Campbell MSS, II, 26.

1
There was three ladies playing at the ba,
With a hay and a lilly gay
A gentleman cam amang them a'.
And the roses grow sweet aye
2
The first of them was clad in yellow,
And he askd at her gin she'd be his marrow.
3
The next o them was clad in green;
He askd at her gin she'd be his queen.
4
The last o them [was] clad in red;
He askd at her gin she'd be his bride.
5
'Have ye asked at my father dear?
Or have ye asked my mother dear?
6
'Have ye asked my sister Ann?
Or have ye asked my brother John?'
7
'I have asked yer father dear,
And I have asked yer mother dear.
8
'I have asked yer sister Ann,
But I've quite forgot your brother John.'
9
Her father dear led her thro them a',
Her mother dear led her thro the ha.
10
Her sister Ann led her thro the closs,
And her brother John stabbed her on her horse.
11
'Ride up, ride up,' says the foremost man,
'I think our bride looks pale and wan.'
12
'Ride up,' cries the bonny bridegroom,
'I think the bride be bleeding.'
13
'This is the bludy month of May,
Me and my horse bleeds night and day.
14
'O an I were at yon green hill,
I wad ly down and bleed a while.
15
'O gin I was at yon red cross,
I wad light down and corn my horse.
16
'O an I were at yon kirk-style,
I wad lye down and soon be weel.'
17
When she cam to yon green hill,
Then she lay down and bled a while.
18
And when she cam to yon red cross,
Then she lighted and corned her horse.
19
'What will ye leave your father dear?'
'My milk-white steed, which cost me dear.'
20
'What will ye leave your mother dear?'
'The bludy clothes that I do wear.'
21
'What will ye leave your sister Ann?'
'My silver bridle and my golden fan.'
22
'What will ye leave your brother John?'
'The gallows-tree to hang him on.'
23
'What will ye leave to your sister Pegg?'
'The wide world for to go and beg.'
24
When she came to yon kirk-style,
Then she lay down, and soon was weel.

151. green cross.

172. bleed.

N

Dr Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January 1, 1830, No 4.

Then out bespak the foremost priest:
Wi a heigh ho and a lilly gay
I think she's bleedin at the breast.
The flowers they spring so sweetly

12. Lord Randal.

P. 151.

B. Add: Kinloch MSS, VII, 89.

D. Read: a. 'Lord Randal,' Minstrelsy, etc. b. 'Lord Rannal,' Campbell MSS, II, 269.

I. Add: h. Communicated by Mr George M. Richardson. i. Communicated by Mr George L. Kittredge.

K. b. Insert after Popular Rhymes: 1826, p. 295. Add: d. 'The Crowdin Dou,' Kinloch MSS, I, 184.

Add: P. 'Lord Ronald, my son,' communicated by Mr Macmath, of Edinburgh.

Q. 'Lord Randal,' Pitcairn's MSS, III, 19.

R. 'Little wee toorin dow,' Pitcairn's MSS, III, 13, from tradition.

153 a. I failed to mention, though I had duly noted them, three versions of 'L'Avvelenato,' which are cited by Professor D'Ancona in his Poesia popolare Italiana, pp 106 ff.

D. The Canon Lorenzo Panciatichi refers to the ballad in a 'Cicalata in lode della Padella e della Frittura,' recited at the Crusca, September 24, 1656, and in such manner as shows that it was well known. He quotes the first question of the mother, "Dove andastù a cena," etc. To this the son answered, he says, that he had been poisoned with a roast eel: and the mother asking what the lady had cooked it in, the reply was, In the oil pot.

E. A version obtained by D'Ancona from the singing of a young fellow from near Pisa, of which the first four stanzas are given. Some verses after these are lost, for the testament is said to supervene immediately.

F. A version from Lecco, which has the title, derived from its burden, 'De lu cavalieri e figliu de re,' A. Trifone Nutricati Briganti, Intorno ai Canti e Racconti popolari del Leccese p. 17. The first four stanzas are cited, and it appears from these that the prince had cooked the eel himself, and, appropriately, in a gold pan.

