No. 25: Willie's Lyke-Wake
[The earliest text, 'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' comes from Sir Walter Scott in 1810 which is found in the Additions and Corrections and I've assigned this Child F. The two versions which constitute Child E were added in a later edition.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-F (E was added in a later edition, an additional text [F] from W. Scott is found in the Additions and Corrections)
5. Endnotes
6. "Additions and Corrections"
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Willie's Lyke-Wake
A. Roud number 30 (24 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: Willie's Lyke-Wake (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-E with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. 'Willie, Willie,' Kinloch's Manuscripts, I, 53.
B. a. 'Blue Flowers and Yellow,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 185.
b. 'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 120.
C. 'Down Amang the Blue Flowers and Yellow,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 187.
D. 'Amang the blue flowers and yellow,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xix, No xvn, one stanza.
E. a. 'Willie's Lyke-Wake,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 51.
b. 'Willie's Lyke-Wake,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 122.
[F.] 'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' Greenock, printed by W. Scott [1810]. (from Additions and Corrections)
This piece was first printed by Buchan, in 1828, and all the copies which have been recovered are of about that date. The device of a lover's feigning death as a means of winning a shy mistress enjoys a considerable popularity in European ballads. Even more favorite is a ballad in which the woman adopts this expedient, in order to escape from the control of her relations: see 'The Gay Goshawk,' with which will be given another form of the present story.
A Danish ballad answering to our Feigned Lyke-Wake is preserved, as I am informed by Professor Grundtvig, in no less than fourteen manuscripts, some of them of the 16th century, and is still living in tradition. Five versions, as yet unprinted, A-E, have been furnished me by the editor of the Ballads of Denmark.
A, from a manuscript of the sixteenth century. Young Herre Karl asks his mother's rede how he may get the maid his heart is set upon. She advises him to feign sickness, and be laid on his bier, no one to know his counsel but the page who is to do his errands. The page bids the lady to the wake that night. Little Kirstin asks her mother's leave to keep wake over Karl. The wake is to be in the upper room of Karl's house. The mother says, Be on your guard; he means to cheat you; but Kirstin, neither listening to her mother nor asking her father, goes to keep wake in the upper room. When she went in she could not see the lights for her tears. She begged all the good people to pray for Karl's soul, sat down by his head and made her own prayer, and murmured, While thou livedst I loved thee. She lifted the cloths, and there lay Karl wide awake and laughing. "All the devils in hell receive thy soul!" she cried. "If thou livedst a hundred years, thou shouldst never have my good will!" Karl proposed that she should pass the night with him. "Why would you deceive me!" Kirstin exclaimed. "Why did you not go to my father and betroth me honorably?" Karl immediately rode to her father's to do this, and they were married.
B. a, from Manuscripts of 1610 and later, almost identical with b, 'Den forstilte Vaagestue,' Levninger, Part II, 1784, p. 34, No 7.[1] This version gives us some rather unnecessary previous history. Karl has sued for Ingerlille three years, and had an ill answer. He follows her to church one fine day, and, after mass, squeezes her fingers and asks, Will you take pity on me? She replies, You must ask my father and friends; and he, I have, and can get no good answer. If you will give me your troth, we can see to that best our selves. "Never," she says. "Farewell, then; but Christ may change your mind." Karl meets his mother on his way from church, who asks why he is so pale. He tells her his plight, and is advised, as before, to use craft. The wake is held on Karl's premises,[2] Ingerlille, in scarlet mantle, goes with her maids. She avows her love, but adds that it was a fixed idea in her mind that he would deceive her. She lifts up the white cloth that covers the face. Karl laughs, and says, We were good friends before, so are we still. Bear out the bier, and follow me to bed with the fair maid. She hopes he will have respect for her honor. Karl reassures her, leaves her with his mother, rides to Ingerlille's house, obtains her parents' approbation, and buys wine for his wedding.
