VOL. II.

“Vpon the various earth’s embrodered gowneThere is a weed vpon whose head growes downe;Sow-thistle ’tis ycleepd; whose downy wreathIf any one can blow off at a breath,We deeme her for a maid.”(William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, Book I, Song 4, Works, ed. Hazlitt, p. 103.)

“Vpon the various earth’s embrodered gowne

There is a weed vpon whose head growes downe;

Sow-thistle ’tis ycleepd; whose downy wreath

If any one can blow off at a breath,

We deeme her for a maid.”

(William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, Book I, Song 4, Works, ed. Hazlitt, p. 103.)

Eodem auxilii genere, Tucciae virginis Vestalis, incesti criminis reae, castitas infamiae nube obscurata emersit. Quae conscientia certae sinceritatis suae spem salutis ancipiti argumento ausa petere est. Arrepto enim cribro, ‘Vesta,’ inquit, ‘si sacris tuis castas semper admovi manus, effice ut hoc hauriam e Tiberi aquam et in aedem tuam perferam.’ Audaciter et temere iactis votis sacerdotis rerum ipsa natura cessit.Valerius Maximus, viii, 1, 5. Cf. also Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxviii, 2 (3), and the commentators.

There was a (qualified) test of priestesses of Ge at Æegæ by drinking bull’s blood, according to Pausanias, VIII, xxv, 8; cited by H. C. Lea, Superstition and Force, 3d ed., 1878, p. 236 f. (All the above by G. L. K.)

A spring in Apollonius Heinrichs von Neustadt blackens the hand of the more serious offender, but in a milder case only the ring-finger, “der die geringste Befleckung nicht erträgt.” W. Grimm’s Kleinere Schriften, III, 446. (C. R. Lanman.)

P. 274. That this ballad is a traditional variation of Charlemagne’s Journey to Jerusalem and Constantinople, was, I am convinced, too hastily said. See M. Gaston Paris’s remarks at p. 110 f. of his paper, Les romans en vers du cycle de la Table Ronde (Extrait du tome xxx de l’Histoire Littéraire de la France). The king who thinks himself the best king in the world, etc., occurs (it is Arthur) also in the romance of Rigomer: the same, p. 92.

34. Kemp Owyne.

P. 307 b. Add ‘Linden,’ Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, V, 50, No 455.

A princess in the form of a toad is kissed three times and so disenchanted: Revue des Traditions populaires, III, 475–6. A princess in the form of a black wolf must be kissed thrice to be disenchanted: Vernaleken, Alpensagen, p. 123. A princess persuades a man to attempt her release from enchantment. Three successive kisses are necessary. On the first occasion she appears as a serpent; he can kiss her but once. The second attempt is also unsuccessful; she appears as a salamander and is kissed twice. The third time she takes the form of a toad, and the three kisses are happily given. Luzel, in the Annuaire de la Soc. des Traditions populaires, II, 53. (G. L. K.)

P. 314 a. Hill-maid’s promises. Add: ‘Bjærgjomfruens frieri,’Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, II, 100, No 460.

P. 319 b, last paragraph. In a Breton story, ‘La Fleur du Rocher,’ Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 31, Jean Cate addresses the fairy, when he first sees her, as the Virgin Mary. (G. L. K.)

P. 335. Mr Macmath has found an earlier transcript ofBin Glenriddel’s MSS, VIII, 106, 1789. The variations (except those of spelling, which are numerous) are as follows:

12. that wears.

13. go.

33. has snoded.

35. is gaen.

51. had not.

63. comes.

72. give.

82,4, 162,4, 352,4. above.

111. Out then: gray-head.

113. And ever alas, fair Janet, he says.

133. fair Janet.

134. thow gaes.

141. If I.

143. Ther’e not.

144, 344. bairns.

154. ye nae,wrongly.

165. she is on.

192. groves green.

201. Thomas.

202. for his.

203. Whether ever.

223. from the.

224. Then from.

233. The Queen o Fairies has.

234. do dwell.

236. Fiend,wrongly.

241. is a Hallow-een.

243. And them.

253. Amongst.

271. ride on.

276. gave.

304. wardly.

313. Hald me.

342. then in.

374. And there.

383. Them that hes.

384. Has.

403,4. eyes.

411. I kend.

413. I’d.

‘The Queen of the Fairies,’ Macmath MS., p. 57. “Taken down by me 14th October, 1886, from the recitation of Mr Alexander Kirk, Inspector of Poor, Dalry, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, who learned it about fifty years ago from the singing of David Ray, Barlay, Balmaclellan.”

This copy has been considerably made over, and was very likely learned from print. The cane in the maid’s hand, already sufficiently occupied, either with the Bible or with holy water, is an imbecility such as only the “makers” of latter days are capable of. (There is a cane in another ballad which I cannot at this moment recall.)

