Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 4

7.

'Here is a royal belt,' she cried, 'That I have found in the green sea; And while your body it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I vow my belt your death shall be.'

8.

He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal belt he brought him wi'; Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, And twisted twice about the tree, And with a swing she came about: 'Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me.

9.

'Here is a royal ring,' she said, 'That I have found in the green sea; And while your finger it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I swear my ring your death shall be.'

10.

He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal ring he brought him wi'; Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, And twisted ance about the tree, And with a swing she came about: 'Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me.

11.

'Here is a royal brand,' she said, 'That I have found in the green sea; And while your body it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I swear my brand your death shall be.'

12.

He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal brand he brought him wi'; Her breath was sweet, her hair grew short, And twisted nane about the tree, And smilingly she came about, As fair a woman as fair could be.

[Annotations: 3.3: 'Kemp' = champion, knight. Cp. 'Childe' in _Childe Maurice_, etc.

3.4: 'borrow,' ransom.]

WILLIE'S LADY

+The Text+ is from the lost Fraser-Tytler-Brown MS., this ballad luckily having been transcribed before the MS. disappeared. Mrs. Brown recited another and a fuller version to Jamieson.

+The Story.+--Willie's mother, a witch, displeased at her son's choice, maliciously arrests by witchcraft the birth of Willie's son. Willie's travailing wife sends him again and again to bribe the witch, who refuses cup, steed, and girdle. Here our version makes such abrupt transitions, that it will be well to explain what takes place. The Belly Blind or Billie Blin (see _Young Bekie_, First Series, pp. 6, 7) advises Willie to make a sham baby of wax, and invite his witch-mother to the christening. Willie does so (in stanzas lost between our 33 and 34); the witch, believing the wax-baby to be flesh and blood, betrays all her craft by asking who has loosed the knots, ta'en out the kaims, ta'en down the woodbine, etc., these being the magic rites by which she has suspended birth. Willie instantly looses the knots and takes out the kaims, and his wife presents him with a bonny young son.

The story is common in Danish ballads, and occasional in Swedish. In the cla.s.sics, Juno (Hera) on two occasions delayed childbirth and cheated Ilithyia, the sufferers being Latona and Alcmene. But the latest version of the story is said to have occurred in Arran in the nineteenth century. A young man, forsaking his sweetheart, married another maiden, who when her time came suffered exceedingly. A packman who chanced to be pa.s.sing heard the tale and suspected the cause. Going to the discarded sweetheart, he told her that her rival had given birth to a fine child; thereupon she sprang up, pulled a large nail out of the beam, and called to her mother, 'Muckle good your craft has done!' The labouring wife was delivered forthwith. (See _The Folklore Record_, vol. ii. p. 117.)

WILLIE'S LADY

1.

Willie has taen him o'er the fame, He's woo'd a wife and brought her hame.

2.

He's woo'd her for her yellow hair, But his mother wrought her mickle care,

3.

And mickle dolour gard her dree, For lighter she can never be.

4.

But in her bower she sits wi' pain, And Willie mourns o'er her in vain.

5.

And to his mother he has gone, That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

6.

He says: 'My ladie has a cup Wi' gowd and silver set about.

7.

'This goodlie gift shall be your ain, And let her be lighter o' her young bairn.'

8.

'Of her young bairn she'll ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

9.

'But she shall die and turn to clay, And you shall wed another may.'

10.

'Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll ne'er bring home.'

11.

But sighing says that weary wight, 'I wish my life were at an end.'

12.

'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again, That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

13.

'And say your ladie has a steed, The like o' 'm's no in the lands of Leed.

14.

'For he's golden shod before, And he's golden shod behind.

15.

'And at ilka tet of that horse's main There's a golden chess and a bell ringing.

16.

'This goodlie gift shall be your ain, And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

17.

'O' her young bairn she'll ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to shine the brighter.

18.

'But she shall die and turn to clay, And ye shall wed another may.'

19.

'Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll neer bring hame.'

20.

But sighing said that weary wight, 'I wish my life were at an end.'

21.