C, from manuscripts of the sixteenth century. Karl is given out for dead, and his pages ride to the convent to ask that his body may be laid in the cloister. The bier is borne in; the prioress comes to meet it, with much respect. The pages go about bidding maids to the wake. Ellin asks her mother if she may go. (This looks as if there had originally been no convent in the ballad.) Her mother tells her to put on red gold and be wary of Karl, he is so very tricky. When Ellin owns her attachment, Karl whispers softly, Do not weep, but follow me. Horses were ready at the portal black horses all! Karl sprang from the bier, took Ellin, and made for the door. The nuns, who stood read ing in the choir, thought it was an angel that had translated her, and wished one would come for them. Karl, with fifteen men who were in waiting, carried Ellin home, and drank his bridal with her.
D, from recent oral tradition. As Karl lay in his bed, he said, How shall I get the fair maid out of the convent? His foster-mother heard him, and recommended him to feign death and bid the fair maid to his wake. The maid asked her father's leave to go, but he said, Nay, the moment you are inside the door he will seize you by the foot. But when the page, who had first come in blue, comes back in scarlet, she goes. She stands at Karl's head and says, I never shall forget thee; at his feet, "I wished thee well; " at his side, "Thou wast my dearest." Then she turns and bids everybody good-night, but Karl seizes her, and calls to his friends to come drink his bridal. We hear nothing of the convent after the first stanza.
E, from oral tradition of another quarter. Karl consults his mother how he shall get little Kirstin out of the convent, and receives the same counsel. A page is sent to the convent, and asks who will come to the wake now Herr Karl is dead? Little Kirstin, with out application to the prioress, goes to her mother, who does not forbid her, but warns her that Karl will capture her as sure as she goes into the room.
The maid has the door by the handle,
And is wishing them all good-night;
Young Karl, that lay a corpse on the bier,
Sprang up and held her tight.
'Why here 's a board and benches,
And there 's no dead body here;
This eve I'll drink my mead and wine,
All with my Kirstin dear.
'Why here 's a board and beds too,
And here there 's nobody dead;
To-morrow will I go to the priest,
All with my plighted maid.'
F, another copy from recent tradition, was published in 1875, in Kristensen's Jyske Folkeviser, II, 213, No 62, 'Vaagestuen.' There is no word of a convent here. The story is made very short. Kirsten's mother says she will be fooled if she goes to the wake. The last stanza, departing from all other copies, says that when Kirsten woke in the morning Karl was off.
G. 'Klosterranet,' Levninger, I, 23, No 4 (1780), Danske Viser, iv, 261, No 212, a very second-rate ballad, may have the praise of preserving consistency and conventual discipline. The young lady does not slip out to see her mother without leave asked and had. It is my persuasion that the convent, with its little jest about the poor nuns, is a later invention, and that C is a blending of two different stories. In G, Herr Morten betroths Proud Adeluds, who is more virtuous than rich. His friends object; her friends do not want spirit, and swear that she shall never be his. Morten's father sends him out of the country, and Adeluds is put into a convent. After nine years Morten returns, and, having rejected an advantageous match proposed by his father, advises with his brother, Herr Nilaus, how to get his true love out of the cloister. The brother's plan is that of the mother and foster-mother in the other versions. Herr Nilaus promises a rich gift if Morten's body may be buried within the cloister. From this point the story is materially the same as in C.
H. A copy, which I have not yet seen, in Rahbek's Læsning i blandede Æmner (or Hesperus), m, 151, 1822 (Bergström).
'Hertugen af Skage,' Danske Viser, II, 191, No 88, has this slight agreement with the foregoing ballads. Voldemar, the king's youngest son, hearing that the duke has a daughter, Hildegerd, that surpasses all maids, seeks her out in a convent in which she has taken refuge, and gets a cold reception. He feigns death, desiring that his bones may repose in the cloister. His bier is carried into the convent church. Hildegerd lights nine candles for him, and expresses compassion for his early death. While she is standing before the altar of the Virgin, Voldemar carries her out of the church by force.
This, says Afzelius, 1814, is one of the commonest ballads in Sweden, and is often represented as a drama by young people in country places. A a, 'Herr Carl, eller Klosterrofvet,' Afzelius, I, 179, No 26, new ed. No 24; b, Afzelius, Sago-Häfder, ed. 1851, IV, 106. B. Atterbom, Poetisk Kalender for 1816, p. 63, 'Det lefvande Liket.' C. Rancken, Nagra Prof af Folksang, o. s. v., p. 13, No 4. These differ but slightly from Danish D, B. All three conclude with the humorous verses about the nuns, which in Rancken's copy take' this rollicking turn:
And all the nuns in the convent they all danced in a ring;
'Christ send another such angel, to take us all under his wing!'