1The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall,Clad in her robes so black,She has to yon garden gone,For flowers to flower her hat.2She had not pulled the red, red rose,A double rose but three,When up there starts a gentleman,Just at this lady’s knee.3Says, Who’s this pulls the red, red rose?Breaks branches off the tree?Or who’s this treads my garden-grass,Without the leave of me?4‘Yes, I will pull the red, red rose,Break branches off the tree,This garden in Moorcartney wood,Without the leave o thee.’5He took her by the milk-white handAnd gently laid her down,Just in below some shady treesWhere the green leaves hung down.6‘Come tell to me, kind sir,’ she said,‘What before you never told;Are you an earthly man?’ said she,‘A knight or a baron bold?’7‘I’ll tell to you, fair lady,’ he said,‘What before I neer did tell;I’m Earl Douglas’s second son,With the queen of the fairies I dwell.8‘When riding through yon forest-wood,And by yon grass-green well,A sudden sleep me overtook,And off my steed I fell.9‘The queen of the fairies, being there,Made me with her to dwell,And still once in the seven yearsWe pay a teind to hell.10‘And because I am an earthly man,Myself doth greatly fear,For the cleverest man in all our trainTo Pluto must go this year.11‘This night is Halloween, lady,And the fairies they will ride;The maid that will her true-love winAt Miles Cross she may bide.’12‘But how shall I thee ken, though, sir?Or how shall I thee know,Amang a pack o hellish wraiths,Before I never saw?’13‘Some rides upon a black horse, lady,And some upon a brown,But I myself on a milk-white steed,And I aye nearest the toun.14‘My right hand shall be covered, lady,My left hand shall be bare,And that’s a token good enoughThat you will find me there.15‘Take the Bible in your right hand,With God for to be your guide,Take holy water in thy left hand,And throw it on every side.’16She’s taen her mantle her about,A cane into her hand,And she has unto Miles Cross gone,As hard as she can gang.17First she has letten the black pass by,And then she has letten the brown,But she’s taen a fast hold o the milk-white steed,And she’s pulled Earl Thomas doun.18The queen of the fairies being there,Sae loud she’s letten a cry,‘The maid that sits in Katherine’s HallThis night has gotten her prey.19‘But hadst thou waited, fair lady,Till about this time the morn,He would hae been as far from thee or meAs the wind that blew when he was born.’20They turned him in this lady’s armsLike the adder and the snake;She held him fast; why should she not?Though her poor heart was like to break.21They turned him in this lady’s armsLike two red gads of airn;She held him fast; why should she not?She knew they could do her no harm.22They turned him in this lady’s armsLike to all things that was vile;She held him fast; why should she not?The father of her child.23They turned him in this lady’s armsLike to a naked knight;She’s taen him hame to her ain bower,And clothed him in armour bright.

1The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall,Clad in her robes so black,She has to yon garden gone,For flowers to flower her hat.

The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall,

Clad in her robes so black,

She has to yon garden gone,

For flowers to flower her hat.

2She had not pulled the red, red rose,A double rose but three,When up there starts a gentleman,Just at this lady’s knee.

She had not pulled the red, red rose,

A double rose but three,

When up there starts a gentleman,

Just at this lady’s knee.

3Says, Who’s this pulls the red, red rose?Breaks branches off the tree?Or who’s this treads my garden-grass,Without the leave of me?

Says, Who’s this pulls the red, red rose?

Breaks branches off the tree?

Or who’s this treads my garden-grass,

Without the leave of me?

4‘Yes, I will pull the red, red rose,Break branches off the tree,This garden in Moorcartney wood,Without the leave o thee.’

‘Yes, I will pull the red, red rose,

Break branches off the tree,

This garden in Moorcartney wood,

Without the leave o thee.’

5He took her by the milk-white handAnd gently laid her down,Just in below some shady treesWhere the green leaves hung down.

He took her by the milk-white hand

And gently laid her down,

Just in below some shady trees

Where the green leaves hung down.

6‘Come tell to me, kind sir,’ she said,‘What before you never told;Are you an earthly man?’ said she,‘A knight or a baron bold?’

‘Come tell to me, kind sir,’ she said,

‘What before you never told;

Are you an earthly man?’ said she,

‘A knight or a baron bold?’

7‘I’ll tell to you, fair lady,’ he said,‘What before I neer did tell;I’m Earl Douglas’s second son,With the queen of the fairies I dwell.

‘I’ll tell to you, fair lady,’ he said,

‘What before I neer did tell;

I’m Earl Douglas’s second son,

With the queen of the fairies I dwell.

8‘When riding through yon forest-wood,And by yon grass-green well,A sudden sleep me overtook,And off my steed I fell.

‘When riding through yon forest-wood,

And by yon grass-green well,

A sudden sleep me overtook,

And off my steed I fell.

9‘The queen of the fairies, being there,Made me with her to dwell,And still once in the seven yearsWe pay a teind to hell.

‘The queen of the fairies, being there,

Made me with her to dwell,

And still once in the seven years

We pay a teind to hell.

10‘And because I am an earthly man,Myself doth greatly fear,For the cleverest man in all our trainTo Pluto must go this year.

‘And because I am an earthly man,

Myself doth greatly fear,

For the cleverest man in all our train

To Pluto must go this year.

11‘This night is Halloween, lady,And the fairies they will ride;The maid that will her true-love winAt Miles Cross she may bide.’

‘This night is Halloween, lady,

And the fairies they will ride;

The maid that will her true-love win

At Miles Cross she may bide.’

12‘But how shall I thee ken, though, sir?Or how shall I thee know,Amang a pack o hellish wraiths,Before I never saw?’

‘But how shall I thee ken, though, sir?

Or how shall I thee know,

Amang a pack o hellish wraiths,

Before I never saw?’

13‘Some rides upon a black horse, lady,And some upon a brown,But I myself on a milk-white steed,And I aye nearest the toun.

‘Some rides upon a black horse, lady,

And some upon a brown,

But I myself on a milk-white steed,

And I aye nearest the toun.