154 a, first paragraph. F is given by Meltzl, Acta Comparationis, 1880, columns 143 f, in another dialect.

154 b. Magyar. The original of this ballad, 'A megétett János,' 'Poisoned John' (as would appear, in the Szekler idiom), was discovered by the Unitarian bishop Kriza, of Klausenburg, and was published by him in J. Arany's 'Koszoru,' in 1864. It is more exactly translated by Meltzl in the Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, 1880, VII, columns 30 f, the original immediately preceding. Aigner has omitted the second stanza, and made the third into two, in his translation. The Szekler has ten two-line stanzas, with the burden, Ah, my bowels are on fire! Ah, make ready my bed! In the second stanza John says he has eaten a four-footed crab; in the sixth he leaves his elder brother his yoke of oxen; in the seventh he leaves his team of four horses to his younger brother. Also translated in Ungarische Revue, 1883, p. 139, by G. Heinrich.

B, another Szekler version, taken down by Meltzl from the mouth of a girl, is in seven two-line stanzas, with the burden, Make my bed, sweet mother! 'János,' Acta, cols 140 f, with a German translation. John has been at his sister-in-law's, and had a stuffed chicken and a big cake. At his elder sister's they gave him the back of the axe, bloody stripes. He bequeaths to his elder sister remorse and sickness; to his sister-in-law six oxen and his wagon; to his father illness and poverty; to his mother kindness and beggary.

156 b, second paragraph. Polish: add Roger, p. 66, No 119. Add further: Little Russian, Golovatsky, Part I, pp 206, 207, 209, Nos 32, 33, 35. Masovian, Kozlowski, No 14, p. 52, p. 53. (Sacharof, IV, 7 == Čelakovský, III, 108.)

157 a, second paragraph. Kaden translates Nannarelli, p. 52. (Köhler.)

157 b. Italian A is translated by Evelyn Carrington in The Antiquary, III, 156 f. D also by Freiligrath, II, 226, ed. Stuttgart, 1877.

158 a. B. Found in Kinloch MSS, VII, 89. The sixth stanza is not there, and was probably taken from Scott, D.

160 a. D. Read: a. Minstrelsy, etc. b. Campbell MSS, II, 269.

163 a. I. Add: h. By Mr George M. Richardson, as learned by a lady in Southern New Hampshire, about fifty years ago, from an aged aunt. i. By Mr George L. Kittredge, obtained from a lady in Exeter, N. H.

164 a. K. Insert under b, after Scotland: 1826, p. 295. Add: d. Kinloch MSS, I, 184.

164 b. K 62. Read: head and his feet.

165.

P

Communicated by Mr Macmath, of Edinburgh, as derived from his aunt, Miss Jane Webster, formerly of Airds of Kells, now (January, 1883) of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire, who learned it more than fifty years ago from Mary Williamson, then a nurse-maid at Airds.

1
'Where hae ye been a' day, Lord Ronald, my son?
Where hae ye been a' day, my handsome young one?'
'I've been in the wood hunting; mother, make my bed soon,
For I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
2
'O where did you dine, Lord Ronald, my son?
O where did you dine, my handsome young one?'
'I dined with my sweetheart; mother, make my bed soon,
For I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
3
'What got you to dine on, Lord Ronald, my son?
What got you to dine on, my handsome young one?'
'I got eels boiled in water that in heather doth run,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
4
'What did she wi the broo o them, Lord Ronald, my son?
What did she wi the broo o them, my handsome young one?'
'She gave it to my hounds for to live upon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
5
'Where are your hounds now, Lord Ronald, my son?
Where are your hounds now, my handsome young one?'
'They are a' swelled and bursted, and sae will I soon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
6
'What will you leave your father, Lord Ronald, my son?
What will you leave your father, my handsome young one?'
'I'll leave him my lands for to live upon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
7
'What will you leave your brother, Lord Ronald, my son?
What will you leave your brother, my handsome young one?'
'I'll leave him my gallant steed for to ride upon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
8
'What will you leave your sister, Lord Ronald, my son?
What will you leave your sister, my handsome young one?'
'I'll leave her my gold watch for to look upon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
9
'What will you leave your mother, Lord Ronald, my son?
What will you leave your mother, my handsome young one?'
'I'll leave her my Bible for to read upon,
And I am weary, weary hunting, and fain would lie doun.'
10
'What will you leave your sweetheart, Lord Ronald, my son?
What will you leave your sweetheart, my handsome young one?'
'I'll leave her the gallows-tree for to hang upon,
It was her that poisoned me;' and so he fell doun.

