270

THE EARL OF MAR’S DAUGHTER

‘The Earl of Mar’s Daughter,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 49; Motherwell’s MS. p. 565.

The Earl of Mar’s daughter spies a dove on a tower, and promises him a golden cage if he will come to her. The dove lights on her head, and she takes him into her bower. When night comes, she sees a youth standing by her side. The youth explains that his mother, a queen versed in magic, had transformed him into a dove that he might charm maids. He is a dove by day, a man at night, and will live and die with her. In the course of seven years seven sons are born, all of whom are successively committed to the care of the queen their grandmother. After the twenty-third year a lord comes to court the lady. She refuses him: she will live alone with her bird. Her father swears that he will kill this bird, and Cow-me-doo prudently takes refuge with his mother, who welcomes home her ‘young son Florentine,’ and calls for dancers and minstrels. Cow-me-doo Florentine will have none of that; the situation is too serious. The morrow the mother of his seven sons is to be wedded; instead of merry-making, he desires to have twenty stout men turned into storks, his seven sons into swans, and himself into a goshawk. This feat is beyond his mother’s (quite limited) magic, but it is done by an old woman who has more skill. The birds fly to Earl Mar’s castle, where the wedding is going on. The storks seize some of the noble guests, the swans bind the bride’s best man to a tree, and in a twinkling the bride and her maidens are carried off by the birds. The Earl of Mar reconciles himself with his daughter.

There is a Scandinavian ballad whichGrundtvig has treated as identical with this, but the two have little in common beyond the assumption of the bird-shape by the lover. They are, perhaps, on a par for barrenness and folly, but the former may claim some age and vogue, the Scottish ballad neither.

Danish.‘Ridderen i Fugleham,’ Grundtvig, II, 226, No 68,A-C(Cis translated by Prior, III, 206); ‘Herr Jon som Fugl,’ Kristensen, I, 161, No 59, X, 23, No 11,A,B. In Grundtvig’sA(MS. of the sixteenth century), the son of the king of England wooes a maid, sending her rich presents. Her mother says he shall never have her daughter, and this message his envoys take back to him. He is angry, and has a bird’s coat forged for him out of nine gold rings (but his behavior thereafter is altogether birdlike). He sits on the ridgepole of the maid’s bower and sings. The maid exclaims, Christ grant thou wert mine! thou shouldst drink naught but wine, and sleep in my arms. I would send thee to England, as a gift to my love. She sits down on the ground; the bird flies into her bosom. She takes the bird into her bower; he throws off his bird-coat, and is recognized. The maid begs him to do her no shame. ‘Not if you will go to England with me,’ he answers, takes her up, and wings his way thither. There he marries her, and gives her a crown and a queen’s name.

In GrundtvigB, the bird is a falcon. The maid will have no man that cannot fly. Master Hillebrand, son of the king of England, learns this fact, and has a bird’s coat made for him, enters the room where man had never been before, sleeps under white linen, and in the morning is a knight so braw. (Here the story ends.)

InC, the maid will have no man that cannot fly, and Master Hillebrand orders a bird’s coat to be made for him (what could be more mechanical!), flies into the maid’s bower, and passes the night on the pole on which she hangs her clothes. In the morning he begins to sing, flies to the bed, and plays with the maid’s hair. If you could shed your feathers, says the maid, I would have no other man. Keep your word, says the bird; give me your hand, and take my claw. She passes her word; he throws off his feathers, and stands before her a handsome man. By day, says the maid, he is to fly with the birds, by night to sleep in her bed. He perches so long on the clothes-pole that Ingerlille has a girl and a boy. When her father asks who is their father, she tells him the positive truth; she found them in a wood. When the bird comes back at night, she says that he must speak to her father; further concealment is impossible. Master Hillebrand asks the father to give him his daughter. The father is surprised that he should want a maid that has been beguiled; but if he will marry her she shall have a large dowry. The knight wants nothing but her.

Kristensen’s copies do not differ materially. 11Ain his tenth volume (a very brief ballad) drops or lacks the manufacture of the bird-coat. Grundtvig’sD-Gdrop the bird quite.

The ballad occurs in Swedish, but in the form of a mere abstract; in Arwidsson, II, 188, No 112, MS. of the sixteenth century. A maid will have no man but one that can fly. A swain has wings made from five gold rings; he flies over the rose-wood, over the sea, sits on a lily-spray and sings, flies till he sleeps in the maid’s bosom.

