Part 10
[Annotations: 9.2: The line is partly cut away in the MS.: I follow the suggestion of Hales and Furnivall. 10.4: In the MS. the line stands: ‘To learn the speeches of all strange lands.’ 12.3: ‘hend,’ kindly, friendly. 13.4: ‘mere’ = more. 21.2: ‘lend,’ grant. 22.3: ‘Even,’ MS. 23.1: etc. ‘Do thou off,’ take off. 23.3: ‘cordivant’ = cordwain, leather from Cordova, in Spain. See _Brown Robin_, 17.4, First Series, p. 161. 25.4: ‘Seam’: Child’s emendation, adopted from the broadside copies, for ‘swain’ in the MS. 37.2: The last word added by Child: ep. 43.3, 104.2. 39.4: A popular proverb. 42.4: Cp. the horror of ‘churlës blood’ in _Glasgerion_, 9.5,6 (First Series, p. 5). 60.1: ‘Where thou was,’ MS. 63.4: The MS. reads ’... robbed a 100: 3,’ 67.4: ‘eye’: the MS. gives _knee_. 68.1: ‘after’ is superfluous (cp. 74.1), and is probably caught up from the next line. 70.2: ‘let,’ stop. 78.4, 79.4: ‘these’: the MS. gives _this_ in each instance: ‘months’ is probably to be read as a dissyllable, either as ‘moneths’ or ‘monthës.’ 85.4: ‘Wroken,’ avenged. 101.4: ‘sod,’ soused: cp. _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, I.3, line 21; ‘lead,’ cauldron: cp. _The Maid and the Palmer_, 9.2, p. 154. ‘Salting-leads’ are still in use. 104.4: ‘pounds’ inserted to agree with 43.4.]
THE BAILIFF’S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON
+The Text+ is formed by a collation of six broadsides printed between 1672 and 1700: they do not, however, present many variations. Here, if anywhere, one would demand licence to make alterations and improvements. In stanza 12 the rhymes are almost certainly misplaced; and the last stanza is quite superfluous. It would be much more in keeping with ballad-style to end with the twelfth, and many of the variants now sung conclude thus. This ballad is still extremely popular, and not only has it been included in many selections and song-books, but it is also still in oral tradition.
+The Story+ is simple and pre-eminently in the popular vein. Counterparts exist elsewhere in the languages derived from Latin, and in Romaic.
THE BAILIFF’S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON
1. There was a youth, and a well-belov’d youth, And he was a squire’s son, He loved the bailiff’s daughter dear, That lived in Islington.
2. She was coy, and she would not believe That he did love her so, No, nor at any time she would Any countenance to him show.
3. But when his friends did understand His fond and foolish mind, They sent him up to fair London, An apprentice for to bind.
4. And when he had been seven long years, And his love he had not seen, ‘Many a tear have I shed for her sake When she little thought of me.’
5. All the maids of Islington Went forth to sport and play; All but the bailiff’s daughter dear; She secretly stole away.
6. She put off her gown of gray, And put on her puggish attire; She’s up to fair London gone, Her true-love to require.
7. As she went along the road, The weather being hot and dry, There was she aware of her true-love, At length came riding by.
8. She stept to him, as red as any rose, And took him by the bridle-ring: ‘I pray you, kind sir, give me one penny, To ease my weary limb.’
9. ‘I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me Where that thou wast born?’ ‘At Islington, kind sir,’ said she, ‘Where I have had many a scorn.’
10. ‘I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me Whether thou dost know The bailiff’s daughter of Islington?’ ‘She’s dead, sir, long ago.’
11. ‘Then I will sell my goodly steed, My saddle and my bow; I will into some far country, Where no man doth me know.’
12. ‘O stay, O stay, thou goodly youth! She’s alive, she is not dead; Here she standeth by thy side, And is ready to be thy bride.’
13. ‘O farewell grief, and welcome joy, Ten thousand times and more! For now I have seen my own true love, That I thought I should have seen no more.’
[Annotations: 6.2: ‘puggish.’ ‘Pugging’ means ‘thieving,’ and J. W. Ebsworth suggests that here it implies ragged clothing, like a tramp’s. 8.2: Five of the broadsides give ‘bridal ring.’]
GLENLOGIE
+The Text+ is from Sharpe’s _Ballad Book_ (1823). It is an extremely popular ballad in Scotland.
+The Story.+--Lady Jean Melville (in other versions Jean of Bethelnie, in Aberdeenshire), scarce sixteen years old, falls in love at first sight with Glenlogie, and tells him her mind. But he is already engaged, and Lady Jean takes to her care-bed. Her father offers the consolation, usual in such cases, of another and a richer husband. Jean, however, prefers the love of Glenlogie to the euphony of Drumfendrich, and gets her father’s chaplain to write a letter to Glenlogie, which is so well indited that it moves him to tears, and all ends happily.