14‘My right hand shall be covered, lady,My left hand shall be bare,And that’s a token good enoughThat you will find me there.

‘My right hand shall be covered, lady,

My left hand shall be bare,

And that’s a token good enough

That you will find me there.

15‘Take the Bible in your right hand,With God for to be your guide,Take holy water in thy left hand,And throw it on every side.’

‘Take the Bible in your right hand,

With God for to be your guide,

Take holy water in thy left hand,

And throw it on every side.’

16She’s taen her mantle her about,A cane into her hand,And she has unto Miles Cross gone,As hard as she can gang.

She’s taen her mantle her about,

A cane into her hand,

And she has unto Miles Cross gone,

As hard as she can gang.

17First she has letten the black pass by,And then she has letten the brown,But she’s taen a fast hold o the milk-white steed,And she’s pulled Earl Thomas doun.

First she has letten the black pass by,

And then she has letten the brown,

But she’s taen a fast hold o the milk-white steed,

And she’s pulled Earl Thomas doun.

18The queen of the fairies being there,Sae loud she’s letten a cry,‘The maid that sits in Katherine’s HallThis night has gotten her prey.

The queen of the fairies being there,

Sae loud she’s letten a cry,

‘The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall

This night has gotten her prey.

19‘But hadst thou waited, fair lady,Till about this time the morn,He would hae been as far from thee or meAs the wind that blew when he was born.’

‘But hadst thou waited, fair lady,

Till about this time the morn,

He would hae been as far from thee or me

As the wind that blew when he was born.’

20They turned him in this lady’s armsLike the adder and the snake;She held him fast; why should she not?Though her poor heart was like to break.

They turned him in this lady’s arms

Like the adder and the snake;

She held him fast; why should she not?

Though her poor heart was like to break.

21They turned him in this lady’s armsLike two red gads of airn;She held him fast; why should she not?She knew they could do her no harm.

They turned him in this lady’s arms

Like two red gads of airn;

She held him fast; why should she not?

She knew they could do her no harm.

22They turned him in this lady’s armsLike to all things that was vile;She held him fast; why should she not?The father of her child.

They turned him in this lady’s arms

Like to all things that was vile;

She held him fast; why should she not?

The father of her child.

23They turned him in this lady’s armsLike to a naked knight;She’s taen him hame to her ain bower,And clothed him in armour bright.

They turned him in this lady’s arms

Like to a naked knight;

She’s taen him hame to her ain bower,

And clothed him in armour bright.

338 a, 507, II, 505 b.

A king transformed into a nightingale being plunged three times into water resumes his shape: Vernaleken, K.-u. H. Märchen, No 15, p. 79. In Guillaume de Palerne, ed. Michelant, v. 7770 ff., pp. 225, 226, the queen who changes the werewolf back into a man takes care that he shall have a warm bath as soon as the transformation is over; but this may be merely the bath preliminary to his being dubbed knight (as in Li Chevaliers as Deus Espees, ed. Förster, vv. 1547–49, p. 50, and L’Ordene de Chevalerie, vv. 111–124, Barbazan-Méon, I, 63, 64). A fairy maiden is turned into a wooden statue. This is burned and the ashes thrown into a pond, whence she immediately emerges in her proper shape. She is next doomed to take the form of a snake. Her lover, acting under advice, cuts up a good part of the snake into little bits, and throws these into a pond. She emerges again. J. H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 468 ff.. (G. L. K.)

339 b, II, 505 b.

Fairy salve and indiscreet users of it. See also Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 41, 42, cf. I, 122–3; the same, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 89, 109; the same, Litt. orale de la Haute-B., pp. 19–23, 24–27, and note; Mrs Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, 1838, I, 184–188, I, 175 ff. of the new ed. called The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy; “Lageniensis” [J. O’Hanlon], Irish Folk-Lore, Glasgow, n. d., pp. 48–49. In a Breton story a fairy gives a one-eyed woman an eye of crystal, warning her not to speak of what she may see with it. Disregarding this injunction, the woman is deprived of the gift. Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 24–25. (G. L. K.)

340. The danger of lying under trees at noon. “Is not this connected with the belief in aδαιμονιόν μεσημβρινόν(LXX, Psalm xci, 6)? as to which see Rochholz, Deutscher Unsterblichkeitsglaube, pp. 62 ff., 67 ff., and cf. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, pp. 1092–3.” Kittredge, Sir Orfeo, in the American Journal of Philology, VII, 190, where also there is something about the dangerous character of orchards. Of processions of fairy knights, see p. 189 of the same.

Tam o Lin. Add: Tom a Lin, Robert Mylne’s MS. Collection of Scots Poems, Part I, 8, 1707. (W. Macmath.)

P. 358 f., II, 505 b.

Mortal women as midwives to fairies, elves, water-sprites,etc. Further examples are: Sébillot, Littérature orale de la Haute-Bretagne, pp. 19–23; the same, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 89, 109; Vinson, Folk-Lore du Pays Basque, pp. 40, 41; Meier, Deutsche Sagen, u. s. w., aus Schwaben, pp. 16–18, 59, 62; Mrs Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, 1838, I, 184–188 (in the new ed., which is called The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy, I, 174 ff.); “Lageniensis” [J. O’Hanlon], Irish Folk Lore, Glasgow, n. d., pp. 48, 49; U. Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen, pp. 50, 72; Vonbun, Die Sagen Vorarlbergs, p. 16, cf. p. 6; Vernaleken, Alpensagen, p. 183.—Mortal woman as nurse for fairy child. Sébillot, Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 121. (G. L. K.)

