a. Communicated by Mrs L. F. Wesselhoeft, of Boston, as sung to her when a child by her grandmother, Elizabeth Foster, born in Maine, who appears to have learned the ballad of her mother about 1800. b. By a daughter of Elizabeth Foster, as learned about 1820. c. By Miss Ellen Marston, of New Bedford, as learned from her mother, born 1778. d. By Mrs Cushing, of Cambridge, Mass., as learned in 1838 from a schoolmate, who is thought to have derived it from an old nurse. e. By Mrs Augustus Lowell, of Boston. f. By Mrs Edward Atkinson, of Boston, learned of Mrs A. Lowell, in girlhood. g. By Mrs A. Lowell, as derived from a friend.
Motherwell's MS., p. 238. From the recitation of Miss Maxwell, of Brediland.
a. Chambers' Scottish Ballads, p. 324. b. Chambers' Popular Rhymes of Scotland, 1842, p. 53. c. The Stenhouse-Laing ed. of Johnson's Museum, IV, 364*, communicated by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.
Buchan's MSS, II, 322; Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 179.
Popular Rhymes of Scotland, 1870, p. 51. "Mrs Lockhart's copy."
Kinloch's MSS, V, 347. In Dr John Hill Burton's hand.
From a manuscript collection, copied out in 1840 or 1850, by a granddaughter of Alexander Fraser-Tytler, p. 67.
C.
42. your father, King Henry, my son.
I. a.
14. faint to, an obvious corruption of fain to, is found also in b, c; d has fain wad; e, faint or fain; f, fain; g, I faint to. N. B. 8 stands 5 in the MS. copy, but is the last stanza in all others which have it.
b.
21. for your dinner.
After 2 follows:
b 5 == a 3:
1. Where did she get the, eels? etc.
3. By the side of the haystack, etc.
b 6 == a 7 : 7 == a 8 : 8 == a 5.
84. and die to lie down.
a 6 is wanting in b.
c.
14. at my heart (and always).
21. O what did she give you? etc.
8. Striped eels fried, etc.
3 == a 4.
1. O how did they look? etc.
3. Ringed, streaked, and speckled, etc.
4 == a 3.
1. O where did they come from?
51. O what will you give your father, my son?
2. O what will you give him?
3. A coach and six horses.
61. O what will you give your mother, my son? as in 5.
3. All my gold and my silver.
71. O what will you give your granny? as in 5.
81. O where'll, etc.
c adds, as 9:
d.
11, etc. Tyrante.
3. O I've been to my uncle's, etc.
4. and fain wad lie doun.
23. eels and fresh butter.
3 == a 4.
3. black stripëd with yellow.
4 == a 7.
1. What'll ye will to your mither?
3. My gold and my silver.
5 == a 6.
1 What'll ye will to your father?
3. My coach and my horses.
6 == a 8.
1. What'll you will to your uncle?
3, 5 of a are wanting.
e.
14. For I'm sick at heart, and faint [fain] to lie down.
3 == a 7.
1. What will you leave your mother?
3. A box full of jewels.
41. What will you leave your sister?
3. A box of fine clothing.
5 == a 8.
3. A rope to hang her with.
6 == a 5.
1 Where shall I make it?
3, 4 of a are wanting.
f.
This copy was derived from the singing of the lady who communicated e, and they naturally agree closely.
14, fain to lie down. f 3 == e 4 : f 4 == e 3.
g.
14. For I'm sick at the heart, and I faint to lie down.
21. What did you get at your grandmother's?
3. I got eels stewed in butter.
3 == a 8.
1. What will you leave ...
41. What will you leave to your brother?
3. A full suit of mourning.
5 == a 7.
1. leave to your mother.
3. A carriage and fine horses.
6 == a 5.
3, 4 of a are wanting.
K.
a, b, c are printed, in the publications in which they occur, in four-line stanzas.
b.
Omits 4.
61. the little doggie.
2. as I do, mammie, noo.
c.
11, my bonnie wee crooden doo: and always.
2. at my step-mither's.
31. An what did she catch the fishie in ...
4 is wanting.
L.
Written in the MS., and printed by Buchan, in stanzas of 4 lines.
M.
Printed by Chambers in stanzas of 4 lines, the last repeated.
N.
The second line of each stanza is written as two in the MS.
O.
The stanza, being written with short lines in the manuscript, is of seven lines, including the repetitions.
[144] Opera nuova, nella quale si contiene una incatenatura di più villanelle ed altre cose ridiculose.... Data in luce per me Camillo, detto il Bianchino, cieco Florentino. Fliegendes Blatt von Verona, 1629. Egeria, p. 53; p. 260, note 31.—With the above (Egeria, p. 59) compare especially the beginning of Italian B, further on.
[145] It begins:
[146] E.g. (B):
[147] Grundtvig notices this absurdity, Eng. og skotske F. v, p. 286, note **.
[148] "The nurse or nursery maid who sung these verses (to a very plaintive air) always informed the juvenile audience that the step-mother was a rank witch, and that the fish was an ask (newt), which was in Scotland formerly deemed a most poisonous reptile." C. K. Sharpe, in the Musical Museum, Laing-Stenhouse, IV, 364*.
[149] A golden bird, sitting on the bride's hand, sings, "You had better not go there; you will have a bad mother-in-law and a bad father-in-law." There are ill omens also in Passow, No 437.