Q

Pitcairn's MSS, III, 19. "This was communicated to me by my friend Patrick Robertson, Esq., Advocate,[427] who heard it sung by an old lady in the North Country; and though by no means enthusiastic about popular poetry, it struck him so forcibly that he requested her to repeat it slowly, so as he might write it down." Stanzas 2-5 "were very much similar to the set in Scott's Minstrelsy," and were not taken down.

1
'O whare hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son?
O whare hae ye been, my handsome young man?'
'Oer the peat moss mang the heather, mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary, weary hunting, and fain wad lie down.'
6
'What leave ye to your father, Lord Randal, my son?
What leave ye to your father, my handsome young man?'
'I leave my houses and land, mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary, weary hunting, and fain wad lie down.'
7
'What leave ye to your brother, Lord Randal, my son?
What leave ye to your brother, my handsome young man?'
'O the guid milk-white steed that I rode upon,
For I'm weary, weary hunting, and fain wad lie down.'
8
'What leave ye to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son?
What leave ye to your true-love, my handsome young man?'
'O a high, high gallows, to hang her upon,
For I'm weary, weary hunting, and fain wad lie down.'

R

Pitcairn's MSS, III, 11. "From tradition: widow Stevenson."

1
'Whare hae ye been a' day, my little wee toorin dow?'
'It's I've been at my grandmammy's; mak my bed, mammy, now.'
2
'And what did ye get frae your grandmammy, my little wee toorin dow?'
'It's I got a wee bit fishy to eat; mak my bed, mammy, now.'
3
'An what did ye do wi the banes o it, my little wee toorin dow?'
'I gied it to my black doggy to eat; mak my bed, mammy, now.'
4
'An what did your little black doggy do syne, my little wee toorin dow?'
'He shot out his head, and his feet, and he died; as I do, mammy, now.'

S

Communicated to Percy by Rev. P. Parsons, of Wye, near Ashford, Kent, April 19, 1775: taken down by a friend of Mr Parsons "from the spinning-wheel, in Suffolk."

1
'Where have you been today, Randall, my son?
Where have you been today, my only man?'
'I have been a hunting, mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, fain woud lie down.
Dear sister, hold my head, dear mother, make my bed,
I am sick at the heart, fain woud lie down.'
2
'What have you eat today, Randal, my son?
What have you eat today, my only man?'
'I have eat an eel; mother, make,' etc.
3
'What was the colour of it, Randal, my son?
What was the colour of it, my only man?'
'It was neither green, grey, blue nor black,
But speckled on the back; make,' etc.
4
'Who gave you eels today, Randal, my son?
Who gave you eels today, my only man?'
'My own sweetheart; mother, make,' etc.
5
'Where shall I make your bed, Randal, my son?
Where shall I make your bed, my only man?'
'In the churchyard; mother, make,' etc.
6
'What will you leave her then, Randall, my son?
What will you leave her then, my only man?'
'A halter to hang herself; make,' etc.

166 a. Insert after C:

D. b. Disordered: b 1 == a 1; b 2 == a 4; b 3 == a 51,2 + a 23,4; b 4 == a 3; a 21,2, 53,4, are wanting.

b. 13, been at the hunting.

32. I fear ye've drunk poison.

33 == a 23. I supd wi my auntie.