A Färöe copy is noted by Grundtvig as in the possession of Hammershaimb, resembling hisB, but about twice as long.

The lover in bird-shape is a very familiar trait in fiction, particularly in popular tales.

In Marie de France’s Lai d’Yonec, a lover comes in at his mistress’s window in the form of a hawk; in ‘Der Jungherr und der treue Heinrich,’ von der Hagen, Gesammtabenteuer, No 64, III, 197, MS. of 1444, as a bird (by virtue of a stone of which he has possessed himself).[41]In Hahn, No 102, II, 130 (Albanian), a dove flies in at a princess’s window, and is changed to man’s shape by dipping in a dish of milk; Hahn, No 7, I, 97==Pio, No 5, dove (through a hole in the ceiling, dips in a basin of water); Δελτίον τῆς ἱστορικῆς καὶ ἐθνολογικῆς ἑταιρίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος, I, 337, golden eagle(through a window, in rose water); Schneller, No 21, p. 49, dove (dips in a basin of water); Coelho, Contos pop. portuguezes, No 27, p. 65, bird (dips in a basin of water); Braga, Contos tradicionães, No 31, I, 68, bird (dips in a basin of water); Pitrè, Fiabe, etc., No 18, I, 163, green bird (pan of milk, then pan of water); Bernoni, Fiabe, No 17, p. 87 (milk and water, milk, rose-water); Visentini, No 17, p. 95, dove; Gonzenbach, No 27, I, 167, green bird (through a hole in the wall); Nicolovius, p. 34, Asbjørnsen, Norske Folkeeventyr, Ny Samling, 1871, No 10, p. 35==Juletræet, 1851, p. 52, falcon; Grundtvig, Danske Folkeæventyr, No 14, p. 167, Madsen, Folkeminder, p. 19 (‘The Green Knight’), bird; Berntsen, Folke-Æventyr, No 13, II, 86, bird; Comtesse d’Aulnoy, L’Oiseau bleu,’ Cabinet des Fées, II, 67, king turned into bird for seven years.[42]

Translated by Gerhard, p. 44; Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 207, No 62.