GLENLOGIE
1. Four and twenty nobles sits in the king’s ha’, Bonnie Glenlogie is the flower among them a’.
2. In came Lady Jean, skipping on the floor, And she has chosen Glenlogie ’mong a’ that was there.
3. She turned to his footman, and thus she did say: ‘Oh, what is his name? and where does he stay?’
4. ‘His name is Glenlogie, when he is from home; He is of the gay Gordons, his name it is John.’
5. ‘Glenlogie, Glenlogie, an you will prove kind, My love is laid on you; I am telling my mind.’
6. He turned about lightly, as the Gordons does a’: ‘I thank you, Lady Jean, my loves is promised awa’.’
7. She called on her maidens her bed for to make, Her rings and her jewels all from her to take.
8. In came Jeanie’s father, a wae man was he; Says, ‘I’ll wed you to Drumfendrich, he has mair gold than he.’
9. Her father’s own chaplain, being a man of great skill, He wrote him a letter, and indited it well.
10. The first lines he looked at, a light laugh laughed he; But ere he read through it the tears blinded his e’e.
11. Oh, pale and wan looked she when Glenlogie cam in. But even rosy grew she when Glenlogie sat down.
12. ‘Turn round, Jeanie Melville, turn round to this side, And I’ll be the bridegroom, and you’ll be the bride.’
13. Oh, ’twas a merry wedding, and the portion down told, Of bonnie Jeanie Melville, who was scarce sixteen years old.
KING ORFEO
+The Text+ was derived from Mr. Biot Edmondston’s memory of a ballad sung to him by an old man in Unst, Shetland. In the version sung, he notes, there were no stanzas to fill the obvious gap in the story after the first; but that after the fourth and the eighth stanzas, there had been certain verses which he had forgotten. In the first instance, these related that the lady had been carried off by fairies, and that the king, going in search of her, saw her one day among a company that passed into a castle on the hillside. After the eighth stanza, the ballad related that a messenger appeared behind the grey stone, and invited the king in.
The refrain is a startling instance of phonetic tradition, the words being repeated by rote long after the sense has been forgotten. It appears that the two lines are Unst pronunciation of Danish, and that they mean, respectively, ‘Early green’s the wood,’ and ‘Where the hart goes yearly.’
In this connection, compare Arthur Edmondston’s _A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands_ (1809), vol. i. p. 142: ‘The island of Unst was its [pure Norse] last abode; and not more than thirty years ago several individuals there could speak it fluently.’ See also Rev. Dr. Barry’s _History of the Orkney Islands_ (1805), Appendix No. X., pp. 484-490, a ballad of thirty-five quatrains in Norse as spoken in the Orkneys, the subject of which is a contest between a King of Norway and an Earl of Orkney, who had married the King’s daughter, in her father’s absence, and without his consent.
+The Story.+--Doubtless few will recognise in this fragment an offshoot of the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad, however, cannot be said to be derived directly from the classical tale: rather it represents the _débris_ of the mediæval romance of _Orfeo and Heurodis_, where the kingdom of Faëry (see 4.1) replaces Hades, and the tale is given a happy ending by the recovery of Eurydice (for whom the Lady Isabel is here the substitute). The romance exists as _Orfeo and Heurodis_ in the Auchinleck MS., of the fourteenth century, in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh; as _Kyng Orfew_ in Ashmole MS. 61, of the fifteenth century; and as _Sir Orpheo_ in Harleian MS. 3810.
KING ORFEO
1. Der lived a king inta da aste, _Scowan ürla grün_ Der lived a lady in da wast. _Whar giorten han grün oarlac_
2. Dis king he has a huntin’ gaen, He’s left his Lady Isabel alane.
3. ‘Oh I wis ye’d never gaen away, For at your hame is döl an’ wae.
4. ‘For da king o’ Ferrie we his daert, Has pierced your lady to da hert.’
*** *** ***
5. And aifter dem da king has gaen, But whan he cam it was a grey stane.
6. Dan he took oot his pipes ta play, Bit sair his hert wi’ döl an’ wae.
7. And first he played da notes o’ noy, An’ dan he played da notes o’ joy.
8. An’ dan he played da göd gabber reel, Dat meicht ha’ made a sick hert hale.
*** *** ***
9. ‘Noo come ye in inta wir ha’, An’ come ye in among wis a’.’
