Chapter 9

I lighted down my sword to draw, I hackéd him in pieces sma', I hackéd him in pieces sma', For her sake that died for me.

O Helen fair, beyond compare! I'll make a garland of thy hair Shall bind my heart for evermair Until the day I dee.

O that I were where Helen lies! Night and day on me she cries; Out of my bed she bids me rise, Says, "Haste and come to me!"

O Helen fair! O Helen chaste! If I were with thee, I were blest, Where thou lies low and takes thy rest On fair Kirconnell lea.

I wad my grave were growing green, A winding-sheet drawn ower my een, And I in Helen's arms lying, On fair Kirconnell lea.

I wad I were where Helen lies; Night and day on me she cries; And I am weary of the skies, Since my Love died for me.

* * * * *

WALY WALY.

O waly waly up the bank, And waly waly down the brae, And waly waly yon burn-side Where I and my Love wont to gae! I leant my back unto an aik, I thought it was a trusty tree; But first it bow'd, and syne it brak, Sae my true Love did lichtly me.

O waly waly, but love be bonny A little time while it is new; But when 'tis auld, it waxeth cauld And fades awa' like morning dew. O wherefore should I busk my head? Or wherefore should I kame my hair? For my true Love has me forsook, And says he'll never loe me mair.

Now Arthur-seat sall be my bed; The sheets sall ne'er be prest by me: Saint Anton's well sall be my drink, Since my true Love has forsaken me. Marti'mas wind, when wilt thou blaw, And shake the green leaves aff the tree? O gentle Death, when wilt thou come? For of my life I am wearie.

'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell, Nor blawing snaw's inclemencie; 'Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry, But my Love's heart grown cauld to me. When we came in by Glasgow town We were a comely sight to see; My Love was clad in black velvet, And I mysell in cramasie.

But had I wist, before I kist, That love had been sae ill to win; I had lockt my heart in a case of gowd And pinn'd it with a siller pin. And, O! that my young babe were born, And set upon, the nurse's knee, And I mysell were dead and gane, And the green grass growing over me!

* * * * *

LORD RONALD.

"O where hae ye been, Lord Ronald, my son, O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?" "I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

"Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Ronald, my son? Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?" "I dined wi' my true-love; mother, make my bed soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

"What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Ronald, my son? What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?" "I gat eels boil'd in broo'; mother, make my bed soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

"What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Ronald, my son? What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?" "O they swell'd and they died; mother, make my bed soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

"O I fear ye are poison'd, Lord Ronald, my son! O I fear ye are poison'd, my handsome young man!" "O yes! I am poison'd! mother, make my bed soon, For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down."

* * * * *

EDWARD, EDWARD.

'Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid, Edward, Edward? Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid, And why sae sad gang yee O?' 'O I hae killed my hauke sae guid, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my hauke sae guid, And I had nae mair bot hee O.'

'Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, Edward, Edward, Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, My deir son, I tell thee O.' 'O I hae killed my reid-roan steid, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my reid-roan steid, That erst was sae fair and frie O.'

'Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, Edward, Edward, Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, Sum other dule ye drie O.' 'O I hae killed my fadir deir, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my fadir deir, Alas, and wae is mee O!'

'And whatten penance wul ye drie for that, Edward, Edward? 'And whatten penance wul ye drie for that? My deir son, now tell me O.' 'He set my feit in yonder boat, Mither, mither, He set my feit in yonder boat, And He fare ovir the sea O.'

'And what wul ye doe wi your towirs and your ha, Edward, Edward? And what wul ye doe wi your towirs and your ha, That were sae fair to see O?' 'Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa, Mither, mither, Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa, For here nevir mair maun I bee O.'

'And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, Edward, Edward? And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, When ye gang ovir the sea O?' 'The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, Mither, mither, The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, For thame nevir mair wul I see O.'

'And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, Edward, Edward? And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, My deir son, now tell me O.' 'The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, Mither, mither, The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, Sic counseils ye gave to me O.'

* * * * *

NOTES

THE WEE WEE MAN. Mainly after Herd. Given also by Motherwell, Buchan, and Kinloch, and in Caw's "Poetical Museum." _Shathmont_, a six inch measure. _Lap_, leaped. _Jimp_, neat.