1It was intill a pleasant time,Upon a simmer’s day,The noble Earl of Mar’s daughterWent forth to sport and play.2As thus she did amuse hersell,Below a green aik tree,There she saw a sprightly dooSet on a tower sae hie.3‘O Cow-me-doo, my love sae true,If ye’ll come down to me,Ye’se hae a cage o guid red gowdInstead o simple tree:4‘I’ll put gowd hingers roun your cage,And siller roun your wa;I’ll gar ye shine as fair a birdAs ony o them a’.’5But she hadnae these words well spoke,Nor yet these words well said,Till Cow-me-doo flew frae the towerAnd lighted on her head.6Then she has brought this pretty birdHame to her bowers and ha,And made him shine as fair a birdAs ony o them a’.7When day was gane, and night was come,About the evening tide,This lady spied a sprightly youthStand straight up by her side.8‘From whence came ye, young man?’ she said;‘That does surprise me sair;My door was bolted right secure,What way hae ye come here?’9‘O had your tongue, ye lady fair,Lat a’ your folly be;Mind ye not on your turtle-dooLast day ye brought wi thee?’10‘O tell me mair, young man,’ she said,‘This does surprise me now;What country hae ye come frae?What pedigree are you?’11‘My mither lives on foreign isles,She has nae mair but me;She is a queen o wealth and state,And birth and high degree.12‘Likewise well skilld in magic spells,As ye may plainly see,And she transformd me to yon shape,To charm such maids as thee.13‘I am a doo the live-lang day,A sprightly youth at night;This aye gars me appear mair fairIn a fair maiden’s sight.14‘And it was but this verra dayThat I came ower the sea;Your lovely face did me enchant;I’ll live and dee wi thee.’15‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,Nae mair frae me ye’se gae;’‘That’s never my intent, my luve,As ye said, it shall be sae.’16‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,It’s time to gae to bed;’‘Wi a’ my heart, my dear marrow,It’s be as ye hae said.’17Then he has staid in bower wi herFor sax lang years and ane,Till sax young sons to him she bare,And the seventh she’s brought hame.18But aye as ever a child was bornHe carried them away,And brought them to his mither’s care,As fast as he coud fly.19Thus he has staid in bower wi herFor twenty years and three;There came a lord o high renownTo court this fair ladie.20But still his proffer she refused,And a’ his presents too;Says, I’m content to live alaneWi my bird, Cow-me-doo.21Her father sware a solemn oathAmang the nobles all,‘The morn, or ere I eat or drink,This bird I will gar kill.’22The bird was sitting in his cage,And heard what they did say;And when he found they were dismist,Says, Wae’s me for this day!23‘Before that I do langer stay,And thus to be forlorn,I’ll gang unto my mither’s bower,Where I was bred and born.’24Then Cow-me-doo took flight and flewBeyond the raging sea,And lighted near his mither’s castle,On a tower o gowd sae hie.25As his mither was wauking out,To see what she coud see,And there she saw her little son,Set on the tower sae hie.26‘Get dancers here to dance,’ she said,‘And minstrells for to play;For here’s my young son, Florentine,Come here wi me to stay.’27‘Get nae dancers to dance, mither,Nor minstrells for to play,For the mither o my seven sons,The morn’s her wedding-day.’28‘O tell me, tell me, Florentine,Tell me, and tell me true,Tell me this day without a flaw,What I will do for you.’29‘Instead of dancers to dance, mither,Or minstrells for to play,Turn four-and-twenty wall-wight menLike storks in feathers gray;30‘My seven sons in seven swans,Aboon their heads to flee;And I mysell a gay gos-hawk,A bird o high degree.’31Then sichin said the queen hersell,‘That thing’s too high for me;’But she applied to an auld woman,Who had mair skill than she.32Instead o dancers to dance a dance,Or minstrells for to play,Four-and-twenty wall-wight menTurnd birds o feathers gray;33Her seven sons in seven swans,Aboon their heads to flee;And he himsell a gay gos-hawk,A bird o high degree.34This flock o birds took flight and flewBeyond the raging sea,And landed near the Earl Mar’s castle,Took shelter in every tree.35They were a flock o pretty birds,Right comely to be seen;The people viewd them wi surprise,As they dancd on the green.36These birds ascended frae the treeAnd lighted on the ha,And at the last wi force did fleeAmang the nobles a’.37The storks there seized some o the men,They coud neither fight nor flee;The swans they bound the bride’s best manBelow a green aik tree.38They lighted next on maidens fair,Then on the bride’s own head,And wi the twinkling o an eeThe bride and them were fled.39There’s ancient men at weddings beenFor sixty years or more,But sic a curious wedding-dayThey never saw before.40For naething coud the companie do,Nor naething coud they sayBut they saw a flock o pretty birdsThat took their bride away.41When that Earl Mar he came to knowWhere his dochter did stay,He signd a bond o unity,And visits now they pay.

1It was intill a pleasant time,Upon a simmer’s day,The noble Earl of Mar’s daughterWent forth to sport and play.

It was intill a pleasant time,

Upon a simmer’s day,

The noble Earl of Mar’s daughter

Went forth to sport and play.

2As thus she did amuse hersell,Below a green aik tree,There she saw a sprightly dooSet on a tower sae hie.

As thus she did amuse hersell,

Below a green aik tree,

There she saw a sprightly doo

Set on a tower sae hie.

3‘O Cow-me-doo, my love sae true,If ye’ll come down to me,Ye’se hae a cage o guid red gowdInstead o simple tree:

‘O Cow-me-doo, my love sae true,

If ye’ll come down to me,

Ye’se hae a cage o guid red gowd

Instead o simple tree:

4‘I’ll put gowd hingers roun your cage,And siller roun your wa;I’ll gar ye shine as fair a birdAs ony o them a’.’

‘I’ll put gowd hingers roun your cage,

And siller roun your wa;

I’ll gar ye shine as fair a bird

As ony o them a’.’

5But she hadnae these words well spoke,Nor yet these words well said,Till Cow-me-doo flew frae the towerAnd lighted on her head.

But she hadnae these words well spoke,

Nor yet these words well said,

Till Cow-me-doo flew frae the tower

And lighted on her head.

6Then she has brought this pretty birdHame to her bowers and ha,And made him shine as fair a birdAs ony o them a’.

Then she has brought this pretty bird

Hame to her bowers and ha,

And made him shine as fair a bird

As ony o them a’.

7When day was gane, and night was come,About the evening tide,This lady spied a sprightly youthStand straight up by her side.

When day was gane, and night was come,

About the evening tide,

This lady spied a sprightly youth

Stand straight up by her side.

8‘From whence came ye, young man?’ she said;‘That does surprise me sair;My door was bolted right secure,What way hae ye come here?’

‘From whence came ye, young man?’ she said;

‘That does surprise me sair;

My door was bolted right secure,

What way hae ye come here?’