10. Now he’s gaen in inta der ha’, An’ he’s gaen in among dem a’.
11. Dan he took out his pipes to play, Bit sair his hert wi’ döl an’ wae.
12. An’ first he played da notes o’ noy, An’ dan he played da notes o’ joy.
13. An’ dan he played da göd gabber reel, Dat meicht ha’ made a sick hert hale.
14. ‘Noo tell to us what ye will hae: What sall we gie you for your play?’
15. ‘What I will hae I will you tell, And dat’s me Lady Isabel.’
16. ‘Yees tak your lady, an’ yees gaeng hame, An’ yees be king ower a’ your ain.’
17. He’s taen his lady, an’ he’s gaen hame, An’ noo he’s king ower a’ his ain.
[Annotations: 7.1: ‘noy,’ grief. 8.1: ‘The good gabber reel’ is a sprightly dance-tune. 9.1,2: ‘wir,’ ‘wis,’ our, us.]
THE BAFFLED KNIGHT
+The Text+ is from Ravenscroft’s _Deuteromelia_ (1609), reprinted almost _verbatim_ in Tom Durfey’s _Pills to Purge Melancholy_.
+The Story+ was sufficiently popular not only to have been revived, at the end of the seventeenth century, but to have had three other ‘Parts’ added to it, the whole four afterwards being combined into one broadside.
In similar Spanish, Portuguese, and French ballads, the damsel escapes by saying she is a leper, or the daughter of a leper, or otherwise diseased. Much the same story is told in Danish and German ballads.
THE BAFFLED KNIGHT
1. Yonder comes a courteous knight, Lustely raking over the lay; He was well ware of a bonny lasse, As she came wand’ring over the way. _Then she sang downe a downe, hey downe derry_ (_bis_)
2. ‘Jove you speed, fayre ladye,’ he said, ‘Among the leaves that be so greene; If I were a king, and wore a crowne, Full soone, fair lady, shouldst thou be a queen.
3. ‘Also Jove save you, faire lady, Among the roses that be so red; If I have not my will of you, Full soone, faire lady, shall I be dead.’
4. Then he lookt east, then hee lookt west, Hee lookt north, so did he south; He could not finde a privy place, For all lay in the divel’s mouth.
5. ‘If you will carry me, gentle sir, A mayde unto my father’s hall, Then you shall have your will of me, Under purple and under paule.’
6. He set her up upon a steed, And him selfe upon another, And all the day he rode her by, As though they had been sister and brother.
7. When she came to her father’s hall, It was well walled round about; She yode in at the wicket-gate, And shut the foure-ear’d foole without.
8. ‘You had me,’ quoth she, ‘abroad in the field, Among the corne, amidst the hay, Where you might had your will of mee, For, in good faith, sir, I never said nay.
9. ‘Ye had me also amid the field, Among the rushes that were so browne, Where you might had your will of me, But you had not the face to lay me downe.’
10. He pulled out his nut-browne sword, And wipt the rust off with his sleeve, And said, ‘Jove’s curse come to his heart, That any woman would beleeve!’
11. When you have your own true-love A mile or twaine out of the towne, Spare not for her gay clothing, But lay her body flat on the ground.
[Annotations: 1.2: ‘lay’ = lea, meadow-land. 4.4: ‘divel’s mouth.’ Skeat has suggested that this metaphor is derived from the devil’s mouth always being wide open in painted windows. 7.3: ‘yode,’ went. 7.4: ‘foure-ear’d.’ Child suggests, ‘as denoting a double ass?’ 10.1,2: See First Series, Introduction, p. xlix.]
OUR GOODMAN
+The Text+ is from Herd’s MSS., as given by Professor Child to form a regular sequence. The ballad also exists in an English broadside form.
+The Story+ of the ballad has a close counterpart in Flemish Belgium, and in southern France. The German variants, however, have a curious history. The English broadside ballad was translated into German by F. W. Meyer in 1789, and in this form gained such popularity that it was circulated not only as a broadside, but actually in oral tradition,--with the usual result of alteration. Its vogue was not confined to Germany, but spread to Hungary and Scandinavia, a Swedish broadside appearing within ten years of Meyer’s translation.
OUR GOODMAN
1. Hame came our goodman, And hame came he, And then he saw a saddle-horse, Where nae horse should be.
2. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came this horse here, Without the leave o’ me?’ _Recitative_. ‘A horse?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, a horse,’ quo’ he.
3. ‘Shame fa’ your cuckold face, Ill mat ye see! ‘Tis naething but a broad sow, My minnie sent to me.’ ‘A broad sow?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, a sow,’ quo’ shee.
4. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But a saddle on a sow’s back I never saw nane.’
5. Hame came our goodman, And hame came he; He spy’d a pair of jack-boots, Where nae boots should be.
6. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came these boots here, Without the leave o’ me?’ ‘Boots?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, boots,’ quo’ he.
7. ‘Shame fa’ your cuckold face, And ill mat ye see! It’s but a pair of water-stoups, My minnie sent to me.’ ‘Water-stoups?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, water-stoups,’ quo’ she.
8. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But siller spurs on water-stoups I saw never nane.’
9. Hame came our goodman, And hame came he, And he saw a sword, Whare a sword should na be.
10. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came this sword here, Without the leave o’ me?’ ‘A sword?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, a sword,’ quo’ he.
11. ‘Shame fa’ your cuckold face, Ill mat ye see! It’s but a porridge-spurtle, My minnie sent to me.’ ‘A spurtle?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, a spurtle,’ quo’ she.
12. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But siller-handed spurtles I saw never nane.’
13. Hame came our goodman, And hame came he; There he spy’d a powder’d wig, Where nae wig shoud be.
14. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came this wig here, Without the leave o’ me?’ ‘A wig?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, a wig,’ quo’ he.
15. ‘Shame fa’ your cuckold face, And ill mat you see! ’Tis naething but a clocken-hen, My minnie sent to me.’ ‘Clocken hen?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, clocken hen,’ quo’ she.
16. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But powder on a clocken-hen I saw never nane.’
17. Hame came our goodman, And hame came he, And there he saw a muckle coat, Where nae coat shoud be.
18. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came this coat here, Without the leave o’ me?’ ‘A coat?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, a coat,’ quo’ he.
19. ‘Shame fa’ your cuckold face, Ill mat ye see! It’s but a pair o’ blankets, My minnie sent to me.’ ‘Blankets?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, blankets,’ quo’ she.
20. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But buttons upon blankets I saw never nane.’
21. Ben went our goodman, And ben went he, And there he spy’d a sturdy man, Where nae man shoud be.
22. ‘What’s this now, goodwife? What’s this I see? How came this man here, Without the leave o’ me?’ ‘A man?’ quo’ she. ‘Ay, a man,’ quo’ he.
23. ‘Poor blind body, And blinder mat ye be! It’s a new milking-maid, My mither sent to me.’ ‘A maid?’ quo’ he. ‘Ay, a maid,’ quo’ she.
24. ‘Far hae I ridden, And farer hae I gane, But lang-bearded maidens I saw never nane.’
[Annotations: 3.2: ‘mat,’ may. 3.3: ‘broad,’ brood: _i.e._ a sow that has a litter. 3.4: ‘minnie,’ mother. 11.3: ‘porridge-spurtle,’ stick for stirring porridge. 15.3: ‘clocken-hen,’ sitting hen. 21.1: ‘Ben,’ indoors, or into the inner room.]
THE FRIAR IN THE WELL
+The Text+ is taken from Buchan’s MSS., the Scots version being rather more condensed than the corresponding English broadside. There is a reference to this ballad in Munday’s _Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington_ (1598); but earlier still, Skelton hints at it in _Colyn Cloute_.
+The Story+ can be paralleled in French, Danish, and Persian ballads and tales, but is simple enough to have been invented by almost any people. Compare also the story of _The Wright’s Chaste Wife_ by Adam of Cobsam, E.E.T.S., 1865, ed. F. J. Furnivall.
THE FRIAR IN THE WELL
1. O hearken and hear, and I will you tell _Sing, Faldidae, faldidadi_ Of a friar that loved a fair maiden well. _Sing, Faldi dadi di di_ (_bis_)
2. The friar he came to this maiden’s bedside, And asking for her maidenhead.
3. ‘O I would grant you your desire, If ’t werena for fear o’ hell’s burning fire.’
4. ‘O’ hell’s burning fire ye need have no doubt; Altho’ you were in, I could whistle you out.’
5. ‘O if I grant to you this thing, Some money you unto me must bring.’
6. He brought her the money, and did it down tell; She had a white cloth spread over the well.
7. Then the fair maid cried out that her master was come; ‘O,’ said the friar,’ then where shall I run?’
8. ‘O ye will go in behind yon screen, And then by my master ye winna be seen.’
9. Then in behind the screen she him sent, But he fell into the well by accident.
10. Then the friar cried out with a piteous moan, ‘O help! O help me! or else I am gone.’
11. ‘Ye said ye wad whistle me out o’ hell; Now whistle your ain sel’ out o’ the well.’
12. She helped him out and bade him be gone; The friar he asked his money again.
13. ‘As for your money, there is no much matter To make you pay more for jumbling our water.’
