No. 17: Hind Horn
[This ballad has had limited circulation both in North America and the British Isles (Bronson lists 23 musical variants). The greatest area of circulation in North America (with over a dozen traditional versions) has been the Maritime Providences of Canada (Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Novas Scotia and also Ontario) where it has thrived and been frequently collected, with excellent traditional versions being recorded as late as in the 1960s (Doucette 1958; Brown 1960; Estey 1963).
The North American versions do not mention Hind Horn, instead the hero is known only as "the old beggar man." Most of the Maritime versions conform to a uniform structure of about 13 quatrains and include the elements of the story from Child G, collected by Kinloch from tradition in Scotland - 1826.
For a detailed article about the history of this ballad I'd recommend "The Ballad of Hind Horn" by Walter R. Nelles, 1909 (found attached to my Recordings & Info page).
R. Matteson 2014]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-I; (Additional text I was added in "Additions and Corrections." There are two variants of G, changes found in Additions and Corrections.)
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Hind Horn
A. Roud Number 28: Hind Horn (112 Listings)
B. Hind Horn- Joseph J. MacSweeney; 1919
C. The Ballad of Hind Horn- Walter R. Nelles 1909
D. The Texts of King Horn- James R. Hurt 1970
E. The Story of Horn and Rimenhild- Schofield 1903
2. Sheet Music: Hind Horn (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-I with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. 'Hindhorn,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 106.
B. 'Young Hyndhorn,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 418.
C. a. 'Young Hyn Horn,' Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 42.
b. Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 413.
D. 'Young Hynhorn,' Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, II, 204.
E. 'Hynd Horn,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 91.
F. 'Young Hyndhorn'- Lowran Castle, or the Wild Boar of Curridoo: with other Tales. By R. Trotter, Dumfries, 1822.
G. 'Hynde Horn,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 135.
H. 'Hynd Horn,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 268.
[I a. 'Hynd Horn,' 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.]
A defective copy of this ballad was printed in Cromek's Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, 1810 (D). A fragment, comprising the first half of the story, was inserted in "Lowran Castle, or the Wild Boar of Curridoo: with other Tales," etc., by Robert Trotter, Dumfries, 1822[1] (F). A complete copy was first given in Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, 1827 (G); another, described by the editor as made up from Cromek's fragment and two copies from recitation, in Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 36, [2] later in the same year; and a third, closely resembling Kinloch's, in Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, in 1828 (H). Three versions complete, or nearly so, and a fragment of a fourth are now printed for the first time, all from Motherwell's manuscripts (A, B, C, E).
The stanza about the auger bore [wimble bore], B 1, F 3, H 4, is manifestly out of place. It is found in 'The Whummil Bore' (see further on), and may have slipped into 'Hind Horn' by reason of its following, in its proper place, a stanza beginning, "Seven lang years I hae served the king:" cf. F 2, H 3.
G 17, 18, 21, 22, which are not intelligible in their present connection, are perhaps, as well as G 16, H 18-20, borrowed from some Robin Hood ballad, in which a change is made with a beggar.
The noteworthy points in the story of Hind Horn are these. Hind Horn has served the king seven years (D, F), and has fallen in love with his daughter. She gives Hind Horn a jewelled ring: as long as the stone keeps its color, he may know that she is faithful; but if it changes hue, he may ken she loves another man. The king is angry (D), and Hind Horn goes to sea [is sent, D]. He has been gone seven years, E, F [seven years and a day, B], when, looking on his ring, he sees that the stone is pale and wan, A-H. He makes for the land at once, and, meeting an old beggar, asks him for news. No news but the king's daughter's wedding: it has lasted nine days [two and forty, A], and she will not go into the bride-bed till she hears of Hind Horn, E. Hind Horn changed cloaks and other gear with the beggar, and when he came to the king's gate asked for a drink in Horn's name,[3] A, B, D. The bride herself came down, and gave him a drink out of her own hand, A, B, C, G, H. He drank out the drink and dropped in the ring.
'O gat ye 't by sea, or gat ye 't by lan,
Or gat ye 't aff a dead man's han?'
So she asked; and he answered:
'I gat na 't by sea, I gat na 't by lan,
But I gat it out of your own han.' D 14.
I got na 't by sea, I got na 't by land,
Nor got I it aff a drownd man's hand;
'But I got it at my wooing,
And I'll gie it at your wedding.' G 29, 30.
The bride, who had said,
'I'll go through nine fires so hot,
But I'll give him a drink for Young Hynhorn's sake,' B 16,
is no less ready now:
'I'll tak the red gowd frae my head,
And follow you and beg my bread.
I'll tak the red gowd frae my hair,
And follow you for evermair.' H 31, 32.
But Hind Horn let his cloutie cloak fall, G, H, and told her,
'Ye need na leave your bridal gown,
For I'll make ye ladie o many a town.'
The story of Horn, of which this ballad gives little more than the catastrophe, is related at full in
I. 'King Horn,' a gest in about 1550 short verses, preserved in three manuscripts; the oldest regarded as of the second half of the 13th century, or older; the others put at 1300 and a little later. All three have been printed: (1.) By Michel, Horn et Rimenhild, p. 259 ff, Bannatyne Club, 1845; J.R. Lumby, Early English Text Society, 1866; and in editions founded on Lumby's text, by Mätzner, Altenglische Sprachproben, p. 270 ff, and later by Wissmann, Quellen u. Forschungen, No 45. (2.) By Horstmann, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 1872, L, 39 ff. (3.) By Ritson, A. E. Metrical Romanceës, II, 91 ff.
II. 'Horn et Rymenhild,' a romance in about 5250 heroic verses, preserved likewise in three manuscripts; the best in the Public Library of the university of Cambridge, and. of the 14th century.
III. 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' from a manuscript of the 14th century, in not quite 100 twelve-line stanzas: Ritson, Metrical Romanceës, III, 282 ff; Michel, p. 341 ff.
Horn, in the old English gest, is son of Murry [Allof], king of Suddenne. He is a youth of extraordinary beauty, and has twelve comrades, of whom Athulf and Fikenild are his favorites. One day, as Murry was out riding, he came upon fifteen ships of Saracens, just arrived. The pagans slew the king, and insured themselves, as they thought, against Horn's future revenge by putting him and his twelve aboard a vessel without sail or rudder; but "the children" drove to shore, unhurt, on the coast of Westerness. The king, Ailmar, gave them a kind reception, and committed them to Athelbrus, his steward, to be properly brought up. Rymenhild, the king's daughter, fell in love with Horn, and having, with some difficulty, prevailed upon Athelbrus to bring him to her bower, offered herself to him as his wife. It were no fair wedding, Horn told her, between a thrall and a king, — a speech which hurt Rymenhild greatly; and Horn was so moved by her grief that he promised to do all she required, if she would induce the king to knight him. This was done the next day, and Horn at once knighted all his comrades. Rymenhild again sent for Horn, and urged him now to make her his wife. But Horn said he must first prove his knighthood: if he came back alive, he would then marry her. upon this Rymenhild gave him a ring, set with stones of such virtue that he could never be slain if he looked on it and thought of his leman. The young knight bad the good fortune to fall in immediately with a ship full of heathen bounds, and by the aid of his ring killed a hundred of the best of them. The next day he paid Rymenhild a visit, and found her drowned in grief on account of a bad dream. She had cast her net in the sea, and a great fish had broken it: she weened she should lose the fish that she would choose. Horn strove to comfort her, but could not conceal his apprehension that trouble was brewing. The fish proved to be, Fikenild, Horn's much cherished friend. He told Ailmar of the intimacy with Rymenhild, and asserted that Horn meant to kill the king as well as marry the princess. Ailmar was very angry (v. 724, Wissmann), and much grieved, too. He found the youth in his daughter's bower, and ordered him to quit the land anon. Horn saddled his horse and armed himself, then went back to Rymenhild, and told her that he was going to a strange land for seven years: if, after that, he neither came nor sent word, she might take a husband. He sailed a good way eastward (v. 799) to Ireland, and, landing, met two princes, who invited him to take service with their father. The king, Thurston, welcomed him, and had soon occasion to employ him; for at Christmas came into court a giant, with a message from pagans newly arrived. They proposed that one of them should fight three Christians: If your three slay our one, Let all this land be your own; If our one oercomes your three, All this land then ours shall be.' Horn scorned to fight on such terms; he alone would undertake three of the hounds; and so he did. In the course of a hard fight it came out that these were the very heathen that had slain King Murry. Horn looked on his ring and thought on Rymenhild, then fell on his foes. Not a man of them escaped; but King Thurston lost many men in the fight, among them his two sons. Having now no heir, he offered Horn his daughter Reynild and the succession. Horn replied that he had not earned such a reward yet. He would serve the king further; and when he asked for his daughter, he hoped the king would not refuse her.
Seven years Horn stayed with King Thurston, and to Rymenhild neither sent nor went. A sorry time it was for her, and worst at the end, for King Modi of Reynis asked her in marriage, and her father consented. The wedding was to be in a few days. Rymenhild despatched messengers to every land, but Horn heard nothing, till one day, when he was going out to shoot, he encountered one of these, and learned how things stood. He sent word to his love not to be troubled; he would be there betimes. But, alas, the messenger was drowned on his way back, and Rymenhild, peering out of her door for a ray of hope, saw his body washed up by the waves. Horn now made a clean breast to Thurston, and asked for help. This was generously accorded, and Horn set sail for Westerness. He arrived not too early on, the day of the wedding, — "ne might he come no later!" — left his men in a wood, and set off for Ailmar's conrt alone. He met a palmer, and asked his news. The palmer had come from a bridal; a wedding of maid Rymenhild, who wept and would not be married, because she had a husband, though he was out of the land. Horn changed clothes with the palmer, put on the sclavin, took scrip and staff, blackened his skin and twisted his lip, and presented himself at the king's gate. The porter would not let him in; Horn kicked open the wicket, threw the porter over the bridge, made his way into the hall, and sat down in the beggars' row. Rymenhild was weeping as if she were out of her wits, but after meat she rose to give all the knights and squires drink from a horn which she bare: such was the custom. Horn called to her:
'Skink us with the first,
The beggars ben athirst.'
She laid down her horn and filled him a gallon bowl; but Horn would not drink of that. He said, mysteriously, "Thou thinkest I am a beggar, but I am a fisher, come far from the East, to fish at thy feast. My net lies near at hand, and bath full seven year. I am come to see if it has taken any fish.
'I am come to fish;
Drink to me from thy dish,
Drink to Horn from horn'"
Rymenhild looked at him, a chill creeping over her heart. What he meant by his fishing she did not see. She filled her horn and drank to him, handed it to the pilgrim, and said, "Drink thy fill, and tell me if ever thou saw Horn." Horn drank, and threw the ring into the vessel. When the princess went to bower, she found the ring she had given Horn. She feared he was dead, and sent for the palmer. The palmer said Horn had died on the voyage to Westerness, and had begged him to go with the ring to Rymenhild. Rymenhild could bear no more. She threw herself on her bed, where she had hid a knife, to kill both King Modi and herself if Horn should not come ; she set the knife to her heart, and there Horn stopped her. He wiped off the black, and cried, "I am Horn" Great was their bliss, but it was not a time to indulge themselves fully.