TAMLANE. Mainly after Aytoun's collated version. Stanzas 16-19, obtained by Scott "from a gentleman residing near Langholm," are too modern in diction to harmonize well with the rest, but are retained here because of their fidelity to the ancient beliefs of the country folk about fairies. Widely varying versions are given in Johnson's "Museum," communicated by Burns, under title of _Tam Lin_; in the Glenriddell MS. under title of _Young Tom Line_; by Herd, under title of _Kertonha_, corruption of Carterhaugh; by Motherwell, under titles of _Young Tamlin_ and _Tomaline_; by Buchan, under titles of _Tam-a-line_ and _Tam a-Lin_; and in the Campbell MS. under title of _Young Tam Lane_. There are humorous Scottish songs, too, of _Tam o Lin_, _Tam o the Linn_, _Tom a Lin_, and _Tommy Linn_. The ballad is of respectable antiquity, the _Tayl of the Yong Tamlene_ and the dance of _Thom of Lyn_ being noticed in a work as old as the "Complaynt of Scotland" (1548); yet it seems to have no Continental cousins, but to be strictly of Scottish origin. It belongs to Selkirkshire, whose peasants still point out upon the plain of Carterhaugh, about a mile above Selkirk, the fairy rings in the grass. _Preen'd_, decked. _Gars_, makes. _Bree_, brow, _Sained_, baptized, _Snell_, keen. _Teind_, tithe. _Borrow_, ransom. _Cast a compass_, draw a circle. _Elrish_, elvish. _Gin_, if. _Maik_, mate. _Aske_, lizard. _Bale_, fire. _But and_, and also. _Tree_, wood. _Coft_, bought.

TRUE THOMAS. Mainly after Scott. This is one of the ballads written down from the recital of the "good Mrs. Brown," to whose admirable memory ballad-lovers are so deeply indebted. It is given in the Brown MS. as _Thomas Rymer and Queen of Elfland_; in the Campbell MS. as _Thomas the Rhymer_. Scott obtained his excellent version from "a lady residing not far from Ercildoune." This Thomas the Rhymer, or True Thomas, or Thomas of Ercildoune, was a veritable personage, who dwelt in the village of Ercildoune situate by "Leader's silver tide" some two miles above its junction with the Tweed. Tradition has it that his date was the thirteenth century and his full name Thomas Learmont. He was celebrated as poet and prophet, the rustics believing that his gift of soothsaying was imparted by the Fairy Queen, who kept him with her in Elfland for seven years, permitting him then to return to the upper world for a season and utter his oracles, but presently recalling him to her mysterious court. A fragmentary old poem, showing probable traces, as Jamieson suggests, of the Rhymer's own authorship, tells this famous adventure in language whose antiquated form cannot disguise its sweetness. The melancholy likelihood seems to be that True Thomas was a fibbing Thomas, after all, and invented this story of his sojourn in Elfland to gain credit for his poetical prophecies, which claim to have first proceeded from the mouth of the Fairy Queen, when

"Scho broghte hym agayne to Eldone tree, Vndir nethe that grenewode spraye; In Huntlee bannkes es mery to bee, Whare fowles synges bothe nyght and daye."

_Ferlie_, wonder. _Ilka tett_, each lock (of hair). _Louted_, bowed. _Harp and carp_, play and talk. _Leven_, lawn. _Stern-light_, star-light. _Dought_, could.

THE ELFIN KNIGHT. After Aytoun's version framed by collation from copies given by Motherwell, Kinloch, and Buchan. These were in the main recovered by recitation, although there is a broadside copy of the ballad in the Pepysian collection at Cambridge. Fragments of the story have been handed down in tavern-songs and nursery-rhymes, and it is to be found, more or less disguised, in the literatures of many countries, European and Asiatic. It is only in our own versions, however, that the outwitted knight is a supernatural being, usually an elf, though sometimes degenerating into "the Deil." Nowhere out of canny Scotland does his ungallantry debar him from the human ranks. _Sark_, shirt. _Gin_, if. _Tyne_, prong. _Shear_, reap. _Bigg_, build. _Loof_, hollow of the hand. _But_ (candle, etc.), without (candle, etc.)

