a, b, from the papers of the late Robert White, Esq., of Newcastle-on-Tyne: c, R. Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc. (1857), p. 122: d, fragmentary lines as remembered by Mrs Andrews, Mr White's sister, from her mother's singing.

1
 Oh did ye ever hear o brave Earl Bran?
 Ay lally, o lilly lally
 He courted the king's daughter of fair England.
 All i the night sae early
2
 She was scarcely fifteen years of age
 Till sae boldly she came to his bedside.
3
 'O Earl Bran, fain wad I see
 A pack of hounds let loose on the lea.'
4
 'O lady, I have no steeds but one,
 And thou shalt ride, and I will run.'
5
 'O Earl Bran, my father has two,
 And thou shall have the best o them a.'
6
 They have ridden oer moss and moor,
 And they met neither rich nor poor.
7
 Until they met with old Carl Hood;
 He comes for ill, but never for good.
8
 'Earl Bran, if ye love me,
 Seize this old carl, and gar him die.'
9
 'O lady fair, it wad be sair,
 To slay an old man that has grey hair.
10
 'O lady fair, I'll no do sae;
 I'll gie him a pound, and let him gae.'
11
 'O where hae ye ridden this lee lang day?
 Or where hae ye stolen this lady away?'
12
 'I have not ridden this lee lang day.
 Nor yet have I stolen this lady away.
13
 'She is my only, my sick sister,
 Whom I have brought from Winchester.'
14
 'If she be sick, and like to dead,
 Why wears she the ribbon sae red?
15
 'If she be sick, and like to die,
 Then why wears she the gold on high?'
16
 When he came to this lady's gate,
 Sae rudely as he rapped at it.
17
 'O where's the lady o this ha?'
 'She's out with her maids to play at the ba.'
18
 'Ha, ha, ha! ye are a' mistaen:
 Gae count your maidens oer again.
19
 'I saw her far beyond the moor,
 Away to be the Earl o Bran's whore.'
20
 The father armed fifteen of his best men,
 To bring his daughter back again.
21
 Oer her left shoulder the lady looked then:
 'O Earl Bran, we both are tane.'
22
 'If they come on me ane by ane,
 Ye may stand by and see them slain.
23
 'But if they come on me one and all,
 Ye may stand by and see me fall.'
24
 They have come on him ane by ane,
 And he has killed them all but ane.
25
 And that ane came behind his back,
 And he's gien him a deadly whack.
26
 But for a' sae wounded as Earl Bran was,
 He has set his lady on her horse.
27
 They rode till they came to the water o Doune,
 And then he alighted to wash his wounds.
28
 'O Earl Bran, I see your heart's blood!'
 'T is but the gleat o my scarlet hood.'
29
 They rode till they came to his mother's gate,
 And sae rudely as he rapped at it.
30
 'O my son's slain, my son's put down,
 And a' for the sake of an English loun.'
31
 'O say not sae, my dear mother,
 But marry her to my youngest brother.
  *   *   *   *   *
32
 'This has not been the death o ane,
 But it's been that of fair seventeen.'
  *   *   *   *   *

B.

Scott's Minstrelsy, III, 246, ed. 1803; III, 6, ed. 1833: the copy principally used supplied by Mr Sharpe, the three last stanzas from a penny pamphlet and from tradition.