41,2 == a 31,2. your supper.

This copy may be an imperfect recollection of a.

166 b.

I. h. Four stanzas only, 1, 2, 6, 7.

12. my own little one.

14. at the heart ... and fain.

61. will you leave mother.

71. will you leave grandma.

73. a rope.

k. Seven stanzas.

13. to see grandmother.

14. sick at heart, and fain.

23. Stripëd eels fried.

3 == a 6, d 5, h 3.

31,2. Your grandmother has poisoned you.

33. I know it, I know it.

4 == a 6. 41,2. would you leave mother.

5 == a 8, b 9, h 7.

51,2. would you leave sister.

53. A box full of jewels.

6 == a 7; 7 == a 8.

61,2. would you leave grandmother.

63. A rope for to hang her.

71,2. O where shall I make it.

K. Add after c:

d. 11, my bonnie wee crowdin, and always.

21. frae your stepmither.

22. She gied me a bonnie wee fish, it was baith black and blue.

51. my ain wee dog.

61. And whare is your ain wee dog.

62.
It laid down its wee headie and deed,
And sae maun I do nou.

Q. "The second, third, fourth, and fifth stanzas were very much similar to the set Lord Ronald, in Scott's Border Minstrelsy, and as Mr Robertson was hurried he did not take down the precise words." MS., p. 21.

Ronald is changed to Randal in 6, 7, but is left in 8.

R. Written in four-line stanzas.

13. Edward.

P. 168 a, first paragraph. Add: Swedish E, Aminson, Bidrag till Södermanlands Kulturhistoria, III, 37, eight stanzas. Nine stanzas of Finnish B are translated by Schott, Acta Comparationis, 1878, IV, cols 132, 133. The murder here is for wife-seduction, a peculiar and assuredly not original variation.

168 b. B is translated by Adolph von Marées, p. 27; by Graf von Platen, II, 329, Stuttgart, 1847; after Herder into Magyar, by Dr Karl von Szász.

14. Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie.

P. 172 a. Swedish. Professor George Stephens points me to two localized prose outlines of the story, one from Småland, the other from Skåne; 'Truls och hans barn,' in the Svenska Fornminnesföreningens Tidskrift, II, 77 f.

15. Leesome Brand.

P. 179 a. Swedish. II. Add: I, 'Risa lill,' Wigström, Folkdiktning, II, 28.

180 a, lines 25, 26. Read: A, G, M, X.

181 a. German. Add: D, 'Der Ritter und seine Geliebte,' Ditfurth, Deutsche Volks- und Gesellschaftslieder des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, p. 14, No 13. (Köhler.)

181 b. French. C. A still more corrupted copy in Poésies populaires de la France, III, fol. 143, 'La fausse morte.' D. Fol. 215 of the same volume, a very pretty ballad from Périgord, which has lost most of the characteristic incidents, but not the tragic conclusion.

182 b, first paragraph. A similar scene, ending happily, in I Complementi della Chanson d'Huon de Bordeaux, pubblicati da A. Graf, pp 26 ff. (Köhler.)

183 b, stanzas 27, 28. Compare:

Modhreu lärde sonnenn sinn:
'Skiuter tu diur och skiuter tu råå;
'Skiuter tu diur och skiuter tu råå,
Then salige hindenn lätt tu gå!'

'Den förtrollade Jungfrun,' Arwidsson, II, 260, No 136, A I, 2.

17. Hind Horn.

P. 187. F. Insert the title 'Young Hyndhorn.'

G. Insert: Kinloch MSS, VII, 117.

192. Dr Davidson informs me that many years ago he heard a version of 'Hind Horn,' in four-line stanzas, in which, as in 'Horn et Rymenhild' and 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' Horn took part in a joust at the king's court,

An young Hind Horn was abune them a'.

He remembers further only these stanzas:

'O got ye this o the sea sailin,
Or got ye 't o the lan?
Or got ye 't o the bloody shores o Spain,
On a droont man's han?'
'I got na 't o the sea sailin,
I got na 't o the lan,
Nor yet upo the bloody shores o Spain,
On a droont man's han.'