9‘O had your tongue, ye lady fair,Lat a’ your folly be;Mind ye not on your turtle-dooLast day ye brought wi thee?’

‘O had your tongue, ye lady fair,

Lat a’ your folly be;

Mind ye not on your turtle-doo

Last day ye brought wi thee?’

10‘O tell me mair, young man,’ she said,‘This does surprise me now;What country hae ye come frae?What pedigree are you?’

‘O tell me mair, young man,’ she said,

‘This does surprise me now;

What country hae ye come frae?

What pedigree are you?’

11‘My mither lives on foreign isles,She has nae mair but me;She is a queen o wealth and state,And birth and high degree.

‘My mither lives on foreign isles,

She has nae mair but me;

She is a queen o wealth and state,

And birth and high degree.

12‘Likewise well skilld in magic spells,As ye may plainly see,And she transformd me to yon shape,To charm such maids as thee.

‘Likewise well skilld in magic spells,

As ye may plainly see,

And she transformd me to yon shape,

To charm such maids as thee.

13‘I am a doo the live-lang day,A sprightly youth at night;This aye gars me appear mair fairIn a fair maiden’s sight.

‘I am a doo the live-lang day,

A sprightly youth at night;

This aye gars me appear mair fair

In a fair maiden’s sight.

14‘And it was but this verra dayThat I came ower the sea;Your lovely face did me enchant;I’ll live and dee wi thee.’

‘And it was but this verra day

That I came ower the sea;

Your lovely face did me enchant;

I’ll live and dee wi thee.’

15‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,Nae mair frae me ye’se gae;’‘That’s never my intent, my luve,As ye said, it shall be sae.’

‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,

Nae mair frae me ye’se gae;’

‘That’s never my intent, my luve,

As ye said, it shall be sae.’

16‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,It’s time to gae to bed;’‘Wi a’ my heart, my dear marrow,It’s be as ye hae said.’

‘O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,

It’s time to gae to bed;’

‘Wi a’ my heart, my dear marrow,

It’s be as ye hae said.’

17Then he has staid in bower wi herFor sax lang years and ane,Till sax young sons to him she bare,And the seventh she’s brought hame.

Then he has staid in bower wi her

For sax lang years and ane,

Till sax young sons to him she bare,

And the seventh she’s brought hame.

18But aye as ever a child was bornHe carried them away,And brought them to his mither’s care,As fast as he coud fly.

But aye as ever a child was born

He carried them away,

And brought them to his mither’s care,

As fast as he coud fly.

19Thus he has staid in bower wi herFor twenty years and three;There came a lord o high renownTo court this fair ladie.

Thus he has staid in bower wi her

For twenty years and three;

There came a lord o high renown

To court this fair ladie.

20But still his proffer she refused,And a’ his presents too;Says, I’m content to live alaneWi my bird, Cow-me-doo.

But still his proffer she refused,

And a’ his presents too;

Says, I’m content to live alane

Wi my bird, Cow-me-doo.

21Her father sware a solemn oathAmang the nobles all,‘The morn, or ere I eat or drink,This bird I will gar kill.’

Her father sware a solemn oath

Amang the nobles all,

‘The morn, or ere I eat or drink,

This bird I will gar kill.’

22The bird was sitting in his cage,And heard what they did say;And when he found they were dismist,Says, Wae’s me for this day!

The bird was sitting in his cage,

And heard what they did say;

And when he found they were dismist,

Says, Wae’s me for this day!

23‘Before that I do langer stay,And thus to be forlorn,I’ll gang unto my mither’s bower,Where I was bred and born.’

‘Before that I do langer stay,

And thus to be forlorn,

I’ll gang unto my mither’s bower,

Where I was bred and born.’

24Then Cow-me-doo took flight and flewBeyond the raging sea,And lighted near his mither’s castle,On a tower o gowd sae hie.

Then Cow-me-doo took flight and flew

Beyond the raging sea,

And lighted near his mither’s castle,

On a tower o gowd sae hie.

25As his mither was wauking out,To see what she coud see,And there she saw her little son,Set on the tower sae hie.

As his mither was wauking out,

To see what she coud see,

And there she saw her little son,

Set on the tower sae hie.

26‘Get dancers here to dance,’ she said,‘And minstrells for to play;For here’s my young son, Florentine,Come here wi me to stay.’

‘Get dancers here to dance,’ she said,

‘And minstrells for to play;

For here’s my young son, Florentine,

Come here wi me to stay.’