1
 'Rise up, rise up, now, Lord Douglas,' she says,
 'And put on your armour so bright;
 Let it never be said that a daughter of thine
 Was married to a lord under night.
2
 'Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons,
 And put on your armour so bright,
 And take better care of your youngest sister,
 For your eldest's awa the last night.'
3
 He's mounted her on a milk-white steed,
 And himself on a dapple grey,
 With a bugelet horn hung down by his side,
 And lightly they rode away.
4
 Lord William lookit oer his left shoulder,
 To see what he could see,
 And there he spy'd her seven brethren bold,
 Come riding over the lee.
5
 'Light down, light down, Lady Margret,' he said,
 'And hold my steed in your hand,
 Until that against your seven brethren bold,
 And your father, I mak a stand.'
6
 She held his steed in her milk-white hand,
 And never shed one tear,
 Until that she saw her seven brethren fa,
 And her father hard fighting, who lovd her so dear.
7
 'O hold your hand, Lord William!' she said,
 'For your strokes they are wondrous sair;
 True lovers I can get many a ane,
 But a father I can never get mair.'
8
 O she's taen out her handkerchief,
 It was o the holland sae fine,
 And aye she dighted her father's bloody wounds,
 That were redder than the wine.
9
 'O chuse, O chuse, Lady Margret,' he said,
 'O whether will ye gang or bide?'
 'I'll gang, I'll gang, Lord William,' she said,
 'For ye have left me no other guide.'
10
 He's lifted her on a milk-white steed,
 And himself on a dapple grey,
 With a bugelet horn hung down by his side,
 And slowly they baith rade away.
11
 O they rade on, and on they rade,
 And a' by the light of the moon,
 Until they came to yon wan water,
 And there they lighted down.
12
 They lighted down to tak a drink
 Of the spring that ran sae clear,
 And down the stream ran his gude heart's blood,
 And sair she gan to fear.
13
 'Hold up, hold up, Lord William,' she says,
 'For I fear that you are slain;'
 ''T is naething but the shadow of my scarlet cloak,
 That shines in the water sae plain.'
14
 O they rade on, and on they rade,
 And a' by the light of the moon,
 Until they cam to his mother's ha door,
 And there they lighted down.
15
 'Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says,
 'Get up, and let me in!
 Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says,
 'For this night my fair lady I've win.
16
 'O mak my bed, lady mother,' he says,
 'O mak it braid and deep,
 And lay Lady Margret close at my back,
 And the sounder I will sleep.'
17
 Lord William was dead lang ere midnight,
 Lady Margret lang ere day,
 And all true lovers that go thegither,
 May they have mair luck than they!
18
 Lord William was buried in St. Mary's kirk,
 Lady Margret in Mary's quire;
 Out o the lady's grave grew a bonny red rose,
 And out o the knight's a briar.
19
 And they twa met, and they twa plat,
 And fain they wad be near;
 And a' the warld might ken right weel
 They were twa lovers dear.
20
 But bye and rade the Black Douglas,
 And wow but he was rough!
 For he pulld up the bonny brier,
 And flang't in St. Mary's Loch.

C.

Motherwell's MS., p. 502. From the recitation of Mrs Notman.

1
 'Rise up, rise up, my seven brave sons,
 And dress in your armour so bright;
 Earl Douglas will hae Lady Margaret awa
 Before that it be light.
2
 'Arise, arise, my seven brave sons,
 And dress in your armour so bright;
 It shall never be said that a daughter of mine
 Shall go with an earl or a knight.'
3
 'O will ye stand, fair Margaret,' he says,
 'And hold my milk-white steed,
 Till I fight your father and seven brethren,
 In yonder pleasant mead?'
4
 She stood and held his milk-white steed,
 She stood trembling with fear,
 Until she saw her seven brethren fall,
 And her father that loved her dear.
5
 'Hold your hand, Earl Douglas,' she says,
 'Your strokes are wonderous sair;
 I may get sweethearts again enew,
 But a father I'll ne'er get mair.'
6
 She took out a handkerchief
 Was made o' the cambrick fine,
 And aye she wiped her father's bloody wounds,
 And the blood sprung up like wine.
7
 'Will ye go, fair Margaret?' he said,
 'Will ye now go, or bide?'
 'Yes, I'll go, sweet William,' she said,
 'For ye've left me never a guide.
8
 'If I were to go to my mother's house,
 A welcome guest I would be;
 But for the bloody deed that's done this day
 I'll rather go with thee.'
9
 He lifted her on a milk-white steed
 And himself on a dapple gray;
 They drew their hats out over their face,
 And they both went weeping away.
10
 They rode, they rode, and they better rode,
 Till they came to yon water wan;
 They lighted down to gie their horse a drink
 Out of the running stream.
11
 'I am afraid, Earl Douglas.' she said,
 'I am afraid ye are slain;
 I think I see your bonny heart's blood
 Running down the water wan.'
12
 'Oh no, oh no, fair Margaret,' he said,
 'Oh no, I am not slain;
 It is but the scad of my scarlet cloak
 Runs down the water wan.'
13
 He mounted her on a milk-white steed
 And himself on a dapple gray,
 And they have reached Earl Douglas' gates
 Before the break of day.
14
 'O rise, dear mother, and make my bed,
 And make it braid and wide,
 And lay me down to take my rest,
 And at my back my bride.'
15
 She has risen and made his bed,
 She made it braid and wide;
 She laid him down to take his rest,
 And at his back his bride.
16
 Lord William died ere it was day,
 Lady Margaret on the morrow;
 Lord William died through loss of blood and wounds,
 Fair Margaret died with sorrow.
17
 The one was buried in Mary's kirk,
 The other in Mary's quire;
 The one sprung up a bonnie bush,
 And the other a bonny brier.
18
 These twa grew, and these twa threw,
 Till they came to the top,
 And when they could na farther gae,
 They coost the lovers' knot.

