English and Scottish Ballads Volume I Part 24

"Or does the wind blow in your glove, Or runs your mind on another love?"

"Nor blows the wind within my glove, Nor runs my mind on another love;"

"But I not maid nor maiden am, 35 For I'm wi' bairn to another man."

"I thought I'd a maiden sae meek and sae mild, But I've nought but a woman wi' child."

His mother's taen her up to a tower, And lockit her in her secret bower: 40

"Now doughter mine, come tell to me, Wha's bairn this is that you are wi'."

"O mother dear, I canna learn Wha is the father of my bairn.

"But as I walk'd in the lowlands my lane, 45 I met a gentleman gallant and fine;

"He keepit me there sae late and sae lang, Frae the ev'ning late till the morning dawn;

"And a' that he gied me to my propine, Was a pair of green gloves, and a gay gold ring, 50

"Three lauchters of his yellow hair, In case that we shou'd meet nae mair."

His lady mother went down the stair: "Now son, now son, come tell to me, Where's the green gloves I gave to thee?" 55

"I gied to a lady sae fair and so fine, The green gloves and a gay gold ring:

"But I wad gie my castles and towers, I had that lady within my bowers:

"But I wad gie my very life, 60 I had that lady to be my wife."

"Now keep, now keep your castles and towers, You have that lady within your bowers:

"Now keep, now keep your very life, You have that lady to be your wife." 65

"O row my lady in sattin and silk, And wash my son in the morning milk."

WILLIE'S LADYE.

Printed from Mrs. Brown's MS., in the _Border Minstrelsy_, vol. iii.

p. 170. Another copy is given in Jamieson's _Popular Ballads_, (ii.

367,) and versions, enlarged and altered from the ancient, in the same work, (ii. 179,) and in _Tales of Wonder_, No. 56. This ballad bears a striking resemblance to _Sir Stig and Lady Torelild_, translated from the Danish by Jamieson, _Ill.u.s.trations of Northern Antiquities_, p. 344. This is the eighth (marked H) of nine Danish ballads given by Grundtvig, under the t.i.tle _Hustru og Mands Moder_, vol. ii. 404.

Three Swedish versions have been printed: two in Arwidsson's _Fornsnger, Liten Kerstins Fortrollning_, ii. 252, and another (Grundtvig) in Cavallius and Stephens's _Svenska Folksagor_.

"Those who wish to know how an incantation, or charm, of the distressing nature here described, was performed in cla.s.sic days, may consult the story of Galanthis's Metamorphosis, in Ovid, or the following pa.s.sage in Apuleius: 'Eadem (saga, scilicet, quaedam) amatoris uxorem, quod in eam dicacule probrum dixerat, jam in sarcinam praegnationis, obsepto utero, et repigrato f[oe]tu, perpetua praegnatione d.a.m.navit. Et ut cuncti numerant, octo annorum onere, misella illa, velut elephantum paritura, distenditur.' APUL. _Metam._ lib. i.

"There is a curious tale about a Count of Westeravia, whom a deserted concubine bewitched upon his marriage, so as to preclude all hopes of his becoming a father. The spell continued to operate for three years, till one day, the Count happening to meet with his former mistress, she maliciously asked him about the increase of his family. The Count, conceiving some suspicion from her manner, craftily answered, that G.o.d had blessed him with three fine children; on which she exclaimed, like Willie's mother in the ballad, "May heaven confound the old hag, by whose counsel I threw an enchanted pitcher into the draw-well of your palace!" The spell being found, and destroyed, the Count became the father of a numerous family. _Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels_, p.

474." SCOTT.

Willie's ta'en him o'er the faem, He's wooed a wife, and brought her hame; He's wooed her for her yellow hair, But his mother wrought her meikle care;

And meikle dolour gar'd her dree, 5 For lighter she can never be; But in her bower she sits wi' pain, And Willie mourns o'er her in vain.

And to his mother he has gane, That vile rank witch, o' vilest kind! 10 He says--"My ladie has a cup, Wi' gowd and silver set about; This gudely gift sall be your ain, And let her be lighter o' her young bairn."--

"Of her young bairn she's never be lighter, 15 Nor in her bour to shine the brighter: But she sall die, and turn to clay, And you sall wed another may."--

"Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll never bring hame:"-- 20 But, sighing, said that weary wight-- "I wish my life were at an end!

"Yet gae ye to your mother again, That vile rank witch, o' vilest kind!

And say, your ladye has a steed, 25 The like o' him's no in the land o' Leed.

"For he is silver shod before, And he is gowden shod behind; At every tuft of that horse mane, There's a golden chess, and a bell to ring. 30 This gudely gift sall be her ain, And let me be lighter o' my young bairn."--

"Of her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bour to shine the brighter; But she sall die, and turn to clay, 35 And ye sall wed another may."--

"Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll never bring hame:"-- But, sighing, said that weary wight-- "I wish my life were at an end!-- 40

"Yet gae ye to your mother again, That vile rank witch, o' rankest kind!

And say your ladye has a girdle, It's a' red gowd to the middle;

"And aye, at ilka siller hem 45 Hang fifty siller bells and ten; This gudely gift sall be her ain, And let me be lighter o' my young bairn."--

"Of her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in your bour to shine the brighter; 50 For she sall die, and turn to clay, And thou sall wed another may."--

"Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll never bring hame;"-- But, sighing, said that weary wight-- 55 "I wish my days were at an end!"--

Then out and spak the Billy Blind,[L57]

(He spak aye in good time:) "Yet gae ye to the market-place, And there do buy a loaf of wace; 60 Do shape it bairn and bairnly like, And in it twa gla.s.sen een you'll put;

"And bid her your boy's christening to, Then notice weel what she shall do; And do you stand a little away, 65 To notice weel what she may say."

[L67]He did him to the market-place, And there he bought a loaf[L68] o' wax; He shaped it bairn and bairnly like, And in twa glazen een he pat; 70

He did him till his mither then, And bade her to his boy's christnin; And he did stand a little forbye, And noticed well what she did say.

"O wha has loosed the nine witch knots, 75 That were amang that ladye's locks?

And wha's ta'en out the kaims o' care, That were amang that ladye's hair?

"And wha has ta'en down that bush o' woodbine, That hung between her bour and mine? 80 And wha has kill'd the master kid,[L81]

That ran beneath that ladye's bed?

And wha has loosed her left foot shee, And let that ladye lighter be?"

Syne, w.i.l.l.y's loosed the nine witch knots, 85 That were amang that ladye's locks; And Willie's ta'en out the kaims o' care, That were into that ladye's hair;

And he's ta'en down the bush o' woodbine, Hung atween her bour and the witch carline; 90 And he has kill'd the master kid, That ran beneath that ladye's bed;