And all the nuns in the convent, they all danced each her lone;
'Christ send another such angel, to take us off every one!'
Bergström, new Afzelius, II, 131, refers to another version in Gyllenmars' visbok, p. 191, and to a good copy obtained by himself.
An Icelandic version for the 17th century, which is after the fashion of Danish C, G, is given in Íslenzk Fornkvæði, II, 59, No 40, 'Marteins kviða.' The lover has in all three a troop of armed men in waiting outside of the convent.
Professor Bugge has obtained a version in Norway, which, however, is as to language essentially Danish. (Bergström, as above.)
There is a very gay and pretty south-European ballad, in which the artifice of feigning death is successfully tried by a lover after the failure of other measures.
A. Magyar. Arany and Gyulai, I, 172, No 18, 'Pálbeli Szép Antal;' translated by Aigner, Ungarische Volksdichtungen, p. 80, 'Schön Anton.' Handsome Tony tells his mother that he shall die for Helen. The mother says, Not vet. I will build a marvellous mill. The first wheel shall grind out pearls, the middle stone discharge kisses, the third wheel distribute small change. The pretty maids will come to see, and Helen among them. Helen asks her mother's leave to see the mill. "Go not," the mother replies. "They are throwing the net, and a fox will be caught." Tony again says he must die. His mother says, not yet; for she will build an iron bridge; the girls will come to see it, and Helen among them. Helen asks to see the bridge; her mother answers as before. Tony says once more that he shall die for Helen. His mother again rejoins, Not yet. Make believe to be dead; the girls will come to see you, and Helen among them. Helen entreats to be allowed to go to see the hand some young man that has died. Her mother tells her she will never come back. Tony's mother calls to him to get up; the girl he was dying for is even now before the gate, in the court, standing at his feet. "Never," says Helen, "saw I so handsome a dead man, eyes smiling, mouth tempting kisses, and his feet all ready for a spring." Up he jumped and embraced her.
B. Italian. Ferraro, Canti popolari monferrini, p. 59, No 40, 'Il Genovese.' The Genoese, not obtaining the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant on demand, plants a garden. All the girls come for flowers, except the one desired. He then gives a ball, with thirty-two musicians. All the girls are there, but not the merchant's daughter. He then builds a church, very richly adorned. All the girls come to mass, all but one. Next he sets the bells a ringing, in token of his death. The fair one goes to the window to ask who is dead. The good people ("ra bun-ha gent," in the Danish ballad "det gode folk") tell her that it is her first love, and suggest that she should attend the funeral. She asks her father, who consents if she will not cry. As she was leaving the church, the lover came to life, and called to the priests and friars to stop singing. They went to the high altar to be married.
C. Slovenian. Vraz, Narodne pešni ilirske, p. 93, 'Čudna bolezen' ('Strange Sickness'); translated by Anastasius Grün, Volkslieder aus Krain, p. 36, 'Der Scheintodte.' "Build a church, mother," cries the love-sick youth, "that all who will may hear mass; perhaps my love among them." The mother built a church, one and another came, but not his love. "Dig a well, mother, that those who will may fetch water; perhaps my love among them." The well was dug, one and another came for water, but not his love. "Say I am dead, mother, that those who will may come to pray." Those who wished came, his love first of all. The youth was peeping through the window. "What kind of dead man is this, that stretches his arms for an embrace, and puts out his mouth for a kiss?"
Danish G translated by the Rev. J. Johnstone, 'The Robbery of the Nunnery, or, The Abbess Outwitted,' Copenhagen, 1786 (Danske Viser, IV, 366); by Prior, m, 400. Swedish A, by G. Stephens, For. Quar. Rev., 1841, XXVI, 49, and by the Howitts, Lit. and Rom. of Northern Europe, I, 292. English C, by Rosa Warrens, Schottische V. 1., p. 144, No 33.