Horn sprang out of hall,
And let his sclavin fall, (1246)
and went to summon his knights. Rymenhild sent after him the faithful Athulf, who all the while had been watching for Horn in the tower. They slew all that were in the castle, except King Ailmar and Horn's old comrades. Horn spared even Fikenild, taking an oath of fidelity from him and the rest. Then he made-himself known to Ailmar, denied what he had been charged with, and would not marry Rymenhild even now, not till he had won back Suddenne. This he went immediately about; but while he was engaged in clearing the land of Saracens and rebuilding churches, the false Fikenild bribed yonng and old to side with him, built a strong castle, "married" Rymenhild, carried her into his fortress, and began a feast. Horn, warned in a dream, again set sail for Westerness, and came in by Fikenild's new castle. Athulf's cousin was on the shore, to tell him what had happened; how Fikenild had wedded Rymenhild that very day; he bad beguiled Horn twice. Force would not avail now. Horn disguised himself and some of his knights as harpers and fiddlers, and their music gained them admittance. Horn began a lay which threw Rymenhild into a swoon. This smote him to the heart; he looked on his ring and thought of her. Fikenhild and his men were soon disposed of. Horn was in a condition to reward all his faithful adherents. He married Athulf to Thurston's daughter, and made Rymenhild queen of Suddenne.
The French romance contains very nearly the same story, extended, by expansions of various sorts, to about six times the length of King Horn. It would be out of place to notice other variations than those which relate to the story preserved in the ballads. Rimild offers Horn a ring when she first avows her love. He will not take it then, but accepts a second tender, after his first fight. When he is accused to the king, he offers to clear himself by combat with heavy odds, but will not submit, king's son as he is, to pnrgation by oath. The king says, then he" may quit the land and go — to Norway, if he will. Horn begs Rimild to maintain her love for him seven years. If he does not come then, he will send her word to act thereafter at her pleasure. Rimild exchanges the ring she had previously given him for one set with a sapphire, wearing which faithfully he need not fear death by water nor fire, battle nor tourney (vv 2051-8). He looks at this ring when he fights with the pagan that had killed his father, and it fires his heart to. extraordinary exploits (3166 ff). Having learned through a friend, who had long been seeking him, that Rimild's father is about to marry her to a young king (Modun), Horn returns to Brittany with a large force. He leaves his men in a woody place, and goes out alone on horseback for news; meets a palmer, who tells him that the marriage is to take place that very day; gives the palmer his fine clothes in exchange for sclavin, staff and scrip, forces his way into the city, and is admitted to the banquet hall with the beggars. After the guests had eaten (4152 ff), Rimild filled a splendid cup with piment, presented it first a sun dru, and then, with her maids, served the whole company. As she was making her fifth round, Horn pulled her by the sleeve, and reproached her with attending only to the rich. "Your credit would be greater should you serve us." She set a handsome cup before him, but he would not drink. "Corn apelent Horn li Engleis," he said. "If, for the love of him who bore that name, you would give me the same horn that you offered your ami, I would share it with you." All but fainting, Rimild gave him the horn. He threw in his ring, even that which she had given him at parting, drank out half, and begged her to drink by the love of him whom he had named. In drinking, she sipped the ring into her mouth, and she saw at once what it was (4234). "I have found a ring," said she. "If it is yours, take it. Blest be he to whom I gave it: if you know aught of him, conceal it not. If you are Horn, it were a great sin not to reveal yourself." Horn owned that the ring was his, but denied knowledge of the man she spake of. For himself, he had been reared in that land, and by service had come into possession of a hawk, which, before taming it, he had put in a cage: that was nigh seven years since: he had come now to see what it amounted to. If it should prove to be as good as when he left it, he would carry it away with him; but if its feathers were ruffled and broken, he would have nothing to do with it. At this, Rimild broke into a laugh, and cried, " Horn, 't is you, and your hawk has been safely kept!"[4] She would go with him or kill herself. Horn saw that she had spoken truth, but, to try her yet further, said he was indeed Horn, whom she had loved, but he had come back with nothing: why should she follow a poor wretch who could not give her a gown to her back? "Little do you know me," was her reply. "I can bear what you bear, and there is no king in the East for whom I would quit you."
'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' with many diversities of its own as to details, is more like the French than the English romance as to the story, and, on the other hand, has one or two resemblances to the ballads which they both lack. Rimnild's father, maddened by the traitor Wikel's false information, beats her till she bleeds, and threatens to slay Horn. Rimnild, expecting her lover to be at least exiled, assures Horn that she will marry no other man for seven years. The king, who had shut himself up till his first wrath was past, tells Horn, when he next comes into his presence, that if he is found in the land on the morrow, he shall be drawn with horses and hanged. Rimnild, at parting, gives him a ring, with these words:
'Loke thou forsake it for no thing,
It schal ben our tokening;
The ston it is wele trewe.
When the ston wexeth wan,
Than chaungeth the thouȝt of thi leman,
Take than a newe;
When the ston wexeth rede,
Than have Y lorn mi maidenhed,
Oȝaines the untrewe.' (Michel, st. 48.)
Horn, for his part, bids her every day look into a spring in her arbor: should she see his shadow, then he is about to marry another; till then his thought will not have changed (sts 48, 49). Though loved, as before, by another princess, Horn kept his faith; but when seven years were gone, on looking at the stone he saw that its hue was changed (st. 71). He immediately gathered a force, and set sail for Rimnild. On landing he saw a beggar, who turned out to be one of his old friends, and had been looking for him a long time. That day Moging the king was to marry Rimnild. They changed weeds (76); Horn forced his way into the castle. While Rimnild was serving the guests, Horn, who had tried to pass for a fool, called to her to attend to God's men. She fetched him drink, and he said, "For Horn's love, if ever he was dear to thee, go not ere this be drunk." He threw the ring into the cup: she brought him another drink (something is wrong here, for nothing is said of her seeing and recognizing the ring), and asked if Horn were there. She fainted when she learned that he was, but on recovering sent Hatherof (= Athulf) to bid the king make merry, and then to gather periwinkle and ivy, "grasses that ben of main" (to stain her face with, no doubt), and then to tell Horn to wait for her under a woodside.
'When al this folk is gon to play,
He and Y schal steal oway,
Bituene the day and the niȝt.' (87)
Hatherof did his message. Of trne love Horn was sure. He said he would come into the field with a hundred knights. A tournament follows, as in the French romance; the royal bridegroom is unhorsed, but spared; treachery is punished and forced to confession.
Now is Rimnild tuiis wedde,
Horn brouȝt hir to his bedde. (94)
That the lay or gest of King Horn is a far more primitive poem than the French romance, and could not possibly be derived from it, will probably be plain to any one who will make even a hasty comparison of the two; and that the contrary opinion should have been held by such men as Warton and Tyrwhitt must have been the result of a general theory, not of a particular examination.[5] There is, on the other hand, no sufficient reason for supposing that the English lay is the source of the other two poems. Nor do the special approximations of the ballads to the romance of Horn Child oblige us to conclude that these, or any of them, are derived from that poem. The particular resemblances are the discoloration of the ring, the elopement with the bride, in C, G, H (which is only prepared for, but not carried out, in Horn Child), and the agreement between the couplet just cited from Horn Child,
Now is Rimnild tuiis wedde,
Horn brouȝt hir to his bedde,
and the last stanza of A, B, C:
The bridegroom he had wedded the bride,
But Young Hind Horn he took her to bed. (A)
The bridegroom thought he had the bonnie bride wed,
But Young Hyn Horn took the bride to bed. (B)
Her ain bridegroom had her first wed,
But Young Hyn Horn had her first to bed. (C)
The likeness evinces a closer affinity of the oral traditions with the later English romance than with the earlier English or the French, but no filiation. And were filiation to be accepted, there would remain the question of priority. It is often assumed, without a misgiving, that oral tradition must needs be younger than anything that was committed to writing some centuries ago; but this requires in each case to be made out; there is certainly no antecedent probability of that kind.[6]
Two Scandinavian ballads, as Dr. Prior has remarked, seem to have been at least suggested by the romances of Horn.
(1.) 'Unge Hr. Tor og Jomfru Tore,' Grundtvig, No 72, II, 263, translated by Prior, III, 151. Of this there are two traditional versions: A from a manuscript of the sixteenth century, B from one of the seventeenth. They agree in story. In A, Tor asks Sølffuermord how long she will wait for him. Nine years, she answers, if she can do so without angering her friends. He will be satisfied with eight. Eight have passed: a family council is held, and it is decided that she shall not have Young Tor, but a certain rich count. Her father "gives her away" that same day. The lady goes up to a balcony and looks seaward. Everybody seems to be coming home but her lover. She begs her brother to ride down to the shore for her. Tor is just coming in, hails the horseman, and eagerly asks how are the maids in the isle. The brother tells him that Ms maid has waited eight years, and is even now drinking her bridal, but with tears. Tor takes his harp and chess-board, and plays ontside the bridal hall till the bride hears and knows him. He then enters the hall, and asks if there is anybody that can win a game of chess. The father replies, Nobody but Sølffuermord, and she sits a bride at the board. The mother indulgently suggests that the midsummer day is long, and the bride might well try a game. The bride seeks an express sanction of her father, who lessons her the livelong day, being suspicious of Tor, but towards evening consents to her playing a little while, — not long. Tor wins the first game, and must needs unpack his heart in a gibing parable, ending
'Full hard is gold to win,
And so is a trothless quean.'
She wins the next game, takes up the parable, and says
'Many were glad their faith to hold,
Were their lot to be controlled.'
They are soon at one, and resolve to fly. They slip away, go aboard Tor's ship, and put off. The bride's parents get information, and the "mother, who is a professor of the black art, raises a storm which she means shall sink them both. No one can steer the ship but the bride. She stands at the helm, with her gold crown on, while her lover is lying seasick on the deck, and she brings the craft safe into Norway, where a second wedding is celebrated.
(2.) The other ballad is 'Herr Lovmand og Herr Thor,' Syv, iv, No 68, Danske Viser, iv, 180, No 199, translated by Prior, n, 442. Lovmand, having betrothed Ingelil, asks how long she will be his maid. "Eight years, if I may," she says. This term has elapsed; her brothers consult, and give her to rich Herr Thor. They drink the bridal for five days; for nine days; she will not go to bed. On the evening of the tenth they begin to use force. She begs that she may first go to the look-out up-stairs. From there she sees ships, great and small, and the sails which her own hands have made for her lover. Her brother goes down to the sea, as in the other ballad, and has a similar interview. Lovmand has the excuse of having been sick seven years. He borrows the brother's horse, flies faster than a bird, and the torch is burning at the door of the bride's house when he arrives. Thor is reasonable enough to give up the bride, and to accept Lovmand's sister.
The ballad is extremely common in Sweden, and at least six versions have been published. A, 'Herr Lagman och Herr Thor,' from a manuscript of the end of the sixteenth century, Arwidsson, 1, 165, No 24; B, from a manuscript, ib., p. 168; C, from oral tradition, p. 171; D, 'Lageman och hans Brud,' Eva Wigström, Folkdiktning samlad och upptecknad i Skåne, p. 29, No 12; E, 'Stolt Ingrid,' Folkvisor från Skåne, upptecknade af E. Wigström, in Hazelius, ur de nordiska Folkens Lif, p. 121, No 3; F, 'Deielill och Lageman,' Fagerlund, Anteckningar om Korpo och Houtskärs Socknar, p. 192, No 3. In A, D the bride goes off in her lover's ship; in C he carries her off on his horse, when the dancing is at its best, and subsequently, upon the king's requisition, settles matters with his rival by killing him in single fight. The stolid bridegroom, in the others, consents to a peaceable arrangement.