A. a. Motherwell's MS., p. 139. b. Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 339. From recitation.
B. Percy's Reliques, 1765, I, 53. Communicated by Sir David Dalrymple.
C. MS. of A. Laing, one stanza.
A b, "given from the recitation of an old woman," is evidently A a slightly regulated by Motherwell. B, we are informed in the 4th edition of the Reliques, p. 61, was sent Percy by Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes. Motherwell thought there was reason to believe "that his lordship made a few slight verbal improvements on the copy he transmitted, and altered the hero's name to Edward,—a name which, by the bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad, except where allusion is made to an English king."[150] Dalrymple, at least, would not be likely to change a Scotch for an English name. The Bishop might doubtless prefer Edward to Wat, or Jock, or even Davie. But as there is no evidence that any change of name was made, the point need not be discussed. As for other changes, the word "brand," in the first stanza, is possibly more literary than popular; further than this the language is entirely fit. The affectedly antique spelling[151] in Percy's copy has given rise to vague suspicions concerning the authenticity of the ballad, or of the language: but as spelling will not make an old ballad, so it will not unmake one. We have, but do not need, the later traditional copy to prove the other genuine. 'Edward' is not only unimpeachable, but has ever been regarded as one of the noblest and most sterling specimens of the popular ballad.
Motherwell seems to incline to regard 'Edward' rather as a detached portion of a ballad than as complete in itself. "The verses of which it consists," he says, "generally conclude the ballad of 'The Twa Brothers,' and also some versions of 'Lizie Wan:'" Minstrelsy, LXVII, 12. The Finnish parallel which Motherwell refers to, might have convinced him that the ballad is complete as it is; and he knew as well as anybody that one ballad is often appended to another by reciters, to lengthen the story or improve the conclusion.[152] More or less of 'Edward' will be found in four versions of 'The Twa Brothers' and two of 'Lizie Wan,' further on in this volume.
This ballad has been familiarly known to have an exact counterpart in Swedish. There are four versions, differing only as to length: 'Sven i Rosengård,' A, Afzelius, No 67, III, 4, eleven two-line stanzas, with three more lines of burden; B, III, 3, six stanzas (Bergström's ed., No 54, 1, 2); C, Arwidsson, No 87 A, II, 83, eighteen stanzas; D, No 87 B, II, 86, sixteen stanzas. The same in Danish: A, Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 175, nine stanzas; B, Boisen, Nye og gamle Viser, 10th ed., No 95, p. 185, 'Brodermordet.' And in Finnish, probably derived from the Swedish, but with traits of its own: A, Schröter's Finnische Runen, p. 124, 'Werinen Pojka,' The Bloodstained Son, fifteen two-line stanzas, with two lines of refrain; B, 'Velisurmaaja,' Brother-Murderer, Kanteletar, p. x, twenty stanzas.
All these are a dialogue between mother and son, with a question and answer in each stanza. The mother asks, Where have you been? The son replies that he has been in the stable [Danish, grove, fields; Finnish A, on the sea-strand]. "How is it that your foot is bloody?"[153] [clothes, shirt; Finnish, "How came your jerkin muddy?" etc.] A horse has kicked or trod on him. "How came your sword so bloody?" He then confesses that he has killed his brother. [Swedish D and the Danish copies have no question about the foot, etc.] Then follows a series of questions as to what the son will do with himself, and what shall become of his wife, children, etc., which are answered much as in the English ballad. Finally, in all, the mother asks when he will come back, and he replies (with some variations), When crows are white. And that will be? When swans are black. And that? When stones float. And that? When feathers sink, etc. This last feature, stupidly exaggerated in some copies, and even approaching burlesque, is one of the commonplaces of ballad poetry, and may or may not have been, from the beginning, a part of the ballads in which it occurs. Such a conclusion could not be made to adhere to 'Edward,' the last stanza of which is peculiar in implicating the mother in the guilt of the murder. Several versions of 'The Twa Brothers' preserve this trait, and 'Lizie Wan' also.
The stanza of this ballad was originally, in all probability, one of two lines—a question and an answer—with refrains, as we find it in A 10, 11, 12, and the corresponding Swedish and Finnish ballad; and in 'Lord Randal,' J, K, etc., and also the corresponding Swedish and German ballad. A 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 are now essentially stanzas of one line, with refrains; that is, the story advances in these at that rate. A 4, 7 (== C) are entirely irregular, substituting narrative or descriptive circumstances for the last line of the refrain, and so far forth departing from primitive simplicity.[154] The stanza in B embraces always a question and a reply, but for what is refrain in other forms of the ballad we have epical matter in many cases. A 1, 2, substantially, == B 1; A 3, 4 == B 2; A 5, 6 == B 3; A 8, 9 == B 4; A 11 == 6; A 12 == 7.
Testaments such as this ballad ends with have been spoken of under No 11.
A is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 26, p. 172; by Rosa Warrens, Schottische V. L., No 21, p. 96; by Wolff, Halle des Völker, I, 22, and Hausschatz, p. 223. B, in Afzelius, III, 10; "often in Danish," Grundtvig; by Herder, Volkslieder, II, 207; by Döring, p. 217; Gerhard, p. 88; Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 27. Swedish A, by W. and M. Howitt, Literature and Romance of Northern Europe, I, 263.[155]
a. Motherwell's MS., p. 139. From Mrs King, Kilbarchan. b. Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 339.
Percy's Reliques, 1765, I, 53. Communicated by Sir David Dalrymple.
MS. of Alexander Laing, 1829, p. 25.
A. b.