Footnotes:
1. But a has two stanzas more: the first a stev-stamme, or lyrical introduction (see p. 7), the other, 31, nearly a repetition of Sandvig's 29.
2. After the page has bidden Ingerlille to the wake, we are told, a 27, 28, b 26, 27: all the convent hells were going, and the tidings spreading that the knight was dead; all the ladies of the convent sat sewing, except Ingerlille, who wept. But Ingerlille, in the next stanza, puts on her scarlet cloak and goes to the hb'jeloft to see her father and mother. The two stanzas quoted signify nothing in this version.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Of this piece there is a broadside version of 1810 (not here printed). All other copies that have been recovered date from about 1825. The device of a lover's feigning death as a means of winning a shy mistress enjoys considerable popularity in European ballads. Even more favorite is a ballad in which the woman adopts this expedient, in order to escape from the control of her relations. See the 'Gay Goshawk' (No. 96). A Danish ballad answering to our Feigned Lyke-Wake is preserved in many manuscripts, some of them of the 16th century, and is still living in tradition. The corresponding south-European ballad, which is very gay and pretty, is well represented by the Italian 'Il Genovese' (Ferraro, Canti popolari monferrini, No. 40).
Child's Ballad Texts A-F
'Willie, Willie'- Version A Child 25 Willie's Lyke-Wake
Kinloch's Manuscripts, i, 53, from the recitation of Mary Barr, Lesmahagow, aged upwards of seventy. May, 1827.
1 'Willie, Willie, I'll learn you a wile,'
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
'How this pretty fair maid ye may beguile.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
2 'Ye maun lie doun just as ye were dead,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
And tak your winding-sheet around your head.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
3 'Ye maun gie the bellman his bell-groat,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
To ring your dead-bell at your lover's yett.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
4 He lay doun just as he war dead,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
And took his winding-sheet round his head.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
5 He gied the bellman his bell-groat,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
To ring his dead-bell at his lover's yett.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
6 'O wha is this that is dead, I hear?'
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
'O wha but Willie that loed ye sae dear.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
7 She is to her father's chamber gone,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
And on her knees she's fallen down.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
8 'O father, O father, ye maun grant me this;
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
I hope that ye will na tak it amiss.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
9 'That I to Willie's burial should go;
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
For he is dead, full well I do know.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
10 'Ye'll tak your seven bauld brethren wi thee,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
And to Willie's burial straucht go ye.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
11 It's whan she cam to the outmost yett,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
She made the silver fly round for his sake.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
12 It's whan she cam to the inmost yett,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
She made the red gowd fly round for his sake.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
13 As she walked frae the court to the parlour there,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
The pretty corpse syne began for to steer.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
14 He took her by the waist sae neat and sae sma,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
And threw her atween him and the wa.
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
15 'O Willie, O Willie, let me alane this nicht,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
O let me alane till we're wedded richt.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
16 'Ye cam unto me baith sae meek and mild,
And the sun shines over the valleys and a'
But I'll mak ye gae hame a wedded wife wi child.'
Amang the blue flowrs and the yellow and a'
'Blue Flowers and Yellow'- Version B a; Child 25- Willie's Lyke-Wake
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 185.
b. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 120.
1 'O Willie my son, what makes you sae sad?'
As the sun shines over the valley
'I lye sarely sick for the love of a maid.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
2 'Were she an heiress or lady sae free,
As the sun shines over the valley
That she will take no pity on thee?
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
3 'O Willie, my son, I'll learn you a wile,
As the sun shines over the valley
How this fair maid ye may beguile.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
4 'Ye'll gie the principal bellman a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
And ye'll gar him cry your dead lyke-wake.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
5 Then he gae the principal bellman a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
He bade him cry his dead lyke-wake.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
6 This maiden she stood till she heard it a',
As the sun shines over the valley
And down frae her cheeks the tears did fa.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
7 She is hame to her father's ain bower:
As the sun shines over the valley
'I'll gang to yon lyke-wake ae single hour.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
8 'Ye must take with you your ain brither John;
As the sun shines over the valley
It's not meet for maidens to venture alone.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
9 'I'll not take with me my brither John,
As the sun shines over the valley
But I'll gang along, myself all alone.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
10 When she came to young Willie's yate,
As the sun shines over the valley
His seven brithers were standing thereat.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
11 Then they did conduct her into the ha,
As the sun shines over the valley
Amang the weepers and merry mourners a'.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
12 When she lifted up the covering sae red,
As the sun shines over the valley
With melancholy countenance to look on the dead,
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
13 He's taen her in his arms, laid her gainst the wa,
As the sun shines over the valley
Says, 'Lye ye here, fair maid, till day.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
14 'O spare me, O spare me, but this single night,
As the sun shines over the valley
And let me gang hame a maiden sae bright.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
15 'Tho all your kin were about your bower,
As the sun shines over the valley
Ye shall not be a maiden ae single hour.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
16 'Fair maid, ye came here without a convoy,
As the sun shines over the valley
But ye shall return wi a horse and a boy.