Certain points in the story of Horn — the long absence, the sudden return, the appearance under disguise at the wedding feast, and the dropping of the ring into a cup of wine obtained from the bride — repeat themselves in a great number of romantic tales. More commonly it is a husband who leaves his wife for seven years, is miraculously informed on the last day that she is to be remarried on the morrow, and is restored to his home in the nick of time, also by superhuman means. Horn is warned to go back, in the ballads and in Horn Child, by the discoloration of his ring, but gets home as he tan; this part of the story is slurred over in a way that indicates a purpose to avoid a supernatural expedient. Very prominent among the stories referred to is that of Henry of Brunswick [Henry the Lion, Reinfrid of Brunswick], and this may well be put first, because it is preserved in Scandinavian popular ballads.[7]
(1.) The latest of these, a Swedish ballad, from a collection made at the end of the last century, 'Hertig Henrik,' Arwidsson, No 168, 422, represents Duke Henry as telling his wife that he is minded to go off for seven years (he says not whither, but it is of course to the East); should he stay eight or nine, she may marry the man she fancies. He cuts a ring in two; gives her one half and keeps the other. He is made captive, and serves a heathen lord and lady seven years, drawing half the plough, "like another horse." His liberation is not accounted for, but he was probably set free by his mistress, as in the ballad which follows. He gets possession of an excellent sword, and uses it on an elephant who is fighting with a lion. The grateful lion transports the duke to his own country while he is asleep. A herdsman, of whom he asks food, recommends him to go to the Brunswick mansion, where there is a wedding, and Duke Henry's former spouse is the bride. When Henry comes to the house, his daughter is standing without; be asks food for a poor pilgrim. She replies that she has never heard of a pilgrim taking a lion about with him. But they give him drink, and the bride, pro more, drinks out of the same bowl, and finds the half ring in the bottom. The bride feels in her pocket and finds her half,[8] and the two, when thrown upon a table, run together and make one ring.
(2.) The Danish ballad[9] (Grundtvig, No 114, B, from a 17th century manuscript), relates that Duke Henry, in consequence of a dream, took leave of his wife, enjoining her to wait to the eighth year, and, if then he did not return, marry whom she liked. In the course of his fights with the heathen, Henry was made captive, and had to draw the harrow and plough, like a beast. One day (during his lord's absence, as we learn from A) the heathen lady whom he served set him free. He had many adventures, and in one of them killed a panther who was pressing a lion hard, for which service the lion followed him like a dog. The duke then happened upon a hermit, who told him that his wife was to be married the next day, but he was to go to sleep, and not be concerned. He laid his head on a stone in the heathen land, and woke in a trice to hear German speech from a herdsman's mouth. The herdsman confirmed what the hermit had said: the duchess was to be married on the morrow. The duke went to the kitchen as a pilgrim, and sent word to the lady that he wished to drink to her. The duchess, surprised at this freedom, summoned him into her presence. The verses are lost in which the cup should be given the pilgrim and returned to the lady. When she drank off the wine that was left, a half ring lay in the glass.
Danish A, though of the 16th century, does not mention the ring.
(3.) A Flemish broadside, which may originally have been of the 15th century, relates the adventures of the Duke of Brunswick in sixty-five stanzas of four long lines: reprinted in von der Hagen's Germania, VIII, 359, and Hoffmann's Niederländische Volkslieder, No 2, p. 6; Coussemaker, No 47, p. 152; abridged and made over, in Willems, O. v. L., p. 251, No 107. The duke, going to war, tells his wife to marry again if he stays away seven years. She gives him half of her ring. Seven years pass, and the duke, being then in desperate plight in a wilderness, is taken off by a ship; by providential direction, no doubt, though at first it does not so appear. For the fiend is aboard, who tells him that his wife is to be married to-morrow, and offers, for his soul, to carry him to his palace in his sleep before day. The duke, relying on heaven and his lion, professes to accept the terms: he is to be taken to his palace in his sleep. The lion rouses his master at the right time, and the fiend is baffled. The duke goes to the marriage feast, and sends a message to the bride that he desires a drink from her in memory of her lord. They take him for a beggar, but the lady orders him wine in a gold cup. The cup goes back to her with the duke's half ring in it. She cries, "It is my husband!" joins her half to the one in the cup, and the two adhere firmly.
(4.) A German poem of the 15th century, by Michel Wyssenhere, in ninety-eight stanzas of seven lines, first printed by Massmann, Denkmæler deutscher Sprache mid Literatur, p. 122, and afterwards by Erlach, ii, 290, and elsewhere. The Lord of Brunswick receives an impression in a dream that he ought to go to the Holy Sepulchre. He cuts a ring in two, and gives his wife one half for a souvenir, but fixes no time for his absence, and so naturally says nothing about her taking another husband. He has the adventures which are usual in other versions of the story, and at last finds himself among the Wild Hunt (das wöden her), and obliges one of the company, by conjurations, to tell him how it is with his wife and children. The spirit informs him that his wife is about to marry another man. He then constrains the spirit to transport him and his lion to his castle. This is done on the same terms as in the Flemish poem, and the lion wakes his master. His wife offers him drink; he lets his half ring drop in the glass, and, upon the glass being returned to the lady, she takes out the token, finds it like her half, and cries out that she has recovered her dear husband and lord.
(5.) Henry the Lion, a chap-book printed in the 16th century, in one hundred and four stanzas of eight short verses; reprinted in Büsching's Volkssagen, Märchen and Legenden, p. 213 ff, and (modernized) by Simrock in the first volume of Die deutschen Volksbücher. The hero goes out simply in quest of adventures, and, having lost his ship and all his companions, is floating on a raft with his lion, when the devil comes to him and tells him that his wife is to remarry. A compact is made, and the devil balked, as before. Though we were not so informed at the beginning, it now turns out that the duke had given a half ring to the duchess seven years before, and had bidden her take a second husband if he did not come back in that time. The duke sends a servant to beg a drink of wine of his wife, and returns the cup, as in (3), (4).
(6.) A ballad in nine seven-line stanzas, supposed to be by a Meistersinger, preserved in broadsides of about 1550 and 1603, Böhme, No 5, p. 30, Erk's Wunderhorn, iv, 111.
(7.) Hans Sachs's Historia,' 1562, in two hundred and four verses, Works, ed. 1578, Buch iv, Theil ii, Blatt lviibulviiib.[10]
(8.) A Meistersingerlied of the end of the 16th century, in three twenty-line stanzas, printed in Idunna u. Hermode for March 27, 1813 (appended to p. 64), and after this, with changes, in Kretzschmer, 17, No 5.u These three agree with the foregoing as to the ring.
(9.) Reinfrid von Braunschweig, c. 1300, ed. Bartsch, 1871. Reinfrid is promised by the Virgin, who appears to him thrice in vision, that he shall have issue if he will go over sea to fight the heathen. He breaks a ring which his wife had given him, and gives her one half, vv. 14,906-11. If he dies, she is to marry, for public reasons, vv. 14,398-407; but she is not to believe a report of his death unless she receives his half of the ring back, vv. 14,782816, 15,040-049. The latter part of the romance not being extant, we do not know the conclusion, but a variation as to the use made of the ring is probable.[11]
The story of Reinfrit is also preserved in a Bohemian prose chap-book printed before 1565. This prose is clearly a poem broken up, and it is believed that the original should be placed in the first half of the 14th century, or possibly at the end of the 13th. The hero returns, in pilgrim's garb, after seven years' absence, to find his wife about to be handed over by her father to another prince. He lets his ring fall into a cup, and goes away; his wife recognizes the ring, and is reunited to him. The story has passed from the Bohemian into Russian and Magyar. Feifalik, Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der Wiener Akademie, XXTX, 83 ff, the ring at p. 92; XXXII, 322 ff.
Similar use is made of the ring in other German romances.
(1.) 'Der edle Moringer' (manuscript of 14th century) asks his wife to wait seven years for him, while he visits the land of St. Thomas. He is warned by an angel, at the expiration of that period, that he will lose her if he does not go back, bewails himself to his patron, and is conveyed home in a sleep. He begs an alms at his castle-gate in the name of God, St. Thomas, and the noble Moringer; is admitted to his wife's presence; sings a lay describing his own case, which moves the lady much; throws into a beaker of wine, which she sets before him, the ring by which she was married to him, sends the cup back to her, and is recognized. Böhme, No 6, p. 32; Uhland, No 298, p. 773.
(2.) In the older Hildebrandslied, which is of the 14th century, or earlier, the hero, returning after an absence of thirty-two years, drops his ring into a cup of wine presented to him by his wife. Böhme, No 1, p. 1; uhland, No 132, p. 330.
(3.) Wolfdietrich drops Ortnit's ring into a cup of wine sent him by Liebgart, who has been adjudged to the Graf von Biterne in consideration of his having, as he pretended, slain the dragon. The cup is returned to the empress, the ring identified, the pretension refuted, and Liebgart given to Ortnit's avenger. Wolfdietrich B, ed. Jänicke, I,280 ff, stanzas 767785.
(4.) King Rother (whose history has passages of the strongest resemblance to Horn's), coming to retrieve his wife, who has been kidnapped and carried back to her father, lands below Constantinople, at a woody and hilly place, and assumes a pilgrim's disguise. On his way to the city he meets a man who tells him that Ymelot of Babylon has invaded Greece, and taken Constantin, his wife's father, prisoner; and that Constantin, to save his life, has consented to give his daughter to the heathen king's son. Rother steals into the hall, and even under the table at which the royal party are sitting, and contrives to slip his ring into the hand of his distressed young queen, who, thus assured of his presence, immediately recovers her spirits. Massmann, Deutsche Gedichte des zwœlften Jahrhunderts, Theil ii, p. 213, vv. 3687-3878. One of the best and oldest stories of the kind we are engaged with is transmitted by Cæsarius of Heisterbach in his Dialogus Miraculorum, of the first quarter of the 13th century. Gerard, a soldier living in Holenbach ("his grandchildren are still alive, and there is hardly a man in the town who does not know about this"), being, like Moringer, devoted to St. Thomas of India, was impelled to visit his shrine. He broke a ring and gave one half to his wife, saying, Expect me back in five years, and marry whom you wish if I do not come then. The journey, which would be long enongh any way, was providentially protracted. He reached the shrine at last, and said his prayers, and then remembered that that was the last day of his fifth year. Alas, my wife will marry again, he thought; and quite right he was, for the wedding was even then preparing. A devil, acting under the orders of St Thomas, set Gerard down at his own door. He found his wife supping with her second partner, and dropped his half ring into her cup. She took it out, fitted it to the half which had been given her, rushed into his arms, and bade good-by to the new bridegroom. Ed. Strange, II, 131.
A tradition closely resembling this has been found in Switzerland, Gerard and St. Thomas being exchanged for Wernhart von Strättlingen and St. Michael. Menzel's Odin, p. 96.
Another of the most remarkable tales of this class is exquisitely told by Boccaccio in the Decamerone, G. x, N. ix. Messer Torello, going to the crusade, begs his wife to wait a year, a month, and a day before she marries again. The lady assures him that she will never be another man's wife; but he replies that a woman young, beautiful, and of high family, as she is, will not be allowed to have her way. With her parting embrace she gives. him a ring from her finger, saying, If I die before I see you again, remember me when you look on this. The Christians were wasted by an excessive mortality, and those who escaped the ravages of disease fell into the hands of Saladin, and were imprisoned by him in various cities, Torello in Alexandria. Here he was recognized by Saladin, whom he had entertained with the most delicate and splendid hospitality a few months before, when the soldan was travelling through Italy in disguise. Saladin's return for this courtesy was so magnificent as almost to put Lombardy out of Torello's head,[12] and besides he trusted that his wife had been informed of his safety by a letter which he had sent. This was not so, however, and the death of another Torello was reported in Italy as his, in consequence of which his supposed widow was solicited in marriage, and was obliged to consent to take another husband after the time should have expired which she had promised to wait. A week before the last day, Torello learned that the ship which carried his letter had been wrecked, and the thonght that his wife would now marry again drove him almost mad. Saladin extracted from him the cause of his distress, and promised that he should yet be at home before the time was out, which Torello, who had heard that such things had often been done, was ready to believe. And in fact, by means of one of his necromancers, Saladin caused Torello to be transported to Pavia in one night — the night before the new nuptials. Torello appeared at the banquet the next day in the guise of a Saracen, under the escort of an uncle of his, a churchman, and at the right moment sent word to the lady that it was a custom in his country for a bride to send her cup filled with wine to any stranger who might be present, and for him to drink half and cover the cnp, and for her to drink the rest. To this the lady graciously assented. Torello drank out most of the wine, dropped in the ring which his wife had given him when they parted, and covered the cup. The lady, upon lifting the cover, saw the ring, knew her husband, and, upsetting the table in her ecstasy, threw herself into Torello's arms.