D.

Kinloch MSS, I, 327.

1
 'Sleepst thou or wakst thou, Lord Montgomerie,
 Sleepst thou or wakst thou, I say?
 Rise up, make a match for your eldest daughter,
 For the youngest I carry away.'
2
 'Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons,
 Dress yourselves in the armour sae fine;
 For it ne'er shall be said that a churlish knight
 Eer married a daughter of mine.'
  *   *   *   *   *
3
 'Loup aff, loup aff, Lady Margaret,' he said,
 'And hold my steed in your hand,
 And I will go fight your seven brethren,
 And your father, where they stand.'
4
 Sometimes she gaed, sometimes she stood,
 But never dropt a tear,
 Until she saw her brethren all slain
 And her father who lovd her so dear.
5
 'Hold thy hand, sweet William,' she says,
 'Thy blows are wondrous sore;
 Sweethearts I may have many a one,
 But a father I'll never have more.'
6
 O she's taken her napkin frae her pocket,
 Was made o the holland fine,
 And ay as she dichted her father's bloody wounds,
 They sprang as red as the wine.
7
 'Two chooses, two chooses, Lady Margret,' he says,
 'Two chooses I'll make thee;
 Whether to go back to your mother again,
 Or go along with me.'
8
 'For to go home to my mother again,
 An unwelcome guest I'd be;
 But since my fate has ordered it so,
 I'll go along with thee.'
9
 He has mounted her on a milk-white steed,
 Himself on the dapple gray,
 And blawn his horn baith loud and shill,
 And it sounded far on their way.
10
 They rode oer hill, they rode oer dale,
 They rode oer mountains so high,
 Until they came to that beautiful place
 Where Sir William's mother did lie.
11
 'Rise up, rise up, lady mother,' he said,
 'Rise up, and make much o your own;
 Rise up, rise up, lady mother,' he said,
 'For his bride's just new come home.'
12
 Sir William he died in the middle o the night,
 Lady Margaret died on the morrow;
 Sir William he died of pure pure love,
 Lady Margaret of grief and sorrow.

E.

Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 180. From recitation.

1
 He has lookit over his left shoulder,
 And through his bonnie bridle rein,
 And he spy'd her father and her seven bold brethren,
 Come riding down the glen.
2
 'O hold my horse, Lady Margret,' he said,
 'O hold my horse by the bonnie bridle rein,
 Till I fight your father and seven bold brethren,
 As they come riding down the glen.'
3
 Some time she rade, and some time she gaed,
 Till she that place did near,
 And there she spy'd her seven bold brethren slain,
 And her father who loved her so dear.
4
 'O hold your hand, sweet William,' she said,
 'Your bull baits are wondrous sair;
 Sweet-hearts I may get many a one,
 But a father I will never get mair.'
5
 She has taken a napkin from off her neck,
 That was of the cambrick so fine,
 And aye as she wiped her father's bloody wounds,
 The blood ran red as the wine.
  *   *   *   *   *
6
 He set her upon the milk-white steed,
 Himself upon the brown;
 He took a horn out of his pocket,
 And they both went weeping along.