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
17 'Ye came here a maiden sae mild,
As the sun shines over the valley
But ye shall gae hame a wedded wife with child.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
---------------------------
'Down Amang the Blue Flowers and the Yellow'- Version C; Child 25- Willie's Lyke-Wake
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 187.
1 'O Willie, Willie, what makes thee so sad?'
And the sun shines over the valley
'I have loved a lady these seven years and mair.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
2 'O Willie, lie down as thou were dead,
And the sun shines over the valley
And lay thy winding-sheet down at thy head.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
3 'And gie to the bellman a belling-great,
And the sun shines over the valley
To ring the dead-bell at thy love's bower-yett.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
4 He laid him down as he were dead,
And the sun shines over the valley
And he drew the winding-sheet oer his head.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
5 He gied to the bellman a belling-great,
And the sun shines over the valley
To ring the dead-bell at his love's bower-yett.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
* * * * *
6 When that she came to her true lover's gate,
And the sun shines over the valley
She dealt the red gold and all for his sake.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
7 And when that she came to her true lover's bower,
And the sun shines over the valley
She had not been there for the space of half an hour,
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
8 Till that she cam to her true lover's bed,
And the sun shines over the valley
And she lifted the winding-sheet to look at the dead.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
9 He took her by the hand so meek and sma,
And the sun shines over the valley
And he cast her over between him and the wa.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
10 'Tho all your friends were in the bower,
And the sun shines over the valley
I would not let you go for the space of half an hour.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
11 'You came to me without either horse or boy,
And the sun shines over the valley
But I will send you home with a merry convoy.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
--------------------
'Amang the Blue Flowers and the Yellow' - Version D; Child 25- Willie's Lyke-Wake
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xix, No VXII
1 'O Johnie, dear Johnie, what makes ye sae sad?'
As the sun shines ower the valley
'I think nae music will mak ye glad.'
Amang the blue flowers and the yellow
----------------------
'Willie's Lyke-Wake'- Version E; Child 25
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 51.
b. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 122.
1 'If my love loves me, she lets me not know,
That is a dowie chance;
I wish that I the same could do,
Tho my love were in France, France,
Tho my love were in France.
2 'O lang think I, and very lang,
And lang think I, I true;
But lang and langer will I think
Or my love o me rue.
3 'I will write a broad letter,
And write it sae perfite,
That an she winna o me rue,
I'll bid her come to my lyke.'
4 Then he has written a broad letter,
And seald it wi his hand,
And sent it on to his true love,
As fast as boy could gang.
5 When she looked the letter upon,
A light laugh then gae she;
But ere she read it to an end,
The tear blinded her ee.
6 'O saddle to me a steed, father,
O saddle to me a steed;
For word is come to me this night,
That my true love is dead.'
7 'The steeds are in the stable, daughter,
The keys are casten by;
Ye cannot won to-night, daughter,
To-morrow ye'se won away.'
8 She has cut aff her yellow locks,
A little aboon her ee,
And she is on to Willie's lyke,
As fast as gang could she.
9 As she gaed ower yon high hill head,
She saw a dowie light;
It was the candles at Willie's lyke,
And torches burning bright.
10 Three o Willie's eldest brothers
Were making for him a bier;
One half o it was gude red gowd,
The other siller clear.
11 Three o Willie's eldest sisters
Were making for him a sark;
The one half o it was cambric fine,
The other needle wark.