Tales of this description still maintain themselves in popular tradition. 'Der Ring ehelicher Treue,' Gottschalk, Deutsche Volksmärchen, II, 135, relates how Kuno von Falkenstein, going on a crusade, breaks his ring and gives one half to his wife, begging her to wait seven years before she marries again. He has the adventures of Henry of Brunswick, with differences, and, like Moringer, sings a lay describing his own case. The new bridegroom hands him a cup; he drops in his half ring, and passes the cup to the bride. The two halves join of themselves.[13] Other examples, not without variations and deficiencies, in details, are afforded by Der getheilte Trauring,' Schmitz, Sagen u. Legenden des Eifler Volkes, p. 82; 'Bodman,' Uhland, in Pfeiffer's Germania, IV, 73-76; 'Graf Hubert von Kalw,' Meier, Deutsche Sagen, u.a.w., aus Schwaben, p. 332, No 369, Grimms, Deutsche Sagen, No 524; 'Der Bärenhäuter,' Grimms, K. u. H. märchen, No 101; 'Berthold von Neuhaus,' in Kern's Schlesische Sagen-Chronik, p. 93.
A story of the same kind is interwoven with an exceedingly impressive adventure related of Richard Sans-Peur in Les Chroniques de Normandie, Rouen, 1487, chap. lvii, cited in Michel, Chronique des Ducs de Normandie par Benoit, II, 336 ff. A second is told of Guillaume Martel, seigneur de Bacqueville; still others of a seigneur Gilbert de Lomblon, a comrade of St. Louis in his first crusade. Amélie de Bosquet, La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse, pp. 465-68, 470.
A Picard ballad, existing in two versions, partly cited by Rathery in the Moniteur Universel for August 26, 1853, tells of a Sire de Créqui, who, going beyond seas with his sovereign, breaks his ring and gives half to his young wife; is gone ten years, and made captive by the Turks, who condemn him to death on account of his adhesion to Christ; and is transported to his chateau on the eve of the day of his doom. This very day his wife is to take another husband, sorely against her will. Cre'qui appears in the rags of a beggar, and legitimates himself by producing his half of the ring (which, in a way not explained by Rathery, has been brought back by a swan).
'Le Retour du Mari,' Puymaigre, Chants populaires messins, p. 20, has also some traits of ballads of this class. A bridegroom has to go on a campaign the very day of his nuptials. The campaign lasts seven years, and the day of his return his wife is about to re-marry. He is invited to the wedding supper, and towards the close of it proposes to play cards to see who shall have the bride. The guests are surprised. The soldier says he will have the bride without winning her at cards or dice, and, turning to the lady, asks, Where are the rings I gave you at your wedding seven years ago? She will go for them; and here the story breaks off.[14]
The same hard fortune is that of Costantino, a young Albanian, who is called to the service of his king three days after his marriage. He gives back her ring to his wife, and tells her he must go to the wars for nine years. Should he not return in nine years and nine days, he bids her marry. The young wife says nothing, waits her nine years and nine days, and then, since she is much sought for, her father wishes her to marry. She says nothing, again, and they prepare for the bridal. Costantino, sleeping in the king's palace, has a bad dream, which makes him heave a sigh that comes to his sovereign's ear. The king summons all his soldiers, and inquires who heaved that sigh. Costantino confesses it was he, and says it was because his wife was marrying. The king orders him to take the swiftest horse and make for his home. Costantino meets his father, and learns that his dream is true, presses on to the church, arrives at the door at the same time as the bridal procession, and offers himself for a bride's-man. When they come to the exchange of rings, Costantino contrives that his ring shall remain on the bride's finger. She knows the ring; her tears burst forth. Costantino declares himself as having been already crowned with the lady.[15] Camarda, Appendice al Saggio di Grammatologia, etc., 90-97, a Calabrian-Albanese copy. There is a Sicilian, but incomplete, in Vigo, Canti popolari siciliani, p. 342 ff, ed. 1857, p. 695 ff, ed. 1870-74.
With this belongs a ballad, very common in Greece, which, however, has for the most part lost even more of what was in all probability the original catastrophe.' 'Αναγνωρισμός,' Chasiotis, Popular Songs of Epirus, p. 88, No 27, comes nearer the common story than other versions.[16] A man who had been twelve years a slave after being a bridegroom of three days, dreams that his wife is marrying, runs to the cellar, and begins to sing dirges. The king hears, and is moved. "If it is one of the servants, increase his pay; if a slave, set him free." The slave tells his story (in three lines); the king bids him take a swift gray. The slave asks the horses, which is a swift gray. Only one answers, an old steed with forty wounds. "I am a swift gray; tie two or three handkerchiefs around your head, and tie yourself to my back!"[17] He comes upon his father pruning the vineyard. "Whose sheep are those feeding in the meadows?" "My lost son's." He comes to his mother. " What bride are they marrying?" "My lost son's." "Shall I get to them in church while they are crowning?" "If you have a fast horse, you will find them crowning; if you have a bad horse, you will find them at table." He finds them at church, and calls out, A bad way ye have: why do ye not bring out the bride, so that strangers may give her the cup? A good way we have, they answer, we who bring out the bride, and strangers give her the cup. Then he takes out his ring, while he is about to present the cup to the bride. The bride can read; she stands and reads (his name), and bids the company be gone, for her mate has come, the first crowned.
In other cases we find the hero in prison. He was put in for thirty days; the keys are lost, and he stays thirty years. Legrand, p. 326, No 145; Νεοελληνικὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, I, 85, No 19. More frequently he is a galley slave: Zambelios, p. 678, No 103 = Passow, No 448; Tommaseo, ill, 152 = Passow, No 449; Sakellarios, Κυπριακά, III, 37, No 13: Νεοελληνικὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, I, 86, No 20; Jeannaraki, ᾌσματα κρητικά, p. 203, No 265. His bad dream [a letter from home] makes him heave a sigh which shakes the prison, or stops [splits] the galley.[18] In Tommaseo, in, 152, on reaching the church, he cries, "Stand aside, gentlemen, stand aside, my masters; let the bride pour for me." She pours him one cup and two, and exclaims (the ring which was dropped into the cup having dropped out of the story), My John has come back! Then they both "go out like candles." In Sakellarios they embrace and fall dead, and when laid in the grave come up as a cypress and a citron tree. In the Cretan ballad John does not dismount, but takes the bride on to the horse and is off with her; so in the beautiful ballad in Fauriel, II, 140, No 11, 'Ἡ Ἁρπαγή' "peut-être la plus distinguée de ce recueil," which belongs with this group, but seems to be later at the beginning and the end. Even here the bride takes a cup to pour a draught for the horseman.
In Russia the ring story is told of Dobrynya and Nastasya. Dobrynya, sent out shortly after his marriage to collect tribute for Vladimir, requests Nastasya to wait for him twelve years: then she may wed again, so it be not with Alesha. Twelve years pass. Alesha avows that he has seen Dobrynya's corpse lying on the steppe, and sues for her hand. Vladimir supports the suit, and Nastasya is constrained to accept this prohibited husband. Dobrynya's horse [two doves, a pilgrim] reveals to his master what is going on, and carries him home with marvellous speed. Do brynya gains admittance to the wedding-feast in the guise of a merry-maker, and so pleases Vladimir with his singing that he is allowed to sit where he likes. He places himself opposite Nastasya, drops his ring in a cup, and asks her to drink to him. She finds the ring in the bottom, falls at his feet and implores pardon.=[19] Wollner, Volksepik der Grossrussen, p. 122 f; Rambaud, La Russie Epique, p. 86 f.
We have the ring employed somewhat after the fashion of these western tales in Somadeva's story of Vidushaka. The Vidyudharl Bbadra, having to part for a while with Vidushaka, for whom she had conceived a passion, gives him her ring. Subsequently, Vidushaka obliges a rakshas whom he has subdued to convey him to the foot of a mountain on which Bhadra had taken refuge. Many beautiful girls come to fetch water in golden pitchers from a lake, and, on inquiring, Vidushaka finds that the water is for Bhadra. One of the girls asks him to lift her pitcher on to her shoulder, and while doing this he drops into the pitcher Bhadra's ring. When the water is poured on Bhadra's hands, the ring falls out. Bhadra asks her maids if they have -seen a stranger. They say they have seen a mortal, and that he had helped one of them with her pitcher. They are ordered to go for the youth at once, for he is Bhadra's consort.[20]
According to the letter of the ballads, should the ring given Horn by his lady turn wan or blue, this would signify that she loved another man: but though accuracy would be very desirable in such a case, these words are rather loose, since she never faltered in her love, and submitted to marry another, so far as she submitted, only under constraint. 'Horn Child,' sts 48, 71, agrees with the ballads as to this point. We meet a ring of similar virtue in 'Bonny Bee-Horn,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, 1, 187, and Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 169.
'But gin this ring should fade or fail,
Or the stone should change its hue,
Be sure your love is dead and gone,
Or she has proved untrue.'
Jamieson, p. 191.
In the Roumanian ballad, 'Ring and Handkerchief,' a prince going to war gives his wife a ring: if it should rust, he is dead. She gives him a gold-embroidered handkerchief: if the gold melts, she is dead. Alecsandri, Poesiĭ pop. ale Românilor, p. 20, No 7; Stanley, Rouman Anthology, p. 16, p. 193. In Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, I, 39, No 7, a prince, on parting with his sister, gives her a ring, saying, So long as the stone is clear, I am well: if it is dimmed, that is a sign that I am dead. So No 5, at p. 23. A young man, in a Silesian story, receives a ring from his sweetheart, with the assurance that he can count upon her faith as long as the ring holds; and after twenty years' detention in the mines of Siberia, is warned of trouble by the ring's breaking: Goedsche, Schlesischer Sagen- Historien- u. Legendenschatz, I, 37, No 16. So in some copies of 'Lamkin,' the lord has a foreboding that some ill has happened to his lady from the rings on his fingers bursting in twain: Motherwell, p. 291, st. 23; Finlay, II, 47, st. 30.[21]
Hind Horn is translated by Grundtvig, Eng. og sk. Folkeviser, p. 274, No 42, mainly after the copy in Motherwell's Minstrelsy; by Rosa Warrens, Schottische V. 1. der Vorzeit, p. 161, No 37, after Buchan (H); by Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, p. 184, No 52, after Ailingham.
Footnotes:
1. This I should have missed but for the kindness of Mr. W. Macmath.
2. Motherwell's printed copy, Minstrelsy, p. 36, is thus made up: stanzas 1, 2, 3, 8, 15, from Cromek (D); 4-7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 24-28, 30-37, from B; 12, 17, 18 from E. 23 = A 14. 10, 21, 22, 29, have not been found in his manuscripts. The first line of the burden is from B, the second from E. Motherwell alters his texts slightly, now and then.