LADY ISOBEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT. Mainly after Buchan's version entitled _The Water o' Wearie's Well_, although it is in another version given by Buchan, under title of _The Gowans sae Gay_, that the name of the lady is disclosed, and the elfin nature of the eccentric lover revealed. In that ballad Lady Isobel falls in love with the elf-knight on hearing him

"blawing his horn, The first morning in May,"

and this more tuneful version retains in the first two stanzas a fading trace of the fairy element and the magic music, the bird, whose song may be supposed to have caused the lady's heartache, being possibly the harper in elfin disguise. In most of the versions, however, the knight is merely a human knave, usually designated as Fause Sir John, and the lady is frequently introduced as May Colven or Colvin or Collin or Collean, though also as Pretty Polly. The story is widely circulated, appearing in the folk-songs of nearly all the nations of northern and southern Europe. It has been suggested that the popular legend may be "a wild shoot from the story of Judith and Holofernes." _Dowie_, doleful.

TOM THUMBE. After Ritson, with omissions. Ritson prints from a manuscript dated 1630, the oldest copy known to be extant, but the story itself can be traced much further back and was evidently a prime favorite with the English rustics. The plain, often doggerel verse, and the rough, often coarse humor of this ballad make it appear at striking disadvantage among the Scottish folk-songs, essentially poetic as even the rudest of them are. Tom Thumbe, it must be confessed, is but a clumsy sort of elf, and the ballad as a whole can hardly be said to have a fairy atmosphere. Yet it is of value as adding to the data for a comparison between the English and the Scottish peasantry, as throwing light on the fun-loving spirit, the sports and practical joking of Merrie England, as showing the tenacity of the Arthurian tradition, together with the confusion of chivalric memories, as displaying the ignorant credulity of the popular mind toward science no less than toward history, and as illustrating, by giving us in all this bald, sing-song run of verses, here and there a sweet or dainty fancy and at least one stanza of exquisite tenderness and grace, the significant fact that in the genuine old English ballads beauty is not the rule, but the surprise. _Counters_, coin-shaped pieces of metal, ivory, or wood, used in reckoning. _Points_, here probably the bits of tin plate used to tag the strands of cotton yarn with which, in lieu of buttons, the common folk fastened their garments. The points worn by the nobles were laces or silken strands ornamented with aiglets of gold or silver.

KEMPION. After Allingham's version collated from copies given by Scott, Buchan, and Motherwell, with a touch or two from the kindred ballad _The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heugh._ Buchan and Motherwell make the name of the hero Kemp Owyne. Similar ballads are known in Iceland and Denmark, and the main features of the story appear in both the classic and romantic literatures. _Weird_, destiny. _Dree_, suffer. _Borrowed_, ransomed. _Arblast bow_, cross-bow. _Stythe_, place. _Louted_, bowed.

ALISON GROSS. After Jamieson's version taken from the recitation of Mrs. Brown. Child claims that this tale is a variety of _Beauty and the Beast. Lemman_, lover. _Gar_, make. _Toddle_, twine. _Seely Court_, Happy Court or Fairy Court. See English Dictionary for changes of meaning in _silly_.

THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL. After Scott, with a stanza or two from Chambers, both versions being recovered by recitation. Although this is scarcely more than a fragment, it is well-nigh unsurpassed for genuine ballad beauty, the mere touches of narrative suggesting far deeper things than they actually relate. _Martinmas_, the eleventh of November. _Carline wife_, old peasant-woman. _Fashes_, troubles. _Birk_, birch. _Syke_, marsh. _Sheugh_, trench. _Channerin'_, fretting. _Gin_, if. _Byre_, cow-house.