12 Out spake the youngest o his sisters,
As she stood on the fleer:
How happy would our brother been,
If ye'd been sooner here!
13 She lifted up the green covering,
And gae him kisses three;
Then he lookd up into her face,
The blythe blink in his ee.
14 O then he started to his feet,
And thus to her said he:
Fair Annie, since we're met again,
Parted nae mair we'se be.
-------------
'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow'- Version F
Greenock, printed by W. Scott [1810]
1 ' This seven long years I've courted a maid,'
As the sun shines over the valley
'And she neer would consent for to be my bride.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
2 'O Jamie, O Jamie, I'll learn you the way
As the sun shines over the valley
How your innocent love you'll betray.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
3 'If you will give to the bell-man a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
And he'll toll you down a merry night-wake.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
4 Now he has given the bell-man a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
And he has tolld him down a merry night-wake.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
5 'It's I must go to my true-love's wake,
As the sun shines over the valley
For late last night I heard he was dead.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
6 'Take with you your horse and boy,
As the sun shines over the valley
And give your true lover his last convoy.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
7 'I'll have neither horse nor boy,
As the sun shines over the valley
But I'll go alone, and I'll mourn and cry.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
8 When that she came to her true-love's hall,
As the sun shines over the valley
Then the tears they did down fall.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
9 She lifted up the sheets so small,
As the sun shines over the valley
He took her in his arms and he threw her to the wa.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
10 'It's let me go a maid, young Jamie,' she said,
As the sun shines over the valley
'And I will be your bride, and to-morrow we'll be wed.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
11 'If all your friends were in this bower,
As the sun shines over the valley
You should not be a maid one quarter of an hour.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
12 'You came here a maid meek and mild,
As the sun shines over the valley
But you shall go home both marryd and with child.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
13 He gave to her a gay gold ring,
As the sun shines over the valley
And the next day they had a gay wedding.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
End-Notes
B. b. is a with stanzas 3, 12-15 omitted, and "a few alterations, some of them given from the recitation of an old woman." "Buchan's version differs little from the way the old woman sang the ballad." The old woman's variations, so far as adopted, are certainly of the most trifling.
12. I am.
21. Is she.
71. And she.
161. Ye've come.
162. And ye.
17. Evidently by Christie:
'Fair maid, I love thee as my life,
But ye shall gae hame a lovd wedded wife.'
C. Burden. The lines are transposed in the second stanza, but are given in the third in the order of the first.
31, 51. Manuscript belling great.
112. you come.
Additions and Corrections
P. 247 b. Add:
E. 'Willie's Lyke-Wake.'
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 51.
b. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 122.
249 b. Swedish. Add: D. Aminson, Bidrag till Södermanlands Kulturhistoria, II, 18.
French. 'Le Soldat au Convent,' Victor Smith, Vielles Chansons recueillies en Velay et en Forez, p. 24, No 21, or Romania, VII, 73; Fleury, Littérature Orale de la Basse Normandie, p. 310, 'La Religieuse;' Poésies populaires de la France, III, fol. 289, fol. 297. A soldier who has been absent some years in the wars returns to find his mistress in a convent; obtains permission to see her for a last time, puts a ring on her finger, and then "falls dead." His love insists on conducting his funeral; the lover returns to life and carries her off.
249 b. A. Magyar. The ballad of 'Handsome Tony' is also translated by G. Heinrich, in Ungarische Revue, 1883, p. 155.
The same story, perverted to tragedy at the end, in Golovatsky, II, 710, No 13, a balld of the Carpathian Russians in Hungary.
250. Dr. R. Köhler points out to me a German copy of A, B, C, which I had overlooked, in Schröer, Ein Ausflug nach Gottschee, p. 266 ff, 'Hansel junc.' The mother builds a mill and a church, and then the young man feigns death, as before. But a very cheap tragic turn is given to the conclusion when the young man springs up and kisses his love. She falls dead with fright, and he declares that since she has died for him he will die for her. So they are buried severally at one and the other side of the church, and two lily stocks are planted, which embrace "like two real married people;" or, a vine grows from one and a flower from the other.
252. This is the other form referred to at p. 247 a.
Add version E.
E b. "Given with some changes from the way the editor has heard it sung."
