I'll neer bring hame.'

28But sighing says that weary wight,'I wish my life were at an end.'

29Then out and spake the Belly Blind;He spake aye in good time.

30'Ye doe ye to the market place,And there ye buy a loaf o wax.

31'Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like,And in twa glassen een ye pit;

32'And bid her come to your boy's christening;Then notice weel what she shall do.

33'And do you stand a little fore bye,And listen weel what she shall say.'

34'Oh wha has loosed the nine witch knotsThat was amo that ladie's locks?

35'And wha has taen out the kaims of careThat hangs amo that ladie's hair?

36'And wha's taen down the bush o woodbineThat hang atween her bower and mine?

37'And wha has killd the master kidThat ran beneath that ladie's bed?

38'And wha has loosed her left-foot shee,And lotten that ladie lighter be?'

39O Willie has loosed the nine witch knotsThat was amo that ladie's locks.

40And Willie's taen out the kaims o careThat hang amo that ladie's hair.

41And Willie's taen down the bush o woodbineThat hang atween her bower and thine.

42And Willie has killed the master kidThat ran beneath that ladie's bed.

43And Willie has loosed her left-foot shee,And letten his ladie lighter be.

44And now he's gotten a bonny young son,And mickle grace be him upon.

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