No. 32. King Henry
[There are no known US or Canadian versions of Child 32- King Henry.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnote
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: The Marriage of Sir Gawain
A. Roud Number 3967: Child 32- King Henry (7 Listings)
2. English and Other Versions (Including Child version A with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
[Footnote moved to the end of the narrative]
A. 'King Henry.'
a. The Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, fol. 31.
b. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802, II, 132.
Scott describes his copy of 'King Henry' as "edited from the manuscript of Mrs. Brown, corrected by a recited fragment." This manuscript of Mrs. Brown was William Tytler's, in which, as we learn from Anderson's communication to Percy (see p. 62, above), this ballad was No 11. Anderson notes that it extended to twenty-two stanzas, the number in Scott's copy. No account is given of the recited fragment. As published by Jamieson, II, 194, the ballad is increased by interpolation to thirty-four stanzas. "The interpolations will be found inclosed in brackets," but a painful contrast of style of itself distinguishes them. They were entered by Jamieson in his manuscript as well.
The fourteenth stanza, as now printed, the eighteenth in Jamieson's copy, is not there bracketed as an interpolation, and yet it is not in the manuscript. This stanza, however, with some verbal variation, is found in Scott's version, and as it may have been obtained by Jamieson in one of his visits to Mrs. Brown, it has been allowed to stand.
Lewis rewrote the William Tytler version for his Tales of Wonder, 'Courteous King Jamie,' II, 453, No 57, and it was in this shape that the ballad first came out, 1801.
The story is a variety of that which is found in 'The Marriage of Sir Gawain,' and has its parallel, as Scott observed, in an episode in Hrólfr Kraki's saga; A, Torfæius, Historia Hrolfi Krakii, c. vii, Havniæ, 1705; B, Fornaldar Sögur, Rafn, I, 30 f, c. 15.
King Helgi, father of Hrólfr Kraki, in consequence of a lamentable misadventure, was living in a solitary way in a retired lodge. One stormy Yule-night there was a loud wail at the door, after he had gone to bed. Helgi bethought himself that it was unkingly of him to leave anything to suffer outside, and got up and unlocked the door. There he saw a poor tattered creature of a woman, hideously misshapen, filthy, starved, and frozen (A), who begged that she might come in. The king took her in, and bade her get under straw and bearskin to warm herself. She entreated him to let her come into his bed, and said that her life depended on his conceding this boon. "It is not what I wish," replied Helgi, "but if it is as thou sayest, lie here at the stock, in thy clothes, and it will do me no harm." She got into the bed, and the king turned to the wall. A light was burning, and after a while the king took a look over his shoulder; never had he seen a fairer woman than was lying there, and not in rags, but in a silk kirtle. The king turns towards her now, and she informed him that his kindness had freed her from a weird imposed by her stepmother, which she was to be subject to till some king had admitted her to his bed, A. She had asked this grace of many, but no one before had been moved to grant it.
Every point of the Norse saga, except the stepmother's weird, is found in the Gaelic tale 'Nighean Righ fo Thuinn,' 'The Daughter of King Under-waves,' Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands, No lxxxvi, III, 403 f.
The Finn were together one wild night, when there was rain and snow. An uncouth woman knocked at Fionn's door about midnight, and cried to him to let her in under cover. "Thou strange, ugly creature, with thy hair down to thy heels, how canst thou ask me to let thee in!" he answered. She went away, with a scream, and the whole scene was repeated with Oisean. Then she came to Diarmaid. "Thou art hideous," he said, "and thy hair is down to thy heels, but come in." When she had come in, she told Diarmaid tbat she bad been travelling over ocean and sea for seven years, without being housed, till he had admitted her. She asked that she might come near the fire. "Come," said Diarmaid; but when she approached everybody retreated, because she was so hideous. She had not been long at the fire, when she wished to be under Diarmaid's blanket. "Thou art growing too bold," said he, "but come." She came under the blanket, and he turned a fold of it between them. "She was not long thus, when he gave a start, and he gazed at her, and he saw the finest drop of blood that ever was, from the beginning of the universe till the end of the world, at his side."
Mr. Campbell has a fragment of a Gaelic ballad upon this story, vol. xvii., p. 212 of his manuscript collection, 'Collun gun Cheann,' or, The Headless Trunk,' twenty-two lines. In this case, as the title imports, a body without a head replaces the hideous, dirty, and unkempt draggle-tail who begs shelter of the Finn successively and obtains her boon only from Diarmaid. See Campbell's Gaelic Ballads, p. ix.