P. 361 f.Danish.Add:‘Jomfruen og dværgen,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, III, 98, No 393. A fragment of four stanzas, IV, 193, No 570.

364.Danish.Add:‘Angenede og havmanden,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, III, 17, No 34.

P. 379 a, II, 506. BretonFis now printed entire (twenty-one stanzas instead of eleven) by Gaidoz, in Mélusine, IV, 301 ff. (The language appears to be Cornish.)

380, II, 506.Ais printed by Rolland, III, 39;P,Q,ib., p. 41, p. 37;T,ib., p. 32, and in Revue des Traditions pop.,I, 33;X, by Rolland, III, 45;GG, in Revue des T. p., III, 195. The five stanzas in Poés. pop. de la F., MS., VI, 491 (MM), by Rolland, III, 36.

Add:NN, 38 verses, without indication of place, by C. de Sivry in Rev. des T. p., II, 24;OO, ‘Le roi Léouis,’ Haute-Bretagne, 60 verses, P. Sébillot, in the same, III, 196.

A Basque version, with a translation, in Rev. des Trad. pop., III, 198.

382 a.Italian.C-F,H-Know in Nigra’s collection, ‘Morte Occulta,’A-G, No 21, p. 142, in a different order.C,D,E,F,H,I,Kare in Nigra nowA,C,D,E,G,F,B. The fragment spoken of p. 383 b is now Nigra’s No 22, p. 149, ‘Mal ferito.’ The tale which follows this is given p. 148 f.

384 a. There are two good Asturian versions in Pidal, ‘Doña Alda,’ Nos 46, 47, pp. 181, 183. The editor mentions a copy in the second number of Folk-Lore Betico-Extremeño, much injured by tradition, which is more like the Catalan than the Asturian versions.

P. 392 b. Sleep-thorns.

Sleep-thorns, or something similar, occur in the West Highland tales. In a story partly reported by Campbell, I, xci, “the sister put gath nimh, a poisonous sting or thorn, into the bed, and the prince was as though he were dead for three days, and he was buried. But Knowledge told the other two dogs what to do, and they scraped up the prince and took out the thorn, and he came alive again and went home.” So in “The Widow’s Son,” Campbell, II, 296: “On the morrow he went, but the carlin stuck a bior nimh, spike of hurt, in the outside of the door post, and when he came to the church he fell asleep.” In another version of The Widow’s Son, II, 297, a “big pin” serves as the “spike of hurt.” Cf. the needle in Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen, 3d ed., p. 141, No 32. (G. L. K.)

393. Italian ballad. Add: Righi, p. 33, No 96; Nigra, No 77, p. 393, ‘La Bevanda sonnifera,’A-H; Giannini, ‘Il Cavaliere ingannato,’ p. 157; Ferrari, Biblioteca di Lett. pop. italiana, I, 218, ‘La bella Brunetta;’ Finamore, in Archivio, I, 89, La Fandell’ e lu Cavaljiere (mixed); Nerucci, in Archivio, II, 524, ‘La Ragazza Fantina;’ Julia, in Archivio, VI, 244, ‘La ‘nfantina e lu Cavalieri;’ Rondini, in Archivio, VII, 189.

Ricordi, Canti p. Lombardi, No 9, ‘La Moraschina,’ gives the first half of the story, with a slight alteration for propriety’s sake.

P. 400 a, II, 506 b.E,F, partly, in Revue des Traditions populaires, I, 104 f. (Qwas previously cited asJ.)Q.‘Les Transformations,’ Avenay, Marne, Gaston Paris, in Rev. des Trad. pop., I, 98;R, Haute-Bretagne, Sébillot, the same, p. 100;S, Le Morvan, Tiersot, p. 102;T, Tarn-et-Garonne, the same, II, 208.U.‘Les Métamorphoses,’ Finistère, Rolland, IV, 32,c;V, environs de Brest, the same, p. 33,d.Eis printed by Rolland, IV, 30,b.

Italian.A ballad in Nigra, No 59, p. 329, ‘Amore inevitabile.’

401 a. Vuk, I, No 602, is translated in Bowring’s Servian Popular Poetry, p. 195.

In a Magyar-Croat ballad the lover advises the maid, who has been chidden by her mother on his account, if her mother repeats the scolding, to turn herself into a fish, then he will be a fisherman, etc. Kurelac, p. 309, XV, 2. (W. W.)

401 b, last two paragraphs.

Other specimens of the first kind (not in Köhler’s note to Gonzenbach, II, 214) are:

Luzel, Annuaire de la Société des Traditions populaires, II, 56; Baissac, Folk-Lore de l’Île Maurice, p. 88 ff.;Wigström, Sagor ock Äfventyr uppt. i Skåne, p. 37;Luzel, Revue des Traditions populaires, I, 287, 288;Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, II, 13, 41 ff., cf. 64–66;Vernaleken, Kinder- u. Hausmärchen, No 49, p. 277;Bladé, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, II, 26–36;Carnoy, Contes populaires picards, Romania, VIII, 227. Cf. alsoOrtoli, Contes pop. de l’Île deCorse, pp. 27–29, and Cosquin’s notes (which do not cite any of the above-mentioned places),Contes pop. de Lorraine, I, 105 ff.

Other specimens of the second kind:

Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, II, 92–95, and note; Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande, u. s. w., 3d ed., 1882, No 14, p. 52 f.. (G. L. K.)