F.

Percy MS., p. 57; ed. Hales and Furnivall, I, 133.

1
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
 Sayes 'Christ thee saue, good Child of Ell!
 Christ saue thee and thy steede!
2
 'My father sayes he will [eat] noe meate,
 Nor his drinke shall doe him noe good,
 Till he haue slaine the Child of Ell,
 And haue seene his harts blood.'
3
 'I wold I were in my sadle sett,
 And a mile out of the towne;
 I did not care for your father
 And all his merry men!
4
 'I wold I were in my sadle sett,
 And a little space him froe;
 I did not care for your father
 And all that long him to!'
5
 He leaned ore his saddle bow
 To kisse this lady good;
 The teares that went them two betweene
 Were blend water and blood.
6
 He sett himselfe on one good steed,
 This lady on a palfray,
 And sett his litle horne to his mouth,
 And roundlie he rode away.
7
 He had not ridden past a mile,
 A mile out of the towne,
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
8
 Her father was readye with her seuen brether,
 He said, 'Sett thou my daughter downe!
 For it ill beseemes thee, thou false churles sonne,
 To carry her forth of this towne!'
9
 'But lowd thou lyest, Sir Iohn the knight,
 Thou now doest lye of me;
 A knight me gott, and a lady me bore;
 Soe neuer did none by thee.
10
 'But light now downe, my lady gay,
 Light downe and hold my horsse,
 Whilest I and your father and your brether
 Doe play vs at this crosse.
11
 'But light now downe, my owne trew loue,
 And meeklye hold my steede,
 Whilest your father [and your seuen brether] bold
  *   *   *   *   *

A. a, b.

Obtained from recitation "many years ago" wrote Mr White in 1873, by James Telfer, of Laughtree Liddesdale, in some part of the neighboring country: the copy has the date 1818. c is said by the editor to have been taken down from the recitation of an old fiddler in Northumberland, but when and by whom he does not tell us. The three are clearly more or less "corrected" copies of the same original, c having suffered most from arbitrary changes. Alterations for rhyme's sake, or for propriety's, that are written above the lines or in the margin of a 2, 5, 8, 19, are adopted in c without advertisement.

Burden. b. I the brave night sae early:

c. I the brave nights so early:

d. I (or O) the life o the one, the randy.

11. c. Brand, and always in c.

12. a. daughters.

b. He's courted.

21. c. years that tide; that tide is written over of age in a.

22. c. When sae.

42. c. But thou.

52. b. best o these.

c. best of tho. of tho is written over o them a in a.

62. b, c. have met.

71. c. Till at last they met.

72. c. He's aye for ill and never.

81. b. O Earl Bran.

c. Now Earl Brand. Now in the margin of a.

82. b, c. Slay this.

92. b. man that wears.

c. carl that wears, carl ... wears written over man ... has in a.

10. b.
 O lady fair, I'll no do that,
 I'll pay him penny, let him be jobbing at.
  c.
 My own lady fair, I'll not do that,
 I'll pay him his fee

112. b. where have stoln this fair.

  c. And where have ye stown this fair.

13. b.
 She is my sick sister,
 Which I newly brought from Winchester.
  c.
 For she is, I trow, my sick sister,
 Whom I have been bringing fra Winchester.

141. c. nigh to dead.

 2. b, c. What makes her wear.

151. c. If she's been.

 2. b, c. What makes her wear the gold sae high.

161. c. When came the carl to the lady's yett.

 2. b. rapped at.

c. He rudely, rudely rapped thereat.

172. b. maids playen.

c. a playing.

d. She's out with the fair maids playing at the ball.

181. b. mistkane (?): 2. b, c. Ye may count.

b2. young Earl.