193 b (2). Add: 'Herr Lovmand,' Kristensen, I, 136, No 52.

194. A corrupt fragment of a ballad, 'Der Bettler,' in Schröer's Ausflug nach Gottschee, p. 210 f (Köhler), retains features like 'Hind Horn.' The beggar comes to a wedding, and sits by the stove. The bride kindly says, Nobody is thinking of the beggar, and hands him a glass of wine. He says, Thanks, fair bride; thou wast my first wife. Upon this the bridegroom jumps over the table, crying, Bachelor I came, and bachelor will go.

The Epirots and Albanians have a custom of betrothing or marrying, commonly in early youth, and of then parting for a long period. A woman was lately (1875) buried at Iannina who, as the archbishop boasted in the funeral discourse, had preserved her fidelity to a husband who had been separated from her thirty years. This unhappy usage has given rise to a distinct class of songs. Dozon, Chansons populaires bulgares, p. 294, note.

195 b (5). The German popular rhymed tale of Henry the Lion is now known to have been composed by the painter Heinrich Götting, Dresden, 1585. Germania, XXVI, 453, No 527.

198 a, to first paragraph. For the marvellous transportation in these stories, see a note by Liebrecht in Jahrbücher für rom. u. eng. Literatur, III, 147. In the same, IV, 110, Liebrecht refers to the legend of Hugh of Halton, recounted by Dugdale in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, II, 646, ed. of 1730, and Monasticon Anglicanum, IV, 90 f, ed. 1823 (and perhaps in Dugdale's Baronage of England, but I have not found it there). Hugo is another Gerard: the two half-rings miraculously unite. (Köhler.) See, also, Landau on Torello, 'Der Wunderritt,' Quellen des Dekameron 1884, pp 193-218.

198 b, third paragraph. Other versions of 'Le Retour du Mari:' Fleury, Littérature Orale de la Basse-Normandie, p. 268; E. Legrand, Romania, X, 374, also from Normandy.

A ballad of the nature of 'Le Retour du Mari' is very popular in Poland: Kolberg, No 22, pp 224 ff, some dozen copies; Wojcicki, I, 287; Wojcicki, II, 311 == Kolberg's c; Lipinski, p. 159 == Kolberg's i; Konopka, p. 121, No 20; Kozłowski, No 5, p. 35, p. 36, two copies. In Moravian, 'První milejší,' 'The First Love,' Sušil, No 135, p. 131. The general course of the story is that a young man has to go to the war the day of his wedding or the day after. He commits his bride to her mother, saying, Keep her for me seven years; and if I do not then come back, give her to whom you please. He is gone seven years, and, returning then, asks for his wife. She has just been given to another. He asks for a fiddle [pipe], and says he will go to the wedding. They advise him to stay away, for there will be a disturbance. No, he will only stand at the door and play. The bride jumps over four tables, and makes a courtesy to him on a fifth, welcomes him and dismisses the new bridegroom.

199 a, end of the first paragraph. I forgot to mention the version of Costantino, agreeing closely with Camarda's, in De Rada, Rapsodie d'un poema albanese raccolte nelle colonie del Napoletano, pp 61-64.

200. A maid, parting from her lover for three years, divides her ring with him. He forgets, and prepares to marry another woman. She comes to the nuptials, and is not known. She throws the half ring into a cup, drinks, and hands the cup to him. He sees the half ring, and joins it to his own. This is my wife, he says. She delivered me from death. He annuls his marriage, and espouses the right woman. Miklosisch, Ueber die Mundarten der Zigeuner, IV, Märchen u. Lieder, 15th Tale, pp 52-55, at the end of a story of the class referred to at p. 401 f. (Köhler.)