3. C 16,17 are corrupted, and also F 19, 23, G 21; all three in a way which allows of easy emendation. Hymen [high, man] in C should of course be Hyn Horn. The injunction in G, H should be to ask nothing for Peter or Paul's sake, but all for Horn's
4. When Horn was near the city, he stopped to see how things would go. King Modun passed, with Wikel, in gay discourse of the charms of Rimild. Horn called out to them insultingly, and Modun asked who he was. Horn said he had formerly served a man of consequence as his fisherman: he had thrown a net almost seven years ago, and had now come to give it a look. If it had taken auy fish, he would love it no more; if it should still be as he left it, he would carry it away. Modun thinks him a fool. (3984-4057, and nearly the same in 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimild,' 77-79). This is part of a story in the Gesta Roman norum, of a soldier who loved the emperor's daughter, and weut to the holy land for seven years, after a mutual exchange of fidelity for that time. A king comes to woo the princess, hut is put off for seven years, upon her alleging that she has made a vow of virginity for so long. At the expiration of this term, the king and the soldier meet as they are on the way to the princess. The king, from certain passages between them, thinks the soldier a fool. The soldier takes leave of the king under pretence of looking after a net which he had laid in a certain place seven years before, rides on ahead, and slips away with the princess. Gest. Rom., Oesterley, p. 597, No 193; Grasse, II, 159; Madden, p. 32; Swan, I, p. lxv. A similar story in Campbell's Tales of the West Highlands, 1, 281, 'Baillie Lunnain.' (Simrock, Deutsche Märchen, No 47, is apparently a translation from the Gesta.) The riddle of the hawk, slightly varied, is met with in the romance of Blonde of Oxford and Jehan of Dammartin, v. 2811 ff, 3143 ff, 3288 11 (ed. Le Roux de Lincy, pp. 98, 109, 114), and, still further modified, in Le Romant de Jehan de Paris, ed. Montaiglon, pp. 55, 63, 111. (Le Roux de Lincy, Köhler, Mussafia, G. Paris). 'Horn et Rimenhild,' it will he observed, has both riddles, and that of the net is introduced under circumstances entirely like those in the Gesta Romanornm. The French romauce is certainly independent of the English in this passage.
5. See the excellent studies of King Horn by Wissmann, in Quellen and Forschungen, No 16, and Anglia, iv, 342 ff.
6. A, B, and E, which had not been printed at the time of his writing, will convince Professor Stimming, whose valuable review in Englische Studien, 1, 351 ff, supplements, and in the matter of derivation, I think, rectifies, Wissmann's untersuchungen, that the king's daughter in the ballads was faithful to Horn, and that they were marrying her against her will, as in the romances. This contingency seems not to have been foreseen when the ring was given: but it must be admitted that it was better for the ring to change, to the temporary clouding of the lady's character, than to have Horn stay away and the forced marriage go on.
7. See the ample introduction to 'Henrik af Brunsvig,' in Grundtvig, No 114, it, 608 ff.
8. It appears that these half rings are often dug up. "Neuere Ansgrabungen haben vielfach auf solche Ringstücke geführt, als Zeichen unverbrüchlicher Treue, einst mit dem Geliebten gebrochen, ja wie der Augenschein beweist, entzwei geschnitten, and so ins Grab mitgenommen wurden, zum Zeichen dass die Liebe über den Tod hinaus daure." Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau, it, 116.
9. Translated, with introduction of verses from A, by Prior, Ancient Danish Ballads, II, 71.
10. I have not seen this, and depend upon others here.
11. Gödeke, 'Reinfrît von Braunschweig,' p. 89, conjectures that the half ring was, or would have been, employed in the sequel by some impostor (the story may never have been finished) as evidence of Brunswick's death. A ring is so used in a Silesian tradition, of the general character of that of Henry the Lion, with the difference that the knight is awakened by a cock's crowing: 'Die Hahnkrähe bei Breslau,' in Bern's Schlesische Sagen-Chronik, p. 151. There is a variation of this last, without the deception by means of the ring, in Goedsche's Schlesischer Sagenschatz, p. 37, No 16.
12. There are marked correspondences between Boccaccio's story and the veritable history of Henry the Lion as given by Bartsch, Herzog Ernst, cxxvi f: e. g., the presents of clothes by the empress (transferred to Torello's wife), and the handsome behavior of two soldans, here attributed to Saladin.
13 Without the conclusion, also in Binder's Schwabiscbe Volkssagen, n, 173. These Volksmarcben, by the way, are "erzahlt" by Gottschalk. It is not made quite so dear as could be wished, whether they are merely re-told.
14. Germaine's husband, after an absence of seven years, overcomes his wife's doubts of his identity by exhibiting half of her ring, which happened to break the day of their wedding, or the day after: Puymaigre, p. 11, Champfleury, Chansons des Provinces, p. 77. The conclusion to Sir Tristrem, which Scott supplied, "abridged from the French met rical romance, in the style of Tomas of Erceldoune," makes Ganhardin lay a ring in a cup which Brengwain hands Ysonde, who recognizes the ring as Tristrem's token. The cup was one of the presents made to King Mark by Tristrom's envoy, and is transferred to Ysonde by Scott. The passage has been cited as ancient and genuine.
15. In the Greek rite, rings are used in the betrothal, which as a rule immediately precedes the marriage. The rings are exchanged by the priest and sponsors (Camarda says three times). Crowns, of vine twigs, etc., are the emblems in the nuptial ceremony, and these are also changed from one head to the other.
16. I was guided to nearly all these Greek ballads by Professor Liebrecht's notes, Zur Volkskunde, p. 207.
17. This high-mettled horse is a capital figure in most of the versions. In one of them the caution is given, "Do not feel safe in spurring him: he will scatter thy brains ten ells below the ground." The gray (otherwise the black) is of the same breed as the Russian Dobrynya's, a little way on; or the foal that took Charles the Great, under similar circum stances, from Passau to Aachen between morn and eve, ('Karl der Grosse,' from Enenkels Weltbuch, c. 1250, in von der Hagen's Gesammtabenteuer, II, 619 ff); or the black in the poem and tale of Thedel von Walmoden.
18. In Jeannaraki the bey says, "My slave, give us a song, and I will free you." John sings of his love, whom he was to lose that day. So Zambelios, as above, Toramaseo, p. 152, and Neo. Ἀνάλ. No. 20. Compare Brunswick, in Wyssenhere, and Moringer.
19. Otherwise: Nastasya waits six years, as desired; is told that Dobrynya is dead and is urged to marry Alesha; will not hear of marriage for six years more; Vladimir then interposes. Dobrynya is furious, as these absentees are sometimes pleased to be. He complains that women have long hair and short wits, and so does Brunswick in Wyssenhere's poem, st. 89. Numerous as are the instances of these long absences, the woman is rarely, if ever, represented as in the least to blame. The behavior of the man, on the other hand, is in some cases trying. Thus, the Conde Dirlos tells his young wife to wait for him seven years, and if he does not come in eight to marry the ninth. He accomplishes the object of his expedition in three years, but stays fifteen, never writes, he had taken an unnecessary oath not to do that before he started, and forbids anybody else to write, on pain of death. Such is his humor; but he is very much provoked at being reported dead. Wolf and Hofmann, Primavera y Flor de Komances, II, 129, No 164.
20. Katha Sarit Sagara (of the early part of the 12th century), Tawney's translation, i, 136 ff. The story is cited by Rajna, in Romania, vi, 359. Herr v. Bodman leaves his marriage ring in a wash-bowl ! Meier, Deutsche V. m. aus Schwaben, 214 f.
21. The ring given Horn by Rymenhild, in 'King Horn', 579 ff (Wissmann), and in the French romance, 2056 ff, protects him against material harm or mishap, or assures him superiority in fight, as long as he is faithful. So in Buchan's version of 'Bonny Bee-Ho'm,' st. 8:
'As lang 's this ring 's your body on,
Your blood shall neer be drawn.'
"The king's daughter of Linne "gives her champion two rings, one of which renders him invulnerable, and the other will staunch the blood of any of his men who may be wounded: Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lvii. Eglamore's ring, Percy Manuscript, II, 363, st. 51, will preserve his life on water or land. A ring given Wolfdietrich by the empress, D VIII, st. 42, ed. Janicke, doubles his strength and makes him fire-proof in his fight with the dragon. The ring lent Ywaine by his lady will keep him from prison, sickness, loss of blood, or being made captive in battle, and give him superiority to all antagonists, so long as he is true in love: Ritson, Met. Rom. I, 65, vv 1533 ff. But an Indian ring which Reinfrit receives from his wife before he departs for the crusade, 15,066 ff, has no equal, after all; for, besides doing as much as the best of these, it imparts perpetual good spirits. It is interesting to know that this matchless jewel had once been the property of a Scottish king, and was given by him to his daughter when she was sent to Norway to be married: under convoy of Sir Patrick Spens?
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
The story of 'Horn,' of which this ballad gives little more than the catastrophe, is related at full in (i) 'King Horn,' a gest in about 1550 short verses, preserved in three manuscripts: the oldest regarded as of the second half of the 13th century, or older; the others put at 1300 and a little later, (ii) 'Horn et Rymenhild,' a romance in about 5250 heroic verses, preserved likewise in three manuscripts; the best in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge, and of the 14th century. (iii) 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' from a manuscript of the 14th century, in not quite 100 twelve-line stanzas.
The relations of these versions to each other and to the ballad are not entirely clear. For the whole matter, see Schofield, Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, xviii, 1 ff, where full references will be found. Certain points in the story of Horn — the long absence, the sudden return, the appearance under disguise at the wedding feast, and the dropping of the ring into a cup of wine obtained from the bride — repeat themselves in a great number of romantic tales. More commonly it is a husband who leaves his wife for seven years, is miraculously informed on the last day that she is to be remarried on the morrow, and is restored to his home in the nick of time, also by superhuman means. Examples of such stories are the sixteenth-century chapbook of Henry the Lion; the Middle High German Reinfrid von Braunschweig; Der edle Moringer; Torello, in Boccaccio's Decameron, x, 9.
Child's Ballad Texts A-I
'Hindhorn'- Version A; Child 17- Hind Horn
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 106. From Mrs. King, Kilbarchan.
1 In Scotland there was a babie born,
Lill lal, etc.
And his name it was called young Hind Horn.
With a fal lal, etc.
2 He sent a letter to our king
Lill lal, etc.
That he was in love with his daughter Jean.
With a fal lal, etc.
3 He's gien to her a silver wand,
Lill lal, etc.
With seven living lavrocks sitting thereon.
With a fal lal, etc.
4 She's gien to him a diamond ring,
Lill lal, etc.
With seven bright diamonds set therein.
With a fal lal, etc.
5 'When this ring grows pale and wan,
Lill lal, etc.
You may know by it my love is gane.'
With a fal lal, etc.
6 One day as he looked his ring upon,
Lill lal, etc.
He saw the diamonds pale and wan.
With a fal lal, etc.
7 He left the sea and came to land,
Lill lal, etc.
And the first that he met was an old beggar man.
With a fal lal, etc.
8 'What news, what news?' said young Hind Horn;
Lill lal, etc.
'No news, no news,' said the old beggar man.
With a fal lal, etc.
9 'No news,' said the beggar, 'No news at a',
Lill lal, etc.
But there is a wedding in the king's ha.
With a fal lal, etc.
10 'But there is a wedding in the king's ha,
Lill lal, etc.
That has halden these forty days and twa.'
With a fal lal, etc.
11 'Will ye lend me your begging coat?
Lill lal, etc.
And I'll lend you my scarlet cloak.
With a fal lal, etc.
12 'Will you lend me your beggar's rung?
Lill lal, etc.
And I'll gie you my steed to ride upon.
With a fal lal, etc.
13 'Will you lend me your wig o hair,
Lill lal, etc.
To cover mine, because it is fair?'
With a fal lal, etc.
14 The auld beggar man was bound for the mill,
Lill lal, etc.
But young Hind Horn for the king's hall.
With a fal lal, etc.
15 The auld beggar man was bound for to ride,
Lill lal, etc.
But young Hind Horn was bound for the bride.
With a fal lal, etc.
16 When he came to the king's gate,
Lill lal, etc.
He sought a drink for Hind Horn's sake.
With a fal lal, etc.
17 The bride came down with a glass of wine,
Lill lal, etc.