19. c.
 I met her far beyond the lea
 With the young Earl Brand, his leman to be:

In a lea is written over moor, and With the young, etc., stands as a "correction."

20. b.
 Her father, etc.,
 And they have riden after them.
  c.
 Her father of his best men armed fifteen,
 And they're ridden after them bidene.

211. b, c. The lady looket [looked] over [owre] her left shoulder then.

221. b, c. If they come on me one by one,

 2. b. Ye may stand by and see them fall.

c. You may stand by till the fights be done.

d. Then I will slay them every one.

231. b. all in all.

d. all and all.

 2. d. Then you will see me the sooner fall.

2. b. has slain.

24 c.
 They came upon him one by one,
 Till fourteen battles he has won.
 And fourteen men he has them slain,
 Each after each upon the plain.
25. c.
 But the fifteenth man behind stole round,
 And dealt him a deep and a deadly wound.
26. c.
 Though he was wounded to the deid,
 He set his lady on her steed.

271. c. river Donne:

 2. b. And he lighted down.

c. And there they lighted to wash his wound.

282. b. It's but the glent.

c. It's nothing but the glent and my scarlet hood.

291. c. yett.

292. b. Sae ruddly as he rappet at.

c. So faint and feebly he rapped thereat.

301. b. O my son's slain and cut down.

c. O my son's slain, he is falling to swoon.

32. b.
 ... death of only one,
 But it's been the death of fair seventeen.

Instead of 32, c has:

To a maiden true he'll give his hand,
 To the king's daughter o fair England,
 To a prize that was won by a slain brother's brand.

B.

3. A stanza resembling this is found in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Knight of the Burning Pestle' (1611), Dyce, II, 172, but may belong to some other ballad, as 'The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter:'

He set her on a milk-white steed,
 And himself upon a grey;
 He never turned his face again,
 But he bore her quite away.

84. ware.

181. Marie.

204. flang'd.

C.

123. MS. scâd.

D.

10. The following stanza, superscribed "Mrs Lindores, Kelso," was found among Mr Kinlock's papers, and was inserted at I, 331, of the Kinlock MSS. It may be a first recollection of D 10, but is more likely to be another version:

'We raid over hill and we raid over dale,
 And we raid over mountains sae high,
 Until we cam in sicht o yon bonnie castle bowr
 Whare Sir William Arthur did lie.'

E.

5-6. "Two stanzas are here omitted, in which Lord William offers her the choice of returning to her mother, or of accompanying him; and the ballad concludes with this [the 6th] stanza, which is twice repeated in singing." Motherwell's preface.

F.

34. MS. merrymen.

62. of one palfray.

7, 8 are written in one stanza. Half a page, or about nine stanzas, is gone after st. 11.

FOOTNOTES:

[107] 'Erlinton,' though not existing in a two-line stanza, follows immediately after 'Earl Brand.' The copy of 'The Douglas Tragedy' in Smith's Scottish Minstrel, III, 86, is merely Scott's, with changes to facilitate singing.

[108] B*, III, 853, a fragment of five stanzas, has been dropped by Grundtvig from No 82, and assigned to No 249. See D. g. F. IV, 494.

[109] Though the paradise has not been transmitted in any known copy of 'Earl Brand,' it appears very distinctly in the opening stanza of 'Leesome Brand' A. This last has several stanzas towards the close (33-35) which seem to belong to 'Earl Brand,' and perhaps derived these, the "unco land," and even its name, by the familiar process of intermixture of traditions.

[110] See No 5, pp. 64, 65, 66.

[111] Compare vv 49-56, "Wilt thou ride to them, or wilt thou fight with them, or wilt thou stand by thy love, sword in hand?" "I will not ride to them, I will not fight with them [i. e., begin the fight], but I will stand by my love, sword in hand," with Norwegian A, 29, 30: "Shall we ride to the wood, or shall we bide like men?" "We will not ride to the wood, but we will bide like men." And also with Danish Æ, sts 14, 15.