27‘Get nae dancers to dance, mither,Nor minstrells for to play,For the mither o my seven sons,The morn’s her wedding-day.’

‘Get nae dancers to dance, mither,

Nor minstrells for to play,

For the mither o my seven sons,

The morn’s her wedding-day.’

28‘O tell me, tell me, Florentine,Tell me, and tell me true,Tell me this day without a flaw,What I will do for you.’

‘O tell me, tell me, Florentine,

Tell me, and tell me true,

Tell me this day without a flaw,

What I will do for you.’

29‘Instead of dancers to dance, mither,Or minstrells for to play,Turn four-and-twenty wall-wight menLike storks in feathers gray;

‘Instead of dancers to dance, mither,

Or minstrells for to play,

Turn four-and-twenty wall-wight men

Like storks in feathers gray;

30‘My seven sons in seven swans,Aboon their heads to flee;And I mysell a gay gos-hawk,A bird o high degree.’

‘My seven sons in seven swans,

Aboon their heads to flee;

And I mysell a gay gos-hawk,

A bird o high degree.’

31Then sichin said the queen hersell,‘That thing’s too high for me;’But she applied to an auld woman,Who had mair skill than she.

Then sichin said the queen hersell,

‘That thing’s too high for me;’

But she applied to an auld woman,

Who had mair skill than she.

32Instead o dancers to dance a dance,Or minstrells for to play,Four-and-twenty wall-wight menTurnd birds o feathers gray;

Instead o dancers to dance a dance,

Or minstrells for to play,

Four-and-twenty wall-wight men

Turnd birds o feathers gray;

33Her seven sons in seven swans,Aboon their heads to flee;And he himsell a gay gos-hawk,A bird o high degree.

Her seven sons in seven swans,

Aboon their heads to flee;

And he himsell a gay gos-hawk,

A bird o high degree.

34This flock o birds took flight and flewBeyond the raging sea,And landed near the Earl Mar’s castle,Took shelter in every tree.

This flock o birds took flight and flew

Beyond the raging sea,

And landed near the Earl Mar’s castle,

Took shelter in every tree.

35They were a flock o pretty birds,Right comely to be seen;The people viewd them wi surprise,As they dancd on the green.

They were a flock o pretty birds,

Right comely to be seen;

The people viewd them wi surprise,

As they dancd on the green.

36These birds ascended frae the treeAnd lighted on the ha,And at the last wi force did fleeAmang the nobles a’.

These birds ascended frae the tree

And lighted on the ha,

And at the last wi force did flee

Amang the nobles a’.

37The storks there seized some o the men,They coud neither fight nor flee;The swans they bound the bride’s best manBelow a green aik tree.

The storks there seized some o the men,

They coud neither fight nor flee;

The swans they bound the bride’s best man

Below a green aik tree.

38They lighted next on maidens fair,Then on the bride’s own head,And wi the twinkling o an eeThe bride and them were fled.

They lighted next on maidens fair,

Then on the bride’s own head,

And wi the twinkling o an ee

The bride and them were fled.

39There’s ancient men at weddings beenFor sixty years or more,But sic a curious wedding-dayThey never saw before.

There’s ancient men at weddings been

For sixty years or more,

But sic a curious wedding-day

They never saw before.

40For naething coud the companie do,Nor naething coud they sayBut they saw a flock o pretty birdsThat took their bride away.

For naething coud the companie do,

Nor naething coud they say

But they saw a flock o pretty birds

That took their bride away.

41When that Earl Mar he came to knowWhere his dochter did stay,He signd a bond o unity,And visits now they pay.

When that Earl Mar he came to know

Where his dochter did stay,

He signd a bond o unity,

And visits now they pay.

FOOTNOTES:[41]The ‘Vogelritter’ mentioned by Prior, III, 207, is this same story. See Mone, Uebersicht der niederländischen Volksliteratur, p. 90, No 59.[42]Most of the above are cited by R. Köhler, notes in Warnke’s ed. of Marie’s Lais, p. LXXXVIII f. For the dipping in water, etc., see Tam Lin, I, 338.

[41]The ‘Vogelritter’ mentioned by Prior, III, 207, is this same story. See Mone, Uebersicht der niederländischen Volksliteratur, p. 90, No 59.

[42]Most of the above are cited by R. Köhler, notes in Warnke’s ed. of Marie’s Lais, p. LXXXVIII f. For the dipping in water, etc., see Tam Lin, I, 338.

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