14. Then all who hear it commend this fair maid For the nimble trick to the friar she played.
15. The friar he walked on the street, And shaking his lugs like a well-washen sheep.
[Annotations: 1.2,4: The burden is of course repeated in each stanza. 15.2: ‘lugs,’ ears.]
THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD’S DAUGHTER
+The Text+ is given here from Kinloch’s MSS. He gives also three other versions and various fragments. The tale is also found amongst the Roxburghe Ballads, as _The Beautifull Shepherdesse of Arcadia_, in two broadsides printed about 1655 and 1680. This is the only English version extant. But earlier than any text of the ballad is a quotation from it in John Fletcher’s _The Pilgrim_, iv. 2 (1621). The Scots versions, about a dozen in number, are far more lively than the broadside. Buchan printed two, of sixty and sixty-three stanzas respectively. Another text is delightfully inconsequent:--
‘“Some ca’ me Jack, some ca’ me John, Some ca’ me Jing-ga-lee, But when I am in the queen’s court Earl Hitchcock they ca’ me.”
“Hitchcock, Hitchcock,” Jo Janet she said, An’ spelled it ower agane, “Hitchcock it’s a Latin word; Earl Richard is your name.”
But when he saw she was book-learned, Fast to his horse hied he....’
Both this version (from the Gibb MS.) and one of Buchan’s introduce the domestic genius known as the ‘Billy-Blin,’ for whom see _Young Bekie_, First Series, p. 6, ff.; _Willie’s Lady_, p. 19 of this volume; and _Cospatrick_, p. 26.
+The Story.+--The King of France’s auld dochter, disguised as a shepherdess, is accosted by Sweet William, brother to the Queen of Scotland, who gives his name as Wilfu’ Will, varied by Jack and John. He attempts to escape, but she follows him to court, and claims him in marriage from the king. He tries to avoid discovery by pretending to be a cripple, but she knows him, refuses to be bribed, marries him, and finally reveals herself to him.
The _dénouement_ of the story is reminiscent of _The Marriage of Sir Gawain_ (First Series, pp. 107-118). A Danish ballad, _Ebbe Galt_, has similar incidents.
THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD’S DAUGHTER
1. There was a shepherd’s dochter Kept sheep upon yon hill, And by cam a gay braw gentleman, And wad hae had his will.
2. He took her by the milk-white hand, And laid her on the ground, And whan he got his will o’ her He lift her up again.
3. ‘O syne ye’ve got your will o’ me, Your will o’ me ye’ve taen, ‘Tis all I ask o’ you, kind sir, Is to tell to me your name.’
4. ‘Sometimes they call me Jack,’ he said, ‘Sometimes they call me John, But whan I am in the king’s court, My name is Wilfu’ Will.’
5. Than he loup on his milk-white steed, And straught away he rade, And she did kilt her petticoats, And after him she gaed.
6. He never was sae kind as say, ‘O lassie, will ye ride?’ Nor ever had she the courage to say, ‘O laddie, will ye bide!’
7. Until they cam to a wan water, Which was called Clyde, And then he turned about his horse, Said, ‘Lassie, will ye ride?’
8. ‘I learned it in my father’s hall, I learned it for my weel, That whan I come to deep water, I can swim as it were an eel.
9. ‘I learned it in my mother’s bower, I learned it for my better, That whan I come to broad water, I can swim like any otter.’
10. He plunged his steed into the ford, And straught way thro’ he rade, And she set in her lilly feet, And thro’ the water wade.
11. And whan she cam to the king’s court, She tirled on the pin, And wha sae ready’s the king himsel’ To let the fair maid in?
12. ‘What is your will wi’ me, fair maid? What is your will wi’ me?’ ‘There is a man into your court This day has robbed me.’
13. ‘O has he taen your gold,’ he said, ‘Or has he taen your fee? Or has he stown your maidenhead, The flower of your bodye?’
14. ‘He has na taen my gold, kind sir, Nor as little has he taen my fee, But he has taen my maidenhead, The flower of my bodye.’
15. ‘O gif he be a married man, High hangit shall he be, But gif he be a bachelor, His body I’ll grant thee.’
16. ‘Sometimes they call him Jack,’ she said, ‘Sometimes they call him John, But when he’s in the king’s court, His name is Sweet William.’
17. ‘There’s not a William in a’ my court, Never a one but three, And one of them is the Queen’s brother; I wad laugh gif it war he.’
18. The king called on his merry men, By thirty and by three; Sweet Willie, wha used to be foremost man, Was the hindmost a’ but three.