[112] The chief branches, besides the Helgi lay and Walter, are the saga in Snorri's Edda, Skáldskaparmal, § 50; that in Saxo Grammaticus, Stephanius, ed. 1644, pp. 88-90; Sörla þáttr, in Fornaldar Sögur, I, 391 ff; the Shetland ballad printed in Low's Tour through the Islands of Orkney and Shetland, 108 ff, and in Barry's History of the Orkney Islands, 2d ed., 489 ff, and paraphrased in Hibbert's Description of the Shetland Islands, 561 ff; the Thidrik saga, §§ 233-239, Unger; Gudrun, v-viii. The names of father, daughter, and lover in these are: (1) Hügni, ——, Högni, Högin-, Högni, ——, [Artus], Hagen; (2) [Sigrún], Hilde-gunde, Hildr, Hilda, Hildr, Hildina, Hildr, Hilde; (3) Helgi, [Walter], Hedin, Hithin-, Hedin, ----, [Herburt], Hetel. Hagan, in 'Waltharius,' may be said to take the place of the father, who is wanting; and this is in a measure true also of Hedin, Helgi's half-brother, in the lay of Helgi Hiörvard's son. See the excellent discussion of the saga by Klee, Zur Hildesage, Leipzig, 1873.

The Swedish ballad, 'Herr Hjelmer,' A, Arwidsson, I, 155, No 21; B, C, Afzelius, II, 178, 226, No 74 (Helmer); D, E. Wigström, Folkdiktning, p. 25, No 10 (Hjelman), has several points of agreement with Ribold and the Hilde saga. The hero kills six of seven brothers [also the father, in A], spares the seventh on oath of fidelity, and is treacherously slain by him. The youngest brother carries her lover's head to his sister, is invited to drink by her (in three of the four copies), and slain while so engaged; reminding us of Hildina in the Shetland ballad. Danish 'Herr Hjælm,' Grundtvig, Danske Folkeminder, 1861, p. 81, agrees with the Swedish, except that there are only three brothers.

[113] Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, ed. Grundtvig, 42-44, Ribold og Guldborg, A 33, 34, B 46, D 46, 47, E 42, Q 24. The observation is Professor Bugge's.

[114] Höttr, er Óðinn var reyndar, Hood, who was Odin really, Fornaldar Sögur, II, p. 25. Klee observes, p. 10 f, that Högni [Hagen] is the evil genius of the Hildesage. Sometimes he is the heroine's father; in 'Waltharius,' strangely enough, the hero's old friend (and even there a one-eyed man.) Klee treats the introduction of a rival lover (as in the Shetland ballad and Gudrun) as a departure from the older story. But we have the rival in Helgi Hundingslayer. The proper marplot in this lay is Blind the Ill-witted (Odin), whose part is sustained in 'Earl Brand' by the malicious Hood, in several Norwegian ballads by a very enigmatical "false Pál greive," in two other Norwegian ballads and one Danish by an old man, and, what is most remarkable, in the Shetland ballad by the rejected lover of Hildina (the Sir Nilaus of Danish D, Hertug Nilssón of some Norwegian copies), who bears the name Hiluge, interpreted with great probability by Conrad Hofmann (Munich Sitzungsberichte, 1867, II, 209, note), Illhugi, der Bössinnige, evil-minded (Icelandic íllhugaðr, ílluðigr.)

[115] Inimicitias Othinus serit, Saxo, p. 142, ed. 1644. See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, I, 120, note 2, III, 56, new ed., for Odin's bad points, though some of Grimm's interpretations might now be objected to.

[116] Et de la tombe de monseigneur Tristan yssoit une ronce belle et verte et bien feuilleue, qui alloit par dessus la chapelle, et descendoit le bout de la ronce sur la tombe de la royne Yseult, et entroit dedans. La virent les gens du pays et la comptèrent au roy Marc. Le roy la fist couper par troys foys, et quant il l'avoit le jour fait couper, le lendemain estoit aussi belle comme avoit aultre fois esté. Fol. cxxiv as cited by Braga, Rom. Ger., p. 185.

8
ERLINTON