The monstrous deformity of the woman is a trait in the ballad of 'The Marriage of Sir Gawain,' and related stories, and is described in tbese with revolting details. Her exaggerated appetite also is found in the romance of The Wedding of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell, see p. 290. The occasion on wbich she exhibits it is there the wedding feast, and the scene consequently resembles, even more closely there than here, what we meet with in the Danish ballads of 'Greve Genselin,' Grundtvig, No 16, I, 222, and 'Tord af Havsgaard,' Grundtvig, No 1, I, 1, IV, 580 (= Kristensen, 'Thors Hammer,' I, 85, No 35) the latter founded on the þrymskviða, or Hamarsheimt, of the older Edda. In a Norwegian version of 'Greve Genselin,' Grundtvig, IV, 732, the feats of eating and drinking are performed not by the bride, but by an old woman who acts as bridesmaid, brúrekvinne. [1]
A maid who submits, at a linden-worm's entreaty, to lie in the same bed with him, finds a king's son by her side in the morning: Grundtvig, 'Lindormen,' No 65, B, C, II, 213, III, 839; Kristensen, I, 195, No 71; Afzelius, III, 121, No 88; Arwidsson, II, 270, No 139; Hazelius, Ur de nordiska Folkens Lif, p. 117, and p. 149. In 'Ode und de Slang',' Müllenhoff, Sagen u.s.w., p. 383, a maid, without much reluctance, lets a snake successively come into the house, into her chamber, and finally into her bed, upon which the snake changes immediately into a prince.
Scott's copy is translated by Schubart, p. 127, and by Gerhard, p. 129; Jamieson's, without the interpolations, after Aytoun, II, 22, by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 36.
Footnote:
1. The like by a carlin at a birth-feast, 'Krellingen til Barsel,' Kristensen, II, 341, No 100, Landstad, p. 666, No 96; known also in Sweden. Again, by a fighting friar, 'Den stridbare Munken,' Arwidsson, I, 417. 'Greve Genselin' is translated by Prior, I, 173, and by Jamieson, Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 310; 'Tord af Havsgaard' by Prior, I, 3.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Scott describes his copy of 'King Henry' as "edited from the Manuscript of Mrs. Brown, corrected by a recited fragment." This manuscript was William Tytler's, now lost. The story is a variety of that which is found in 'The Marriage of Sir Gawain' (No. 31), and has its parallel, as Scott observes, in an episode in the saga of Hrólfr Kraki. Every point of the Norse saga, except the stepmother's weird, is found in the Gaelic tale 'The Daughter of King Under-waves' (Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands, No. 86, in, 403 f.). Campbell had a fragment of a Gaelic ballad upon this story (vol. xvii, p. 212, of his manuscript collection), 'Collun gun Cheann,' or 'The Headless Trunk,' twenty-two lines. In this case, as the title imports, a body without a head replaces the hideous, dirty, and unkempt draggle-tail who begs shelter of the Finn successively and obtains her boon only from Diarmaid (see Campbell's Gaelic Ballads, p. ix). On the whole matter see Dr. Maynadier's monograph on The Wife of Bath's Tale (p. 55, above).
Child's Ballad Text A
King Henry- Version A a; Child 32
a. The Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, fol. 31.
b. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802, II, 132.
Lat never a man a wooing wend
That lacketh thingis three;
A routh o gold, an open heart,
Ay fu o charity.
2 As this I speak of King Henry,
For he lay burd-alone;
An he's doen him to a jelly hunt's ha,
Was seven miles frae a town.
3 He chas'd the deer now him before,
An the roe down by the den,
Till the fattest buch in a' the flock
King Henry he has slain.
4 O he has doen him to his ha,
To make him beerly cheer;
An in it came a griesly ghost,
Steed stappin i the fleer.
5 Her head hat the reef-tree o the house,
Her middle ye mot wel span;
He's thrown to her his gay mantle,
Says, 'Lady, hap your lingcan.'
6 Her teeth was a' like teather stakes,
Her nose like club or mell;
An I ken naething she 'peard to be,
But the fiend that wons in hell.
7 'Some meat, some meat, ye King Henry,
Some meat ye gie to me!'
'An what meat's in this house, lady,
An what ha I to gie?'
'O ye do kill your berry-brown steed,
An you bring him here to me.'
8 O whan he slew his berry-brown steed,
Wow but his heart was sair!
Shee eat him [a'] up, skin an bane,
Left naething but hide an hair.
9 'Mair meat, mair meat, ye King Henry,
Mair meat ye gi to me!'
'An what meat's in this house, lady,
An what ha I to gi?'