When he drank out the glass, and dropt in the ring.
With a fal lal, etc.
18 'O got ye this by sea or land?
Lill lal, etc.
Or got ye it off a dead man's hand?'
With a fal lal, etc.
19 'I got not it by sea, I got it by land,
Lill lal, etc.
And I got it, madam, out of your own hand.'
With a fal lal, etc.
20 'O I'll cast off my gowns of brown,
Lill lal, etc.
And beg wi you frae town to town.
With a fal lal, etc.
21 'O I'll cast off my gowns of red,
Lill lal, etc.
And I'll beg wi you to win my bread.'
With a fal lal, etc.
22 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of brown,
Lill lal, etc.
For I'll make you lady o many a town.
With a fal lal, etc.
23 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of red,
Lill lal, etc.
It's only a sham, the begging o my bread.'
With a fal lal, etc.
24 The bridegroom he had wedded the bride,
Lill lal, etc.
But young Hind Horn he took her to bed.
With a fal lal, etc.
------------------
'Young Hyndhorn'- Version B; Child 17- Hind Horn
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 418. From the singing of a servant-girl at Halkhead.
1 I never saw my love before,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
Till I saw her thro an oger bore.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
2 She gave to me a gay gold ring,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
With three shining diamonds set therein.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
3 And I gave to her a silver wand,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
With three singing lavrocks set thereon.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
4 'What if these diamonds lose their hue,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
Just when your love begins for to rew?'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
5 He's left the land, and he's gone to sea,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And he's stayd there seven years and a day.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
6 But when he looked this ring upon,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
The shining diamonds were both pale and wan.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
7 He's left the seas and he's come to the land,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And there he met with an auld beggar man.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
8 'What news, what news, thou auld beggar man
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
For it is seven years sin I've seen lan.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
9 'No news,' said the old beggar man, 'at all,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
But there is a wedding in the king's hall.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
10 'Wilt thou give to me thy begging coat?
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And I'll give to thee my scarlet cloak.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
11 'Wilt thou give to me thy begging staff?
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And I'll give to thee my good gray steed.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
12 The old beggar man was bound for to ride,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
But Young Hynd Horn was bound for the bride.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
13 When he came to the king's gate,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
He asked a drink for Young Hynd Horn's sake.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
14 The news unto the bonnie bride came
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
That at the yett there stands an auld man.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
15 'There stands an auld man at the king's gate;
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
He asketh a drink for young Hyn Horn's sake.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
16 'I'll go thro nine fires so hot,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
But I'll give him a drink for Young Hyn Horn's sake.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
17 She gave him a drink out of her own hand;
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
He drank out the drink and he dropt in the ring.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
18 'Got thou't by sea, or got thou't by land?
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
Or got thou't out of any dead man's hand?'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
19 'I got it not by sea, but I got it by land,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
For I got it out of thine own hand.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
20 'I'll cast off my gowns of brown,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And I'll follow thee from town to town.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
21 'I'll cast off my gowns of red,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
And along with thee I'll beg my bread.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
22 'Thou need not cast off thy gowns of brown,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
For I can make thee lady of many a town.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
23 'Thou need not cast off thy gowns of red,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
For I can maintain thee with both wine and bread.'
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
24 The bridegroom thought he had the bonnie bride wed,
With a hey lillelu and a ho lo lan
But Young Hyn Horn took the bride to bed.
With a hey down and a hey diddle downie
-------------
'Young Hyn Horn'- Version C; Child 17- Hind Horn
a. Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 42: from Agnes Lyle.
b. Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 413: from the singing of Agnes Lyle, Kilbarchan, August 24, 1825.
1 Young Hyn Horn's to the king's court gone,
Hoch hey and an ney O
He's fallen in love with his little daughter Jean.
Let my love alone, I pray you
2 He's bocht to her a little gown,
Hoch hey and an ney O
With seven broad flowers spread it along.
Let my love alone, I pray you
3 She's given to him a gay gold ring.
Hoch hey and an ney O
The posie upon it was richt plain.
Let my love alone, I pray you
4 'When you see it losing its comely hue,
Hoch hey and an ney O
So will I my love to you.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
5 Then within a little wee,
Hoch hey and an ney O
Hyn Horn left land and went to sea.
Let my love alone, I pray you
6 When he lookt his ring upon,
Hoch hey and an ney O
He saw it growing pale and wan.
Let my love alone, I pray you
7 Then within a little [wee] again,
Hoch hey and an ney O
Hyn Horn left sea and came to the land.
Let my love alone, I pray you
8 As he was riding along the way,
Hoch hey and an ney O
There he met with a jovial beggar.
Let my love alone, I pray you
9 'What news, what news, old man?' he did say:
Hoch hey and an ney O
'This is the king's young dochter's wedding day.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
10 'If this be true you tell to me,
Hoch hey and an ney O
You must niffer clothes with me.
Let my love alone, I pray you
11 'You'll gie me your cloutit coat,
Hoch hey and an ney O
I'll gie you my fine velvet coat.
Let my love alone, I pray you
12 'You'll gie me your cloutit pock,
Hoch hey and an ney O
I'll gie you my purse; it'll be no joke.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
13 'Perhaps there['s] nothing in it, not one bawbee;'
Hoch hey and an ney O
'Yes, there's gold and silver both,' said he.
Let my love alone, I pray you
14 'You'll gie me your bags of bread,
Hoch hey and an ney O
And I'll gie you my milk-white steed.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
15 When they had niffered all, he said,
Hoch hey and an ney O
'You maun learn me how I'll beg.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
16 'When you come before the gate,
Hoch hey and an ney O
You'll ask for a drink for the highman's sake.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
17 When that he came before the gate,
Hoch hey and an ney O
He calld for a drink for the highman's sake.
Let my love alone, I pray you
18 The bride cam tripping down the stair,
Hoch hey and an ney O
To see whaten a bold beggar was there.
Let my love alone, I pray you
19 She gave him a drink with her own hand;
Hoch hey and an ney O
He loot the ring drop in the can.
Let my love alone, I pray you
20 'Got ye this by sea or land?
Hoch hey and an ney O
Or took ye't aff a dead man's hand?'
Let my love alone, I pray you
21 'I got na it by sea nor land,
Hoch hey and an ney O
But I got it aff your own hand.'
Let my love alone, I pray you
22 The bridegroom cam tripping down the stair,
Hoch hey and an ney O
But there was neither bride nor beggar there.
Let my love alone, I pray you
23 Her ain bridegroom had her first wed,
Hoch hey and an ney O
But Young Hyn Horn had her first to bed.
Let my love alone, I pray you
-----------------
'Young Hynhorn'- Version D; Child 17- Hind Horn
Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, II, 204.
1 Near Edinburgh was a young son born,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
An his name it was called young Hyn Horn.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
2 Seven long years he served the king,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
An it's a' for the sake of his daughter Jean.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
3 The king an angry man was he;
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
He send young Hyn Horn to the sea.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
4 An on his finger she put a ring.
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
. . . . .
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
5 'When your ring turns pale and wan,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
Then I'm in love wi another man.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
6 Upon a day he lookd at his ring,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
It was as pale as anything.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
7 He's left the sea, an he's come to the lan,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
An there he met an auld beggar man.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
8 'What news, what news, my auld beggar man?
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
What news, what news, by sea or by lan?'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
9 'Nae news, nae news,' the auld beggar said,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
'But the king's dochter Jean is going to be wed.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
10 'Cast off, cast off thy auld beggar-weed,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
An I'll gie thee my gude gray steed.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
11 When he cam to our guid king's yet,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
He sought a glass o wine for young Hyn Horn's sake.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
12 He drank out the wine, an he put in the ring,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
An he bade them carry't to the king's dochter Jean.
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
13 'O gat ye't by sea, or gat ye't by lan?
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
Or gat ye't aff a dead man's han?'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
* * * * *
14 'I gat na't by sea, I gat na't by lan,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
But I gat it out of your own han.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
15 take away my bridal gown,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
For I'll follow him frae town to town.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
16 'Ye need na leave your bridal gown,
Hey lilelu an a how low lan
For I'll make ye ladie o' mony a town.'
An it's hey down down deedle airo
-------------
'Hynd Horn'- Version E; Child 17- Hind Horn
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 91. From the recitation of Mrs. Wilson.
1 * * *
Hynd Horn he has lookt on his ring,
Hey ninny ninny, how ninny nanny
And it was baith black and blue,
And she is either dead or she's married.
And the barck and the broom blooms bonnie
2 Hynd Horn he has shuped to land,
And the first he met was an auld beggar man.
3 'What news, what news, my silly auld man?
For it is seven years syne I have seen land.
4 'What news, what news, my auld beggar man?
What news, what news, by sea or by land?'
5 'There is a king's dochter in the east,
And she has been marryed these nine nights past.
6 'Intil the bride's bed she winna gang
Till she hears tell of her Hynd Horn.'
7 'Cast aff, cast aff thy auld beggar weed,
And I will gie thee my gude gray steed.'
-----------------
'Young Hyndhorn'- Version F; Child 17- Hind Horn
Lowran Castle, or the Wild Boar of Carridoo: with other Tales. By Robert Trotter, Dumfries, 1822, p. 6. From the recitation of a young friend.
1. In Newport town this knight was born,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
And they've called him Young Hynd Horn.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
2 Seven long years he served the king,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
For the love of his daughter Jean.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
3 He courted her through a wimble bore,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
The way never woman was courted before.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
4 He gave her through a silver wand,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
With three singing laverocks there upon.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
5 She gave him back a gay gold ring,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
With three bright diamonds glittering.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
6 'When this ring grows pale and blue,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
Fair Jeanie's love is lost to you.'
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
7 Young Hynd Horn is gone to sea,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
And there seven long years staid he.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
8 When he lookd his ring upon,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
It grew pale and it grew wan.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
9 Young Hynd Horn is come to land,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
When he met an old beggar man.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
10 'What news, what news doth thee betide?'
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
'No news, but Princess Jeanie's a bride.'
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
11 'Will ye give me your old brown cap?
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
And I'll give you my gold-laced hat.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
12 'Will ye give me your begging weed?
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
And I'll give you my good grey steed.'
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
13 The beggar has got on to ride,
Hey lily loo, hey loo lan
But Young Hynd Horn's bound for the bride.
Fal lal la, fal the dal the dady
--------------
'Hynde Horn'- Version G; Child 17- Hind Horn
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 135. "From the recitation of my niece, M. Kinnear, 23 August, 1826:" the north of Scotland.
1 'Hynde Horn's bound love, and Hynde Horn's free,
Whare was ye born, or in what countrie?'
2 'In gude greenwud whare I was born,
And all my friends left me forlorn.
3 'I gave my love a silver wand;
That was to rule oure all Scotland.
4 'My love gave me a gay gowd ring;
That was to rule abune a' thing.'
5 'As lang as that ring keeps new in hue,
Ye may ken that your love loves you.
6 'But whan that ring turns pale and wan,
Ye may ken that your love loves anither man.'
7 He hoisted up his sails, and away sailed he,
Till that he cam to a foreign countrie.
8 He looked at his ring; it was turnd pale and wan;
He said, 'I wish I war at hame again.'
9 He hoisted up his sails, and hame sailed he,
Until that he came to his ain countrie.
10 The first ane that he met wi
Was wi a puir auld beggar man.
11 'What news, what news, my silly old man?
What news hae ye got to tell to me?'
12 'Na news, na news,' the puir man did say,
'But this is our queen's wedding day.'
13 'Ye'll lend me your begging weed,
And I'll gie you my riding steed.'
14 'My begging weed is na for thee,
Your riding steed is na for me.'
15 But he has changed wi the beggar man,
. . . . .
16 'Which is the gate that ye used to gae?
And what are the words ye beg wi?'
17 'Whan ye come to yon high hill,
Ye'll draw your bent bow nigh until.