A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE. After Scott. This dirge belongs to the north of England and is said to have been chanted, in Yorkshire, over the dead, down to about 1624. _Lyke-Wake_, dead-watch. _Sleete_, salt, it being the old peasant custom to place a quantity of this on the breast of the dead. _Whinny-muir_, Furze-moor. A manuscript found by Ritson in the Cotton Library states: "When any dieth, certaine women sing a song to the dead bodie, recyting the journey that the partye deceased must goe; and they are of beliefe (such is their fondnesse) that once in their lives, it is good to give a pair of new shoes to a poor man, for as much as, after this life, they are to pass barefoote through a great launde, full of thornes and furzen, except by the meryte of the almes aforesaid they have redemed the forfeyte; for, at the edge of the launde, an oulde man shall meet them with the same shoes that were given by the partie when he was lyving; and, after he hath shodde them, dismisseth them to go through thick and thin, without scratch or scalle." _Brigg o' Dread_, Bridge of Dread. Descriptions of this Bridge of Dread are found in various Scottish poems, the most minute being given in the legend of _Sir Owain_. Compare the belief of the Mahometan that in his approach to the judgment-seat, he must traverse a bar of red-hot iron, stretched across a bottomless abyss, true believers being upheld by their good works, while the wicked fall headlong into the gulf.

PROUD LADY MARGARET. After Aytoun. The original versions of this ballad, as given by Scott, Buchan, Dixon, and Laing, differ widely. It is known under various titles, _The Courteous Knight_, _The Jolly Hind Squire_, _The Knicht o Archerdale_, _Fair Margret_, and _Jolly Janet_. Similar ballads are rife in France, although in these it is more frequently the ghost of a dead lady who admonishes her living lover. _Wale_, choose. _Ill-washen feet_, etc., in allusion to the custom of washing and dressing the dead for burial. _Feckless_, worthless. _Pirie's chair_ remains an unsolved riddle of the ballad, editors and commentators not being as good at guessing as the ghost.

THE TWA SISTERS O' BINNORIE. Mainly after Aytoun. There are many versions of this ballad in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, varying widely in titles, refrains, and indeed in everything save the main events of the story. A broadside copy appeared as early as 1656. Ballads on the same subject are very popular among the Scandinavian peoples, and traces of the story are found as far away as China and South Africa. _Twined_, parted. _Make_, mate. _Gar'd_, made. Although Lockhart would have the burden pronounced Binnŏrie, a more musical effect is secured by following Jamieson and pronouncing Binnōrie.

THE DEMON LOVER. After Scott. Buchan has a version under title of _James Herries_, the demon being here transformed into a lover who has died abroad and comes in spirit guise to punish his "Jeanie Douglas" for her broken vows. Motherwell gives a graphic fragment. _Ilka_, every, _Drumly_, dark. _Won_, dwell.

RIDDLES WISELY EXPOUNDED. Mainly after Motherwell. There are several broadsides, differing slightly, of this ballad. Riddling folk-songs similar to this in general features have been found among the Germans and Russians and in Gaelic literature. _Speird_, asked. Unco, uncanny. Gin, if. Pies, magpies. Clootie, see Burus's Address to the Deil.

"O thou! whatever title suit thee, Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie," etc.

SIR PATRICK SPENS. After Scott. There are many versions of

"The grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spence,"

as Coleridge so justly terms it, the fragment in the Reliques being un-surpassed among them all for poetic beauty. Herd's longer copy, like several of the others, runs song-fashion:

"They had not saild upon the sea A league but merely nine, O, When wind and weit and snaw and sleit Cam' blawin' them behin', O."

Motherwell gives the ballad in four forms, in one of them the skipper being dubbed Sir Patrick, in another Earl Patrick, in another Young Patrick, and in yet another Sir Andrew Wood. Jamieson's version puts into Sir Patrick's mouth an exclamation that reflects little credit upon his sailor character:

"O wha is this, or wha is that, Has tald the king o' me? For I was never a gude seaman, Nor ever intend to be."