22. I trow.
31. But I.
33. That gin.
73. the night.
P. 249 f; The story of A, B, C in a tale, 'La Furnarella,' A. de Nino, Dsi e Costumi abruzzesi, III, 198, No 3 7. R. Köhler.
C. Russian, in Trudy, V, 113, No 249.
Pp. 247-49 a. Danish. Add: 'Vågestuen,' in Kristensen's Skattegraveren, II, 17, No 17; IV, 17, 115, Nos 26, 285.
249 b and 506 a. Swedish. Bröms Gyllenmars' visbok has been printed in Nyare Bidrag, o.s.v., 1887, and the ballad of Herr Carl is No 77, p. 252. There is an imperfect copy in Bergström ock Nordlander, Nyare Bidrag, p. 102, No 9.
250. 'Il Genovese' is given in eight versions, one a fragment, by Nigra, No 41, p. 257.
250, 506 a, II, 502 a. Bulgarian. Stojan, who wants to carry off Bojana, does, at his mother's advice, everything to bring her within his reach. He builds a church, digs a well, plants a garden. All the maids come but her. He then feigns death; she comes with flowers and mourns over him; he seizes her; the priest blesses their union. Miladinof, p. 294, No 185. An old woman, in a like case, advises a young man to feign death, and brings Bojana to see the body. "Why," asks Bojana, "do his eyes look as if they had sight, his arms as if they would lay hold of me, his feet as if ready to jump up?" "That is because he died so suddenly," says the beldam. The youth springs up and embraces Bojana. Verković, p. 334, No 304. A Magyar-Croat version begins like this last, but has suffered corruption: Kurelac, p. 148, No. 447. (W.W.)
Pp. 247 ff., 506. 'The Blue Flowers and the Yellow,' Greenock, printed by W. Scott [1810].
1 ' This seven long years I Ve courted a maid,'
As the sun shines over the valley
'And she neer would consent for to be my bride.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
2 'O Jamie, O Jamie, I'll learn you the way
As the sun shines over the valley
How your innocent love you'll betray.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
3 'If you will give to the bell-man a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
And he'll toll you down a merry night-wake.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
4 Now he has given the bell-man a groat,
As the sun shines over the valley
And he has tolld him down a merry night-wake.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
5 'It's I must go to my true-love's wake,
As the sun shines over the valley
For late last night I heard he was dead.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
6 'Take with you your horse and boy,
As the sun shines over the valley
And give your true lover his last convoy.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
7 'I'll have neither horse nor boy,
As the sun shines over the valley
But I'll go alone, and I'll mourn and cry.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
8 When that she came to her true-love's hall,
As the sun shines over the valley
Then the tears they did down fall.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
9 She lifted up the sheets so small,
As the sun shines over the valley
He took her in his arms and he threw her to the wa.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
10 'It's let me go a maid, young Jamie,' she said,
As the sun shines over the valley
'And I will be your bride, and to-morrow we'll be wed.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
11 'If all your friends were in this bower,
As the sun shines over the valley
You should not be a maid one quarter of an hour.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
12 'You came here a maid meek and mild,
As the sun shines over the valley
But you shall go home both marryd and with child.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
13 He gave to her a gay gold ring,
As the sun shines over the valley
And the next day they had a gay wedding.
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
The unfortunate Weaver. To which are added The Farmer's Daughter and The Blue Flowers and the Yellow. Greenock. Printed by W. Scott. [1810.] British Museum, 11621. b. 7 (43).
248 a (C), III, 503 a. 'Hr. Mortens Klosterrov,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 264, No 64.
249 b, 506 a, III, 503 a. Swedish. 'Herr Karl,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 51, No 12.
P. 250, II, 502 a, III, 503 a. Italian. Add: Canti pop. Emiliani, Maria Carmi, Archivio, XII, 187, No 9. A fragment in Dalmedico, Canti del popolo veneziano, p. 109, seems, as Maria Carmi suggests, to belong to this ballad.
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P. 250, 506 a, II, 502 a, III, 503 a. Add the Croatian ballad, 'Ive umira za Marom,' Hrvatske Narodne Pjesme iz "Nase Sloge," II. Diel, 15, No 11