402 a, last paragraph. “The pursuit in various forms by the witch lady has an exact counterpart in a story of which I have many versions and which I had intended to give if I had room. It is called ‘The Fuller’s Son,’ ‘The Cotter’s Son,’ and other names, and it bears a strong resemblance to the end of the Norse tale of ‘Farmer Weathersky.’” Campbell, Pop. Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 297. (G. L. K.)

P. 415, note[391]. A version from Scotland has been printed in the Folk-Lore Journal, III, 272, ‘I had six lovers over the sea.’ (G. L. K.)

417, note[396], II, 507 b.

Theonestake with no head on it occurs also in Wolfdietrich B. The heathen, whom Wolfdietrich afterwards overcomes at knife-throwing, threatens him thus:

“Sihstu dort an den zinnen fünf hundert houbet stân,Diu ich mit mînen henden alle verderbet hân?Noch stât ein zinne lære an mînem türnlîn:Dâ muoz dîn werdez houbet ze einem phande sîn.”(St. 595, Jänicke, Deutsches Heldenbuch, III, 256.)

“Sihstu dort an den zinnen fünf hundert houbet stân,

Diu ich mit mînen henden alle verderbet hân?

Noch stât ein zinne lære an mînem türnlîn:

Dâ muoz dîn werdez houbet ze einem phande sîn.”

(St. 595, Jänicke, Deutsches Heldenbuch, III, 256.)

Two cases in Campbell’s Pop. T. of the West Highlands. “Many a leech has come, said the porter. There is not a spike on the town without a leech’s head but one, and may be it is for thy head that one is.” (The Ceabharnach, I, 312.) Conall “saw the very finest castle that ever was seen from the beginning of the universe till the end of eternity, and a great wall at the back of the fortress, and iron spikes within a foot of each other, about and around it; and a man’s head upon every spike but the one spike. Fear struck him and he fell a-shaking. He thought that it was his own head that would go on the headless spike.” (The Story of Conall Gulban, III, 202.) In Crestien’s Erec et Enide, Erec overcomes a knight in an orchard. There are many stakes crowned with heads, but one stake is empty. Erec is informed that this is forhishead, and that it is customary thus to keep a stake waiting for a new-comer, a fresh one being set up as often as a head is taken. Ed. by Bekker in Haupt’s Ztschr., X, 520, 521, vv. 5732–66. (G. L. K.)

P. 435. There is a copy in Nimmo, Songs and Ballads of Clydesdale, p. 131, made fromD,E, with half a dozen lines for connection.

437 b. It isE(notA) that is translated by Grundtvig; andDby Afzelius, Grimm, Talvj, Rosa Warrens.

436 f. In one of the older Croat ballads Marko Kraljević and his brother Andrija, who have made booty of three horses, quarrel about the third when they come to dividing, and Marko fells Andrija with a stab. Andrija charges Marko not to tell their mother what took place, but to say that he is not coming home, because he has become enamored of a girl in a foreign country. Bogišić p. 18, No 6. There is a Magyar-Croat variant of this, in which two brothers returning from war fall out about a girl, and the older (who, by the way, is a married man) stabs the younger. The dying brother wishes the mother to be told that he has staid behind to buy presents for her and his sisters. The mother asks when her son will come home. The elder brother answers, When a crow turns white and a withered maple greens. The (simple) mother gets a crow and bathes it daily in milk, and irrigates the tree with wine; but in vain. Other Slavic examples of these hopeless eventualities: Little-Russian, Golovatsky, I, 74, No 30, 97, No 7, 164, No 12, 173, No 23, 229, No 59; II, 41, No 61, 585, No 18, 592, No 27; III, 12, No 9, 136, No 256, 212, No 78; Bohemian, Erben, p. 182, No 340; Polish, Roger, p. 3, No 2; Servian, Vuk, I, No 364, Herzegovine, p. 209, No 176, p. 322, No 332; Bulgarian, Verković, No 226; Dozon, p. 95; Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 11, No 61, p. 130, No 430, p. 156, No 457 (and note), p. 157, No 459, p. 244, No 557. (W. W.)

P. 454. The modern street or broadside balladL(see II, 508) is given from singing by Miss Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 547.

459 b. The Färöe ballad (of which there are four copies) is printed inHammershaimb’s Færøsk Anthologi, p. 260, No 33, ‘Harra Pætur og Elinborg.’

462 a. ‘Gerineldo,’ also in Pidal, Asturian Romances, p. 90 f.

462 a, b. ‘Moran d’ Inghilterra,’ with a second version, in Nigra, No 42, p. 263.

55. The Carnal and the Crane.

P. 7 f., 510 a. Legend of the Sower. Catalan (with the partridge), Miscelánea Folk-Lórica, 1887, p. 115, No 6.

Moravian, Sušil, p. 19, No 16; Little-Russian, Golovatsky, II, 9, No 13. (W. W.)

P. 10 b. ‘Il ricco Epulone,’ Nigra, No 159, p. 543, with Jesus and the Madonna for Lazarus.

Little-Russian, Golovatsky, II, 737, No 5; III, 263, No 1, and 267, No 2. Lazarus and the rich man are represented as brothers. (W. W.)

P. 13 b, 5th line.Ais not a manuscript of the ‘fifteenth’ century, but of the date 1590 or 1591. (Note of Mr Axel Olrik.)

