No. 265: The Knight's Ghost
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 265. The Knight's Ghost
A. Roud No. 3889: The Knight's Ghost (3 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 265. The Knight's Ghost (Bronson gives no music examples and texts)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A)
Child's Narrative: 265. The Knight's Ghost
A. 'The Knight's Ghost,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 227.
A lady who is expecting the return of her lord from sea goes down to the strand to meet him. The ship comes in, but the sailors tell her that she will never see her husband; he has been slain. She invites the men to drink with her, takes them down to the cellar, makes them drunk, locks the door, and bids them lie there for the bad news they have told; then she throws the keys into the sea, to lie there till her lord returns. After these efforts she falls asleep in her own room, and her dead lord starts up at her feet; he brings the keys with him, and charges her to release his men, who had done their best for him and were not to blame for his death. The lady, to turn this visit to the more account, asks to be informed what day she is to die, and what day to be buried. The knight is not empowered to answer, but, come to heaven when she will, he will be her porter. He sees no objection to telling her that she will be married again and have nine children, six ladies free and three bold young men.
The piece has not a perceptible globule of old blood in it, yet it has had the distinction of being more than once translated as a specimen of Scottish popular ballads. 'Monie' in 22 may be plausibly read, or understood, 'menie,' retinue; still the antecedent presumption in favor of nonsense in ballads of this class makes one hesitate. 73,4 is unnatural; no dissembling would be required to induce the young men to drink. In 83, 'birled them wi the beer' is what we should expect, not 'birled wi them.'
Translated by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder der Vorzeit, p. 57, No 13; by Gerhard, p. 154.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
The piece has not a perceptible globule of old blood in it, yet it has had the distinction of being more than once translated as a specimen of Scottish popular ballads.
Child's Ballad Text
'The Knight's Ghost'- Version A; Child 265 The Knight's Ghost
'The Knight's Ghost,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 227.
1 'There is a fashion in this land,
And even come to this country,
That every lady should meet her lord
When he is newly come frae sea:
2 'Some wi hawks, and some wi hounds,
And other some wi gay monie;
Bit I will gae myself alone,
And set his young son on his knee.'
3 She's taen her young son in her arms,
And nimbly walkd by yon sea-strand,
And there she spy'd her father's ship,
As she was sailing to dry land.
4 'Where hae ye put my ain gude lord,
This day he stays sae far frae me?'
'If ye be wanting your ain gude lord,
A sight o him ye'll never see.'
5 'Was he brunt? or was he shot?
Or was he drowned in the sea?
Or what's become o my ain gude lord,
That he will neer appear to me?'
6 'He wasna brunt, nor was he shot,
Nor was he drowned in the sea;
He was slain in Dunfermling,
A fatal day to you and me.'
7 'Come in, come in, my merry young men,
Come in and drink the wine wi me;
And a' the better ye shall fare
For this gude news ye tell to me.'
8 She's brought them down to yon cellar,
She brought them fifty steps and three;
She birled wi them the beer and wine,
Till they were as drunk as drunk could be.
9 Then she has lockd her cellar-door,
For there were fifty steps and three:
'Lie there, wi my sad malison,
For this bad news ye've tauld to me.'
10 She's taen the keys intill her hand
And threw them deep, deep in the sea:
'Lie there, wi my sad malison,
Till my gude lord return to me.'
11 Then she sat down in her own room,
And sorrow lulld her fast asleep,
And up it starts her own gude lord,
And even at that lady's feet.
12 'Take here the keys, Janet,' he says,
'That ye threw deep, deep in the sea;
And ye'll relieve my merry young men,
For they've nane o the swick o me.
13 'They shot the shot, and drew the stroke,
And wad in red bluid to the knee;
Nae sailors mair for their lord coud do
Nor my young men they did for me.'
14 'I hae a question at you to ask,
Before that ye depart frae me;
You'll tell to me what day I'll die,
And what day will my burial be?'
15 'I hae nae mair o God's power
Than he has granted unto me;
But come to heaven when ye will,
There porter to you I will be.
16 'But ye'll be wed to a finer knight
Than ever was in my degree;
Unto him ye'll hae children nine,
And six o them will be ladies free.
17 'The other three will be bold young men,
To fight for king and countrie;
The ane a duke, the second a knight,
And third a laird o lands sae free.'