18 'Whan ye come to yonder town,
Ye'll let your bent bow low fall down.
19 'Ye'll seek meat for St Peter, ask for St Paul,
And seek for the sake of Hynde Horn all.
20 'But tak ye frae nane of them a',
Till ye get frae the bonnie bride hersel O.'
21 Whan he cam to yon high hill,
He drew his bent bow nigh until.
22 And whan he cam to yonder town,
He lute his bent bow low fall down.
23 He saught meat for St Peter, he askd for St Paul,
And he sought for the sake of Hynde Horn all.
24 But he would tak frae nane o them a',
Till he got frae the bonnie bride hersel O.
25 The bride cam tripping doun the stair,
Wi the scales o red gowd on her hair.
26 Wi a glass of red wine in her hand,
To gie to the puir auld beggar man.
27 It's out he drank the glass o wine,
And into the glass he dropt the ring.
28 'Got ye't by sea, or got ye't by land,
Or got ye't aff a drownd man's hand?'
29 'I got na't by sea, I got na't by land,
Nor got I it off a drownd man's hand.
30 'But I got it at my wooing,
And I'll gie it at your wedding.'
31 'I'll tak the scales o gowd frae my head,
I'll follow you, and beg my bread.
32 'I'll tak the scales of gowd frae my hair,
I'll follow you, for evermair.'
33 She has tane the scales o gowd frae her head,
She has followed him to beg her bread.
34 She has tane the scales o gowd frae her hair,
And she has followed him for evermair.
35 But atween the kitchen and the ha,
There he lute his cloutie cloak fa.
36 And the red gowd shined oure him a',
And the bride frae the bridegroom was stown awa.
--------------
'Hynd Horn'- Version H; Child 17- Hind Horn
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 268.
1. 'Hynd Horn fair, and Hynd Horn free,
O where were you born, in what countrie?'
2 'In gude greenwood, there I was born,
And all my forbears me beforn.
3 'O seven years I served the king,
And as for wages, I never gat nane;
4 'But ae sight o his ae daughter,
And that was thro an augre bore.
5 'My love gae me a siller wand,
'Twas to rule ower a' Scotland.
6 'And she gae me a gay gowd ring,
The virtue o't was above a' thing.'
7 'As lang's this ring it keeps the hue,
Ye'll know I am a lover true:
8 'But when the ring turns pale and wan,
Ye'll know I love another man.'
9 He hoist up sails, and awa saild he,
And saild into a far countrie.
10 And when he lookd upon his ring,
He knew she loved another man.
11 He hoist up sails and home came he,
Home unto his ain countrie.
12 The first he met on his own land,
It chancd to be a beggar man.
13 'What news, what news, my gude auld man?
What news, what news, hae ye to me?'
14 'Nae news, nae news,' said the auld man,
'The morn's our queen's wedding day.'
15 'Will ye lend me your begging weed?
And I'll lend you my riding steed.'
16 'My begging weed will ill suit thee,
And your riding steed will ill suit me.'
17 But part be right, and part be wrang,
Frae the beggar man the cloak he wan.
18 'Auld man, come tell to me your leed;
What news ye gie when ye beg your bread.'
19 'As ye walk up unto the hill,
Your pike staff ye lend ye till.
20 'But whan ye come near by the yett,
Straight to them ye will upstep.
21 'Take nane frae Peter, nor frae Paul,
Nane frae high or low o them all.
22 'And frae them all ye will take nane,
Until it comes frae the bride's ain hand.'
23 He took nane frae Peter nor frae Paul,
Nane frae the high nor low o them all.
24 And frae them all he would take nane,
Until it came frae the bride's ain hand.
25 The bride came tripping down the stair,
The combs o red gowd in her hair.
26 A cup o red wine in her hand,
And that she gae to the beggar man.
27 Out o the cup he drank the wine,
And into the cup he dropt the ring.
28 'O got ye't by sea, or got ye't by land,
Or got ye't on a drownd man's hand?'
29 'I got it not by sea, nor got it by land,
Nor got I it on a drownd man's hand.
30 'But I got it at my wooing gay,
And I'll gie't you on your wedding day.'
31 'I'll take the red gowd frae my head,
And follow you, and beg my bread.
32 'I'll take the red gowd frae my hair,
And follow you for evermair.'
33 Atween the kitchen and the ha,
He loot his cloutie cloak down fa.
34 And wi red gowd shone ower them a',
And frae the bridegroom the bride he sta.
--------------
'Hynd Horn'- Version I; Child 17- Hind Horn
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,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
With nine bright laverocks thereupon.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
* * * * *
3 Young Hynd Horn is come to the lan,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
There he met a beggar man.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
4 'What news, what news do ye betide?'
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
'Na news but Jeanie's the prince's bride.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
5 'Wilt thou give me thy begging weed?
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
And I'll give thee my good grey steed.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
6 'Wilt thou give me thy auld grey hair?
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
And I'll give ye mine that is thrice as fair.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
7 The beggar he got on for to ride,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
But young Hynd Horn is bound for the bride.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
8 First the news came to the ha,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
Then to the room mang the gentles a'.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
9 'There stands a beggar at our gate,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
Asking a drink for young Hynd Horn's sake.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
10 'I'll ga through nine fires hot
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
To give him a drink for young Hynd Horn's sake.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
11 She gave him the drink, and he dropt in the ring;
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
They lady turned baith pale an wan.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
12 'Oh got ye it by sea, or got ye it by lan?
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
Or got ye it off some dead man's han?'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
13 'I got it not by sea, nor I got it not by lan,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
But I got it off thy milk-white han.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
14 'I'll cast off my dress of red,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
And I'll go with thee and beg my bread.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
15 'I'll cast off my dress of brown,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
And follow you from city to town.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
16 'I'll cast off my dress of green,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
For I am not ashamed with you to be seen.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
17 'You need not cast off your dress of red,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
For I can support thee on both wine and bread.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
18 'You need not cast off your dress of brown,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
For I can keep you a lady in any town.
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
19 'You need not cast off your dress of green,
Hey lillelu and how lo lan
For I can maintain you as gay as a queen.'
With my hey down and a hey diddle downie
End-Notes
A. 12, 81, 142, 152, 16[2], 24[2]. Hindhorn.
B. The burden is given in Motherwell, Appendix, p. xviii, thus:
With a hey lilloo and a how lo lan
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
122, 132. Hyndhorn.
152, 162, 242. Hynhorn.
C. a. 52. to see.
52, 72. Hynhorn. 232. H. horn.
111. clouted.
111, 141. give.
142. white milk. b. milk-white.
162. hymen's, b. highman's.
221. can.
C b. 52, 72, 232. Hynhorn.
71. little wee.
131. there 's.
D. 12, 32, 112. Hynhorn.
E. The second line of the burden stands after st. 2 in Manuscript
21. The manuscript reading may be sheeped.
21, 62. Hyndhorn.
G. After my niece, M. Kinnear, etc., stands in pencil Christy Smith.
15. On the opposite page, over against this stanza, is written:
But part by richt, or part be wrang,
The auldman's duddie cloak he 's on.
G and H are printed by Kinloch and by Buchan in four-line stanzas.
The stanzas printed by Motherwell, which have not been found in his manuscripts, are:
10 Seven lang years he has been on the sea,
And Hynd Horn has looked how his ring may be.
21 The auld beggar man cast off his coat,
And he 's taen up the scarlet cloak.
22 The auld beggar man threw down his staff,
And he has mounted the good gray steed.
29 She went to the gate where the auld man did stand,
And she gave him a drink out of her own hand.
Additions and Corrections
P. 187. F. Insert the title 'Young Hyndhorn.'
G. Insert: Kinloch Manuscripts, 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 Hiud Hom 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, 'Prvni 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 fonr 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 erklarten 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 Salomon sage, 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 Manuscripts, 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.
Add version I.
207 b. Add: F. 12, 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!
Between 11 and 12
O whaur got e that gay gold ring?
* * *
132. your ain fair han.
15. O bring to me my dress o broun,
An I'll beg wi you frae toun tae toun.
216 a. Sir Orfeo has been lately edited by Dr. Oscar Zielke: Sir Orfeo, ein englisches Feenmärchen aus dem Mittelalter, mit Einleitung nnd Anmerkungen, Breslau, 1880.
P. 194. The warning by a dream, the preternaturally rapid transportation, and the arrival in time to prevent a second marriage taking effect are found in the story of Aboulfaouaris, Cabinet des Fées, XV, 336 ff, Les Mille et un Jours, Paris, 1840, 228 ff. Rohde, Der griechische Roman, p. 182: F. Liebrecht.
196. Recognition by a ring dropped into a drinking-vessel. See Nigra, Romania, XIV, 255 f, note 2: but Willems and Coussemaker are cited in this book, I, 195 a (3).
197 b, second paragraph. Wernhart von Stratlingen: see the note to I, 350, of Birlinger and Buck, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben.
198 a. The story of the return, by marvellous means, of the seven years abroad husband, in Leskien u. Brugman, Litauische Volkslieder u. Märchen, No 22, p. 437 f: Wollner's notes, p. 571. G. L. K.
198 b, third paragraph. Add: Victor Smith, 'Le Retour du Mari,' Chants pop. du Velay et du Forez, in Romania, IX, 289; Tarbé, Romancero de Champagne, II, 122; "E. Muller, Chansons de mon village, journal Le Memorial de la Loire du 19 septembre, 1867; Daymard, Collection de vieilles chansons, p. 220 du Bulletin de la Société des études du Lot, 1879" (V. Smith). Imperfect copies of this ballad in Guillon, Chansons pop. de l'Ain, p. 95, 'Les deux Maris,' p. 39, 'Ma pauvre Élise.'
As a tale in Bladé, Contes pop. de la Gascogne, I, 43. The seigneur is conveyed from the Holy Land by the devil, appears as a beggar, and produces one half of his marriage contract, which fits the half left with his wife. G.L.K.
200 a, second paragraph. Say, in the fourth line, three, six, or twelve. Dobrynya and Nastasya in Hilferding, Nos 23, 26, 33, 38, 43, columns 131, 144, 160, 176, 211, and twenty other places; Ruibnikof, I, 169, No 27, III, 90, No 18; Miss Hapgood's Epic Songs of Russia, Dobrynya and Alyosha, p. 253.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
503 a, fourth paragraph. Add: Bellermann, p. 100, No 12.
P. 193 (2). 'Hr. Lovmand' in Kristensen's Skattegraveren, VIII, 49, No 115.
194 ff., 502 f., II, 499 b.
According to a Devonshire tradition given by Mrs. Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, II, 172 (II, 32, of the new ed. of 1879, which has a fresh title, The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy), Sir Francis Drake, having been abroad seven years, was apprised by one of his devils that his wife was about to marry again. He immediately discharged one of his great guns up through the earth. The cannon-ball "fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her intended bridegroom," who were before the altar. In another version, known to Southey and communicated by him to Mrs. Bray (as above, II, 174; new ed., II, 33, 34), the marriage is broken off by a large stone (no doubt a gun-stone) which falls on the lady's train as she is on her way to church. Drake, in this version, returns in disguise, but is recognized by his smile. See for various stories of the same kind, 'Iouenn Kerménou,' Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, I, 416; 'Der todte Schuldner,' Zingerle, Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie, II, 367; 'De witte Swâne,' Woeste, the same, III, 46, translated from the Markish dialect by Simrock, 'Der gute Gerhard,' u.s.w., p. 75; Vernaleken, Mythen u. Brauche des Volkes in Oesterreich, p. 372; Vernaleken, Kinder- u. Hausmärchen, No 54, p. 315 f.; J.H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 184 f.; Prym u. Socin, Syrische Sagen u. Märchen, No 20, II, 72. (G.L.K.)