Pp. 37–43. The first adventure of the fragmentary romance of Joufrois affords this story. Count Richard of Poitiers has a son Joufrois. The boy begs his father to send him to the English court, that King Henry may knight him. The English king receives him well, but he remains avasletfor some time. The seneschal of the court endeavors to win the queen’samisté, but fails. He tells the king that he has seen the queen in bed with a kitchen-boy, and Henry swears that she shall hang or burn. The vaslet Joufrois offers to prove the seneschal a liar, and begs to be knighted for that purpose. Everybody thinks him mad to undertake battle with the seneschal, who is an unmatched man-at-arms: li biaus vaslet estoit enfens. The fight takes place at Winchester. Joufrois’ sword is broken, but he picks up a piece of a huge lance and disables his adversary with a blow on the arm. Joufrois then threatens to cut off the felon’s head if he does not retract, and as the seneschal prefers death to eating his words, this is done. Joufrois, Altfranzösisches Rittergedicht, ed. Hofmann und Muncker, vv. 91–631, pp. 3–18. (G. L. K.)

Pp. 51, 510 b. Mr Kittredge has noted for me some twenty other cases in metrical romances of knights riding into hall.

Aiol’s steed is stabled in the hall, Aiol et Mirabel, ed. Förster, vv. 1758–61, p. 51. So Gawain’s horse in the ‘Chevalier à l’Espée,’ vv. 224–236, Méon, Nouveau Recueil, I, 134. Cf. ‘Perceval le Gallois,’ ed. Potvin, II, 255 ff., vv. 16803–42. In ‘Richars li Biaus,’ the hero evidently has his horse with him while at dinner in the hall of the robber-castle: ed. Förster, v. 3396, p. 93; cf. the editor’s note, p. 182. In ‘Perceval le Gallois,’ a knight takes his horse with him into a bedchamber and ties him to a bed-post: ed. Potvin, III, 34, v. 21169 f.. Cf. Elie de Saint Gille, ed. Förster, pp. 377, 379, 380, vv. 2050–55, 2105, 2129–42. (G. L. K.)

P. 56 b. Amadas, while watching at the tomb of Ydoine, has a terrific combat with a highly mysterious stranger knight, whom he vanquishes. The stranger then informs Amadas that Ydoine is not really dead, etc., etc. He gives sufficient evidence of his elritch character, and the author clinches the matter by speaking of him as “the maufé” (v. 6709). Amadas et Ydoine, ed. Hippeau, vv. 5465 ff., p. 189 ff.. (G. L. K.)

60. Stanzas 42 ff.. It might have been remarked that this feat of tearing out a lion’s heart belongs to King Richard (see Weber’s Romances, II, 44), hence, according to the romance, named Cœur de Lion, and that it has also been assigned to an humbler hero, in a well-known broadside ballad, ‘The Honour of a London Prentice,’ Old Ballads, 1723, I, 199 (where there are two lions for one).

P. 83.Italian.‘Ambrogio e Lietta,’ Nigra, No 35, p. 201. The Piedmontese ballad, though incomplete, has the rough behavior of the man to the woman, the crossing of the water, the castle and the mother, the stable, and twins brought forth in a manger.

84 b.Danish.‘Hr. Peders stalddreng,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 121, No 441; ‘Liden Kirsten som stalddreng,’ V, 98, No 645.

‘Hr. Grönnevold,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VII, 49, No 177, is an imperfect copy of the second sort of Scandinavian ballads.

P. 103, note. ‘La Fidanzata Infedele’ is now No 34 of Nigra’s collection. See above the addition to No 5, I, 65 b.

P. 113 a, last paragraph. Burning, etc. See Amis e Amiloun (the French text), v. 364, p. 134, ed. Kölbing; Elie de St Gille, ed. Förster, vv. 2163–69, p. 381. Amadis de Gaule, Nicolas de Herberay, Anvers, 1573, I, 8 f., book 1, chap. 2, maid or wife; but Venice, 1552, I, 6 b, and Gayangos, Libros de Caballerias, p. 4, wife. (G. L. K.)

113 b. Only certain copies, and those perverted, of Grundtvig Nos 108, 109 have the punishment of burning for simple incontinence. This is rather the penalty for incest: cf. Syv, No 16,==Kristensen, I, No 70, II, No 49,==Grundtvig, No 292, and many other ballads. (Note of Mr Axel Olrik.)

Note §. ‘Galanzuca,’ ‘Galancina,’ Pidal, Asturian Romance, Nos 6, 7, pp. 92, 94, belong here. They have much of the story of ‘Lady Maisry,’ with a happy ending.

P. 127 a, 9th line of the second paragraph. A copy of ‘Fru Margaretha’ in Harald Oluffsons Visbok. Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., p. 36, No 16, stanzas 21, 22.

127 b, 511 b. In a Breton ballad, Mélusine, III, 350 f., a priest jumps a table, at the cry of his sister, who is in a desperate extremity.

But the greatest achievements in this way are in Slavic ballads. A bride, on learning of her bridegroom’s death, jumps over four tables and lights on the fifth, rushes to her chamber and stabs herself: Moravian, Sušil, p. 83. According to a variant, p. 84, note, she jumps over nine. A repentant husband who had projected the death of his wife, on hearing that she is still living, leaps nine tables without touching the glasses on them: Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 184, No 479. (W. W.)

Mr Kittredge has given me many cases from romances.

127 b, note. Sword reduced to a straw: add Nigra, No 113, etc. ‘Gerineldo:’ add Pidal, Asturian Romances, Nos 3, 4, 5.