A personage appeared at Magdeburg in 1348 in the disguise of a pilgrim, asked for a cup of wine from the archbishop's table, and, in drinking, dropped into the cup from his mouth the seal ring of the margrave Waldemar, supposed to have been long dead, but whom he confessed or avowed himself to be. Klöden, Diplomatische Geschichte des für falsch erklärten Markgrafen Waldemar, p. 189 f. (Köhler.)

A wife who long pursues her husband, lost to her through spells, drops a ring into his broth at the feast for his second marriage, is recognized, and they are happily reunited: The Tale of the Hoodie, Campbell, West Highland Tales, I, 63-66.

In a pretty Portuguese ballad, which has numerous parallels in other languages, a long-absent husband, after tormenting his wife by telling her that she is a widow, legitimates himself by saying, Where is your half of the ring which we parted? Here is mine: 'Bella Infanta,' Almeida-Garrett, II, 11, 14, Braga, Cantos p. do Archipelago Açoriano, p. 300; 'Dona Infanta,' 'Dona Catherina,' Braga, Romanceiro Geral, pp 3 f, 7.

See, further, for ring stories, Wesselofsky, Neue Beiträge zur Geschichte der Salomonsage, in Archiv für Slavische Philologie, VI, 397 f; Hahn, Neugriechische Märchen, No 25.

The cases in which a simple ring is the means of recognition or confirmation need, of course, not be multiplied.

200 a, line twenty-four. For Alesha read Alyosha.

205. G. In Kinloch MSS, VII, 117. After "from the recitation of my niece, M. Kinnear, 23 August, 1826," is written in pencil "Christy Smith," who may have been the person from whom Miss Kinnear derived the ballad, or another reciter. Changes are made in pencil, some of which are written over in ink, some not. The printed copy, as usual with Kinloch, differs in some slight respects from the manuscript.

I

a. From the recitation of Miss Jane Webster, formerly of Airds of Kells, now of Dalry, both in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, December 12, 1882. b. From Miss Jessie Jane Macmath and Miss Agnes Macmath, nieces of Miss Webster, December 11, 1882: originally derived from an old nurse. Communicated by Mr Macmath, of Edinburgh.

  *   *   *   *   *
1
She gave him a gay gold ring,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
But he gave her a far better thing.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
2
He gave her a silver wan,
With nine bright laverocks thereupon.
  *   *   *   *   *
3
Young Hynd Horn is come to the lan,
There he met a beggar man.
4
'What news, what news do ye betide?'
'Na news but Jeanie's the prince's bride.'
5
'Wilt thou give me thy begging weed?
And I'll give thee my good grey steed.
6
'Wilt thou give me thy auld grey hair?
And I'll give ye mine that is thrice as fair.'
7
The beggar he got on for to ride,
But young Hynd Horn is bound for the bride.
8
First the news came to the ha,
Then to the room mang the gentles a'.
9
'There stands a beggar at our gate,
Asking a drink for young Hynd Horn's sake.'
10
'I'll ga through nine fires hot
To give him a drink for young Hynd Horn's sake.'
11
She gave him the drink, and he dropt in the ring;
The lady turned baith pale an wan.
12
'Oh got ye it by sea, or got ye it by lan?
Or got ye it off some dead man's han?'
13
'I got it not by sea, nor I got it not by lan,
But I got it off thy milk-white han.'
14
'I'll cast off my dress of red,
And I'll go with thee and beg my bread.
15
I'll cast off my dress of brown,
And follow you from city to town.
16
'I'll cast off my dress of green,
For I am not ashamed with you to be seen.'
17
'You need not cast off your dress of red,
For I can support thee on both wine and bread.
18
'You need not cast off your dress of brown,
For I can keep you a lady in any town.
19
'You need not cast off your dress of green,
For I can maintain you as gay as a queen.'

207 b. Add: F. 13, 71, 91, 132, Hyndhorn.

208. I. b. 1-3, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16-19, wanting.

Burden 2: Wi my hey-dey an my hey deedle downie.

51. O gie to me your aul beggar weed.

11.
She gave him the cup, and he dropped in the ring:
O but she turned pale an wan!