P. 198 b, 502 b, II, 499 b. An Italian form of 'Le Retour du Mari' is 'Il Ritorno del Soldato,' Nigra, No 28b, p. 174.
Another Italian ballad has some of the points in the story of Horn. A man goes off for seven years immediately after marriage; the woman looking out towards the sea perceives a pilgrim approaching; he asks for charity, and makes what seems an impudent suggestion, for which she threatens him with punishment. But how if I were your husband? Then you would give me some token. He pulls out his wedding-ring from under his cloak. 'II finto [falso] Pellegrino,' Bernoni, ix, no 7, Ferraro, C. p. monferrini, p. 33, Giannini, p. 151 (nearly the same in Archivio, VI, 361); 'La Moglie fedele,' Wolf, p. 59, No 81, Ive, p. 334; 'Bennardo,' Nerucci, in Archivio, III, 44.
To the Portuguese ballads, I, 502 b, add 'A bella Infanta,' Bellermann, p. 100.
Add to the Polish ballads, p. 502 b: Roger, p. 13, Nos 25, 26.
With the Slavic ballads belong: Servian, Vuk, III, No 25; Bulgarian, Miladinof, Nos 65, 66, 111, 573, Kačanovskiy, Nos 68-73, 112. (W.W.)
202 a. The three singing laverocks in B 3, F 4, (cf. A 3,) are to be taken as curiosities of art. Artificial singing-birds are often mentioned in the earlier times, (by Sir John Mandeville for instance): see Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 89 f., No 5. Such birds, and artificially hissing snakes, occur in the Great-Russian bylina of Djuk Stepanović; cf. Wollner, Untersuchungen ü. d. grossr. Volksepik, p. 134 f. (W.W.)
205. G would have been printed as it stands in Kinloch Manuscripts VII, 117, had the volume been in my possession. The copy principally used in Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 138, was derived from the editor's niece, M. Kinnear. Readings of another copy are written in pencil over the transcript of the first in places, and as the name "Christy Smith" is also written at the beginning in pencil, it may be supposed that these readings were furnished by this Christy Smith. Kinloch adopted some of these readings into the copy which appears in his book, and he introduced others which seem to be his own. The readings of the Kinnear copy not retained by Kinloch will now be given under a, and those supplied (as may be supposed) by Christy Smith under b.
G a. 12. Whare was ye born? or frae what cuntrie?
31. a gay gowd wand.
41. a silver ring.
51. Whan that ring.
61. Whan that ring.
72. Till he cam.
81. Whan he lookit to.
82. Says, I wish.
92. Until he cam till.
101. met with.
102. It was with.
111. my puir auld man.
131. to me.
132. I'll lend you.
151. He has changed wi the puir auld.
161. What is the way that ye use.
162. words that.
181, 221. to yon town end.
192. your Hynde (your struck out).
232. his Hynde (his struck out).
241. he took na frae ane.
271. But he drank his glass.
272. Into it he dropt.
302. to your.
342. him evermair.
361. The red: oure them aw.
G b. 12. in what.
21. greenwud's.
22. have left.
31. a silver wand.
41. And my love gave me a gay gowd ring.
51. As lang as that ring.
72. Till that he cam.
92. Until that.
102. a jolly beggar man.
151. struck out in pencil.
181. And whan: yonder down.
202. Unless it be frae.
221. yonder down.
241. But he wad tak frae nane.
342. for evermair.
To be Corrected in the Print.
503 a. The title of I is 'Hynd Horn.'
P. 193 b (2). 'Hr. Lovmand,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 252, No 62, A-D.
194 ff., 502 f.; II, 499 b; III, 501 b. Ring stories. Cf. MacInnes, Folk and Hero Tales (Argyllshire), 1890, p. 157. (G.L.K.)
Bulgarian ballad. — Stojan is married on Sunday, on Monday he is ordered to join the army. His wife gives him a posy, which will remain fresh until she marries another man. He serves nine years; the tenth the queen discovers from his talk that he has a wife, and gives him permission to go home. He arrives the very day on which his wife is to be remarried, goes to the wedding, and asks her to kiss his hand and accept a gift from him. She recognizes him by the ring on his hand, sends off the guests, and goes home with him. Collection of the Ministry of Instruction, I, 39. In a variant, Verković, p. 329, No 301, the man is gone three years, and arrives just as the wedding procession comes for the bride. (W.W.)
198 b. 'Le Retour du Mari.' ' Un Retour de Guerre' (cards), Daymard, pp. 203, 4.
202 a, III, 501 b. For more of these curiosities (in Salman u. Morolf, Orendel, Virginal, Laurin, etc.), see Vogt's note, p. 181 (248 ff.), to Salman u. Morolf.
206. H. I have received from Mr. Walker, of Aberdeen, author of 'The Bards of Bonaccord,' a copy of 'Hind Horn' which was taken down by a correspondent of his on lower Deeside about 1880. It closely resembles G and H. Collated with H, the more noteworthy variations are as follows:
11. Hey how, bound, lovie, hey how, free.
62. An the glintin o 't was aboon.
10. An when he looked the ring upon, O but it was pale an wan!
132. What news, what news is in this lan?
19. Ye'll ging up to yon high hill,
An ye'll blaw yer trumpet loud an shrill.
20. Doun at yon gate ye will enter in,
And at yon stair ye will stan still.
21. Ye'll seek meat frae ane, ye'll seek meat frae twa,
Ye'll seek meat fra the highest to the lowest o them a'.
22. But it's out o their bans an ye will tak nane
Till it comes out o the bride's ain han.
262. Wi the links o the yellow gowd in her hair.
After 27:
An when she looked the ring upon, O
but she grew pale an wan!
After 28:
Or got ye it frae ane that is far, far away,
To gie unto me upon my weddin-day?
30. But I got it frae you when I gaed away,
To gie unto you on your weddin-day.
32. It's I'll gang wi you for evermore,
An beg my bread frae door to door.
502 a. There can hardly be a doubt that the two stanzas cited belonged to 'The Kitchie-Boy,' 'Bonny Foot-Boy,' No 252. Cf. A 34, 35, B 47, D 7, 8, of that ballad.
To be Corrected in the Print.
188 b, line 15. Read 207.
200 b, line 6. Read Vidyádharí.
P. 196 a (7). Historia: Hertzog Heinrich der low, XVI, 221, of the edition of the Litt. Verein-in Stuttgart, ed. Goetze, 228 vv.
198 a. Tales. Add: Stier, Ungarische Volksmärchen, p. 53.
198 b, 502 b, II, 499 b, IV, 450 b. 'Le retour du mari,' Pineau, Le Folk-Lore du Poitou, p. 385; La Tradition, VI, 207 f.
199 b. Romaic. Add: Manousos, II, 73; Ζωγραφεῖος Ἀγών, p. 76, No 26.
205. G. Kinloch has made numerous small changes. The ballad will now be given as first written down, Kinloch Manuscripts, VII, 117. It appears to have been derived by Miss Kinnear from Christy Smith.
1 'Hynde Horn's bound, love, and Hynde Horn's free;
Whare was ye born? or frae what cuntrie?'
2 'In gude green wud whare I was born,
And all my friends left me forlorn.
3 'I gave my love a gay gowd wand,
That was to rule oure all Scotland.
4 'My love gave me a silver ring,
That was to rule abune aw thing.
5 Whan that ring keeps new in hue,
Yfe may ken that your love loves you.
6 'Whan that ring turns pale and wan,
Ye may ken that your love loves anither man.'
7 7 He hoisted up his sails, and away sailed he
Till he cam to a foreign cuntree.
8 Whan he lookit to his ring, it was turnd pale and wan;
Says, I wish I war at hame again.
9 He hoisted up his sails, and hame sailed he
Until he cam till his ain cuntree.
10 The first ane that he met with,
It was with a puir auld beggar-man.
11 'What news? what news, my puir auld man?
What news hae ye got to tell to me?'
12 'Na news, na news,' the puirman did say,
'But this is our queen's wedding-day.'
13 'Ye'll lend me your begging-weed,
And I'll lend you my riding-steed.'
14 'My begging-weed is na for thee,
Your riding-steed is na for me.'
15 He has changed wi the puir auld beggar-man.
16 'What is the way that ye use to gae?
And what are the words that ye beg wi?'
17 'Whan ye come to yon high hill,
Ye'll draw your bent bow nigh until.
18 'Whan ye come to yon town-end,
Ye'll lat your bent bow low fall doun.
19 'Ye'll seek meat for St. Peter, ask for St. Paul,
And seek for the sake of your Hynde Horn all.
20 'But tak ye frae nane o them aw
Till ye get frae the bonnie bride hersel O.'
21 Whan he cam to yon high hill,
He drew his bent bow nigh until.
22 And when he cam to yon toun-end,
He loot his bent bow low fall doun.
23 He sought for St. Peter, he askd for St. Paul,
And he sought for the sake of his Hynde Horn all.
24 But he took na frae ane o them aw
Till he got frae the bonnie bride hersel O.
25 The bride cam tripping doun the stair,
Wi the scales o red gowd on her hair.
26 Wi a glass o red wine in her hand,
To gie to the puir beggar-man.
27 Out he drank his glass o wine,
Into it he dropt the ring.
28 'Got ye 't by sea, or got ye 't by land,
Or got ye 't aff a drownd man's hand?'
29 I got na 't by sea, I got na 't by land,
Nor gat I it aff a drownd man's hand;
30 'But I got it at my wooing,
And I'll gie it to your wedding.
31 'I'll tak the scales o gowd frae my head,
I'll follow you, and beg my bread.
32 'I'll tak the scales o gowd frae my hair,
I'll follow you for evermair.'
33 She has tane the scales o gowd frae her head,
She's followed him, to beg her bread.
34 She has tane the scales o gowd frae her hair,
And she has followd him evermair.
35 Atween the kitchen and the ha,
There he loot his cloutie cloak fa.
36 The red gowd shined cure them aw,
And the bride frae the bridegroom was stown awa.
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[P. 188 b. 'Horn Child.' See the edition by J. Caro, in Englische Studien, XII, 323 ff.]
190 a. Hereward will not drink unless the princess presents the cup: very like Horn here. Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 18 f.
191, note *. Blonde of Oxford (Jehan et Blonde). See Suchier's edition, Œuvres poétiques de Philippe de Remi, Sire de Beaumanoir, II, 89, 99, 103.
193 a. That Horn Child, though much more modern in its present form than the Gest, "would seem to have been formed on a still older model" was suggested by T. Wright in 1835, and was the opinion of J. Grimm and of Ferdinand Wolf. Wolf maintains that Horn Child was the work of a popular jongleur, or vagrant minstrel, and that for this reason Chaucer put it among the "romances of prys," which are mentioned in Sir Thopas. Anyway, this must have been the form of the story which was known to Chaucer. Wolf, Ueber die Lais, p. 217 f.
195 a (8). Oude Liedekens in Bladeren, L. van Paemel, No 28 = Hoffmann, No 2.
199 a. Albanian. De Grazie, Canti p. albanesi, p. 118.
199 a, note *. Ring in betrothal. So in Twelfth Night, iv, 3, as Prior remarks, II, 277, apropos of 'Axel and Walborg', st. 44.
201, note. These talismans also in India: Tawney's Kathá-Sarit-Ságara, II, 161.
502 b, 5th paragraph, III, 501 b, IV, 450 b. Add: Kolberg, Lud, IV, 23, No 146; VI, 166 f., No 332; XII, 115-118, Nos 221-224 (jumps seven tables and touches the eighth); XVI, 271, No 438; XVI, 272, No 440; Valjavec, p. 300, No 17; Kolberg, Mazowsze, II, 109, No 251. A soldier comes back after seven years' absence to his "widow;" drops ring into cup, and is recognized as her husband. Lud, XXI, 61, No 123.