P. 137 b. ‘Poter del Canto’ is now No 47, p. 284, of Nigra’s collection.

P. 142. A copy in A. Nimmo’s Songs and Ballads of Clydesdale, ‘Young Hyndford,’ p. 155, is made up (with changes) from Scott, Kinloch, Buchan, Motherwell and Herd,E,J,B,K,F,G.

143, 512 a. Discovery of drowned bodies. See Revue des Traditions populaires, I, 56; Mélusine, III, 141.

P. 157. There are four copies of the Färöe ‘Faðir og dóttir,’ and Hammershaimb has printed a second (with but slight variations) in hisFærøsk Anthologi: p. 253, No 31.

158. Spanish. Add: ‘La Esposa infiel,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, No 33, p. 154.

P. 170. Nine versions of ‘Jomfruens Brødre’ in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, II, 145 ff., Nos 717–23, V, 81 ff., Nos 633, 634.

Pp. 174, 512. Add to the French ballads one from Carcassonne, first published in a newspaper of that place, Le Bon Sens, August 10, 1878, and reprinted in Mélusine, II, 212. The occurrence which gave rise to the ballad is narrated by Nigra, C. p. del Piemonte, p. 54 f., after Mary Lafon, and the Italian version is No 4 of that collection, ‘Gli Scolari di Tolosa.’ The ballad is originally French, the scene Toulouse.

P. 179 f.D.The Roxburghe copy of ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor,’ III, 554, is printed by Mr J. W. Ebsworth in the Ballad Society’s edition of the Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 647. (Mr Ebsworth notes that the broadside occurs in the Bagford Ballads, II, 127; Douce, I, 120 v., III, 58 v., IV, 36; Ouvry, II, 38; Jersey, III, 88.) ‘The Unfortunate Forrester,’ Roxburghe, II, 553, is printed at p. 645 of the same volume. A copy from singing is given (with omissions) in Miss Burne’s Shropshire Folk-Lore, 1883–86, p. 545; another, originally from recitation, in Mr G. R. Tomson’s Ballads of the North Countrie, 1888, p. 82. Both came, traditionally, from print. Still another, from the singing of a Virginian nurse-maid (helped out by her mother), was communicated by Mr W. H. Babcock to the Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 33, 1889, and may be repeated here, both because it is American and also because of its amusing perversions.

THE BROWN GIRL1‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,And regulate all as one,Whether I shall wed fair Ellinter or no,Or fetch you the brown girl home.’2‘Fair Ellinter she has houses and wealth,The brown girl she has none;But before I am charged with that blessing,Go fetch me the brown girl home.’3He dressed himself in skylight green,His groomsmen all in red;And every town as he rode throughThey took him to be some king.4He rode and he rode until he came to fair Ellinter’s door;He knocked so loud at the ring;There was none so ready as fair Ellinter herselfTo rise and let him in.5‘O what is the news, Lord Thomas?’ she said,‘O what is the news to thee?’‘I’ve come to invite you to my wedding,And that is bad news to thee.’6‘God forbid, Lord Thomas,’ she said,‘That any such thing should be!For I should have been the bride myself,And you should the bridegroom be.7‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,And regulate all as one,Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas’ wed,Or stay with you at home.’8‘Here you have one thousand friends,Where there you would but one;So I will invite you, with my blessing,To stay with me at home.’9But she dressed herself in skylight red,Her waiting-maids all in green,And every town as she rode throughThey took her to be some queen.10She rode and she rode till she came to Lord Thomas’s door;She knocked so loud at the ring;There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himselfTo rise and let her in.11He took her by her lily-white hand,He led her across the hall;Sing, ‘Here are five and twenty gay maids,She is the flower of you all.’12He took her by her lily-white hand,He led her across the hall,He sat her down in a big arm-chair,And kissed her before them all.13The wedding was gotten, the table was set,. . . . . . .The first to sit down was Lord Thomas himself,His bride, fair Ellinter, by his side.14‘Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?’ she said;‘If this is your bride, Lord Thomas, she looks most wonderfully dark,When you could have gotten a fairerAs ever the sun shone on.’15‘O don’t you despise her,’ Lord Thomas said he,‘O don’t you despise her to me;Yes, I like the end of your little fingerBetter than her whole body.’16The brown girl, having a little penknife,And being both keen and sharp,Right between the long and short ribs,She pierced poor Ellinter’s heart.17‘O what is the matter, fair Ellinter,’ said he,‘That you look so very dark,When your cheeks used to have been so red and rosyAs ever the sun shined on?’18‘Are you blind, or don’t you see,My heart-blood come trickling down to my knee?’

THE BROWN GIRL

1‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,And regulate all as one,Whether I shall wed fair Ellinter or no,Or fetch you the brown girl home.’

‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,

And regulate all as one,

Whether I shall wed fair Ellinter or no,

Or fetch you the brown girl home.’

2‘Fair Ellinter she has houses and wealth,The brown girl she has none;But before I am charged with that blessing,Go fetch me the brown girl home.’

‘Fair Ellinter she has houses and wealth,

The brown girl she has none;

But before I am charged with that blessing,

Go fetch me the brown girl home.’

3He dressed himself in skylight green,His groomsmen all in red;And every town as he rode throughThey took him to be some king.

He dressed himself in skylight green,

His groomsmen all in red;

And every town as he rode through

They took him to be some king.