But with a few such trifling exceptions, the tone toward the skipper is universally one of earnest respect and sympathy, the keynote of every ballad being the frank, unconscious heroism of this "gude Sir Patrick Spens." In regard to the foundation for the story, Scott maintains that "the king's daughter of Noroway" was Margaret, known to history as the Maid of Norway, daughter of Eric, king of Norway, and of Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. of Scotland. This last-named monarch died in 1285, the Maid of Norway, his yellow-haired little granddaughter, being the heiress to his crown. The Maid of Norway died, however, before she was of age to assume control of her turbulent Scottish kingdom. Scott surmises, on the authority of the ballad, that Alexander, desiring to have the little princess reared in the country she was to rule, sent this expedition for her during his life-time. No record of such a voyage is extant, although possibly the presence of the king is a bold example of poetic license, and the reference is to an earlier and more disastrous embassy than that finally sent by the Regency of Scotland, after Alexander's death, to their young queen, Sir Michael Scott of wizard fame being at that time one of the ambassadors. Finlay, on the other hand, places this ballad in the days of James III., who married Margaret of Denmark. Here we have historic testimony of the voyage, but none of the shipwreck,--yet against any one of these theories the natural objection is brought that so lamentable a disaster, involving so many nobles of the realm, would hardly be suffered to escape the pen of the chronicler. Motherwell, Maidment, and Aytoun, relying on a corroborative passage in Fordun's _Scotichronicon_, hold with good appearance of reason that the ballad pictures what is known as an actual shipwreck, on the return from Norway of those Scottish lords who had escorted thither the bride of Eric, the elder Margaret, afterward mother of the little Maid of Norway. The ballad itself well bears out this theory, especially in the taunt flung at the Scottish gallants for lingering too long in nuptial festivities on the inhospitable Norwegian coast. The date of this marriage was 1281. _Skeely_, skilful. _Gane_, sufficed. _Half-fou_, half-bushel. _Gurly_, stormy.

THE BATTE OF OTTERBURNE. After Scott. There are several Scottish versions of this spirit-stirring ballad, and also an English version, first printed in the fourth edition of the _Reliques_. The English ballad, naturally enough, dwells more on the prowess of Percy and his countrymen in the combat than on their final discomfiture. A vivid account of the battle of Otterburne may be found in Froissart's _Chronicles_. In brief, it was a terrible slaughter brought about by the eager pride and ambition of those two hot-blooded young chieftains, James, Earl of Douglas, and the redoubtable Harry Percy. Yet the generosity of the leaders and the devoted loyalty of their men throw a moral splendor over the scene of bloodshed. In the year 1388 Douglas, at the head of three thousand Scottish spears, made a raid into Northumberland and, before the walls of Newcastle, engaged Percy in single combat, capturing his lance with the attached pennon. Douglas retired in triumph, brandishing his trophy, but Hotspur, burning with shame, hurriedly mustered the full force of the Marches and, following hard upon the Scottish rear, made a night attack upon the camp of Douglas at Otterbnrne, about twenty miles from the frontier. Then ensued a moonlight battle, gallant and desperate, fought on either side with unflinching bravery, and ending in the defeat of the English, Percy being taken prisoner. But the Scots bought their glory dear by the loss of their noble leader, who, when the English troops, superior in number, were gaining ground, dashed forward with impetuous courage, cheering on his men, and cleared a way with his swinging battle-axe into the heart of the enemy's ranks. Struck down by three mortal wounds, he died in the midst of the fray, urging with his failing breath these last requests upon the little guard of kinsmen who pressed about him: "First, that yee keep my death close both from our owne folke and from the enemy; then, that ye suffer not my standard to be lost or cast downe; and last, that ye avenge my death, and bury me at Melrosse with my father. If I could hope for these things," he added, "I should die with the greater contentment; for long since I heard a prophesie that a dead man should winne a field, and I hope in God it shall be I." Lammas-tide, the first of August. Muirmen, moorinen. Harried, plundered. The tane, the one. Fell, skin. (The inference is that Percy was rescued by his men.) _Gin_, if. _Burn_, brook. _Kale_, broth. _Fend_, sustain. _Bent_, open field. _Petitions_, tents (pavilions). _Branking_, prancing. _Wargangs_, wagons. _Ayont_, beyond. _Hewmont_, helmet. _Smakkit_, smote. _Bracken_, fern.