4He rode and he rode until he came to fair Ellinter’s door;He knocked so loud at the ring;There was none so ready as fair Ellinter herselfTo rise and let him in.

He rode and he rode until he came to fair Ellinter’s door;

He knocked so loud at the ring;

There was none so ready as fair Ellinter herself

To rise and let him in.

5‘O what is the news, Lord Thomas?’ she said,‘O what is the news to thee?’‘I’ve come to invite you to my wedding,And that is bad news to thee.’

‘O what is the news, Lord Thomas?’ she said,

‘O what is the news to thee?’

‘I’ve come to invite you to my wedding,

And that is bad news to thee.’

6‘God forbid, Lord Thomas,’ she said,‘That any such thing should be!For I should have been the bride myself,And you should the bridegroom be.

‘God forbid, Lord Thomas,’ she said,

‘That any such thing should be!

For I should have been the bride myself,

And you should the bridegroom be.

7‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,And regulate all as one,Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas’ wed,Or stay with you at home.’

‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me,

And regulate all as one,

Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas’ wed,

Or stay with you at home.’

8‘Here you have one thousand friends,Where there you would but one;So I will invite you, with my blessing,To stay with me at home.’

‘Here you have one thousand friends,

Where there you would but one;

So I will invite you, with my blessing,

To stay with me at home.’

9But she dressed herself in skylight red,Her waiting-maids all in green,And every town as she rode throughThey took her to be some queen.

But she dressed herself in skylight red,

Her waiting-maids all in green,

And every town as she rode through

They took her to be some queen.

10She rode and she rode till she came to Lord Thomas’s door;She knocked so loud at the ring;There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himselfTo rise and let her in.

She rode and she rode till she came to Lord Thomas’s door;

She knocked so loud at the ring;

There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himself

To rise and let her in.

11He took her by her lily-white hand,He led her across the hall;Sing, ‘Here are five and twenty gay maids,She is the flower of you all.’

He took her by her lily-white hand,

He led her across the hall;

Sing, ‘Here are five and twenty gay maids,

She is the flower of you all.’

12He took her by her lily-white hand,He led her across the hall,He sat her down in a big arm-chair,And kissed her before them all.

He took her by her lily-white hand,

He led her across the hall,

He sat her down in a big arm-chair,

And kissed her before them all.

13The wedding was gotten, the table was set,. . . . . . .The first to sit down was Lord Thomas himself,His bride, fair Ellinter, by his side.

The wedding was gotten, the table was set,

. . . . . . .

The first to sit down was Lord Thomas himself,

His bride, fair Ellinter, by his side.

14‘Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?’ she said;‘If this is your bride, Lord Thomas, she looks most wonderfully dark,When you could have gotten a fairerAs ever the sun shone on.’

‘Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?’ she said;

‘If this is your bride, Lord Thomas, she looks most wonderfully dark,

When you could have gotten a fairer

As ever the sun shone on.’

15‘O don’t you despise her,’ Lord Thomas said he,‘O don’t you despise her to me;Yes, I like the end of your little fingerBetter than her whole body.’

‘O don’t you despise her,’ Lord Thomas said he,

‘O don’t you despise her to me;

Yes, I like the end of your little finger

Better than her whole body.’

16The brown girl, having a little penknife,And being both keen and sharp,Right between the long and short ribs,She pierced poor Ellinter’s heart.

The brown girl, having a little penknife,

And being both keen and sharp,

Right between the long and short ribs,

She pierced poor Ellinter’s heart.

17‘O what is the matter, fair Ellinter,’ said he,‘That you look so very dark,When your cheeks used to have been so red and rosyAs ever the sun shined on?’

‘O what is the matter, fair Ellinter,’ said he,

‘That you look so very dark,

When your cheeks used to have been so red and rosy

As ever the sun shined on?’

18‘Are you blind, or don’t you see,My heart-blood come trickling down to my knee?’

‘Are you blind, or don’t you see,

My heart-blood come trickling down to my knee?’

31,2. greenandredshould be interchanged: cf. 9.

13, 14.Rearranged.

151. said she.

181. Add to the French ballads, ‘La Délaissée,’ V. Smith, Romania, VII, 82; Legrand, Romania, X, 386, No 32; ‘La triste Noce,’ Thiriat, Mélusine, I, 189; and to the Italian ballad, Nigra, No 20, p. 139, ‘Danze e Funerali.’

P. 205 b. Other copies of ‘Den elskedes Død’ (‘Kjærestens Død’),Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VII, 1, 2, Nos 1, 2;Bergström ock Nordlander, inNyare Bidrag, o. s. v., pp. 92, 100; and ‘Olof Adelen,’ p. 98, may be added, in which a linden grows from the common grave, with two boughs which embrace.

Note. With the Scandinavian-German ballads belongs ‘Greven og lille Lise,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, V, 20, No 14.

206, 512 b. To the southern ballads which have a partial resemblance may be added: French, Beaurepaire, p. 52, Combes, Chants p. du Pays castrais, p. 139, Arbaud, I, 117, Victor Smith, Romania, VII, 83, No. 32; Italian, Nigra, ‘La Sposa morta,’ No 17, p. 120 ff. (especiallyD).

215. I ought not to have omitted theσήματαby which Ulysses convinces Penelope, Odyssey, xxiii, 181–208; to which might be added those which convince Laertes, xxiv, 328 ff. See also the romance of Don Bueso, Duran, I, lxv:

Back to Index Next