'O ye do kill your good gray-hounds,
An ye bring them a' to me.'
10 O whan he slew his good gray-hounds,
Wow but his heart was sair!
She eat them a' up, skin an bane,
Left naething but hide an hair.
11 'Mair meat, mair meat, ye King Henry,
Mair meat ye gi to me!'
'An what meat's i this house, lady,
An what ha I to gi?'
'O ye do kill your gay gos-hawks,
An ye bring them here to me.'
12 O whan he slew his gay gos-hawks,
Wow but his heart was sair!
She eat them a' up, skin an bane,
Left naething but feathers bare.
13 'Some drink, some drink, now, King Henry,
Some drink ye bring to me!'
'O what drink's i this house, lady,
That you're nae welcome ti?'
'O ye sew up your horse's hide,
An bring in a drink to me.'
14 And he's sewd up the bloody hide,
A puncheon o wine put in;
She drank it a' up at a waught,
Left na ae drap ahin.
15 'A bed, a bed, now, King Henry,
A bed you mak to me!
For ye maun pu the heather green,
An mak a bed to me.'
16 O pu'd has he the heather green,
An made to her a bed,
An up has he taen his gay mantle,
An oer it has he spread.
17 'Tak aff your claiths, now, King Henry,
An lye down by my side!'
'O God forbid,' says King Henry,
'That ever the like betide;
That ever the fiend that wons in hell
Shoud streak down by my side.'
* * * * *
18 Whan night was gane, and day was come,
An the sun shone throw the ha,
The fairest lady that ever was seen
Lay atween him an the wa.
19 'O well is me!' says King Henry,
'How lang 'll this last wi me?'
Then out it spake that fair lady,
'Even till the day you dee.
20 'For I 've met wi mony a gentle knight
That's gien me sic a fill,
But never before wi a courteous knight
That ga me a' my will.'
End-Notes
a. 135. shew.
191. will.
b. 1. The first stanza of the original of this copy, as cited by Anderson, is:
Let never a man a wooing wend
That lacketh things three,
A routh of gold, and open heart,
An fu o charity.
14. And fu o courtesey.
21. And this was seen o.
23. And he has taen him to a haunted hunt's ha.
31. He's chaced the dun deer thro the wood.
33. in a' the herd.
4. He's taen him to his hunting ha,
For to make burly cheir;
When loud the wind was heard to sound,
And an earthquake rocked the floor.
And darkness coverd a' the hall,
Where they sat at their meat;
The gray dogs, youling, left their food,
And crept to Henrie's feet.
And louder houled the rising wind
And burst the fastned door;
And in there came a griesly ghost,
Stood stamping on the floor.
The wind and darkness are not of Scott's invention, for nearly all that is not in a is found in Lewis, too.
53,4. Each frighted huntsman fled the ha,
And left the king alone.
74-6. That ye're nae wellcum tee?',
O ye's gae kill your berry brown steed,
And serve him up to me.'
94. That ye're na wellcum tee?
103. a' up, ane by ane.
114-6. That I hae left to gie?'
'O ye do fell your gay goss-hawks,
And bring them a' to me.'
121. he felled.
123. bane by bane.
142. And put in a pipe of wine.
143. up a' at ae draught.
144. drap therein.
15. Between 2 and 3:
And what's the bed i this house, ladye,
That ye're nae wellcum tee?
153. O ye maun pu the green heather.
171,2. Now swear, now swear, ye king Henrie,
To take me for your bride.
181. When day was come, and night was gane.
193. And out and spak that ladye fair.
20. For I was witched to a ghastly shape,
All by my stepdame's skill,
Till I should meet wi a courteous knight
Wad gie me a' my will.
Additions and Corrections
P. 298, note. So of a frog, Colshorns, p. 139, No 42.
298 b, second paragraph. "In an unpublished story of the Monferrato, communicated to me by Dr. Ferraro, a beautiful girl, when plucking up a cabbage, sees under its roots a large room, goes down into it, and finds a serpent there, who promises to make her fortune if she will kiss him and sleep with him. The girl consents. After three months the serpent begins to assume the legs of a man, then a man's body, and finally the face of a handsome youth, the son of a king, and marries his young deliverer." De Gubernatis, Zoölogical Mythology, II, 418. G. L. K.
P. 298 b. Second paragraph. Prince as lindworm restored by maid's lying in bed with him one night: 'Lindormen,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 20, No 9, Lagus, Nyländske Folkvisor, I, 97, No 29, a, b. (Lindworm asks for a kiss in a 4, b 2.)
P. 290, note †, IV, 454 a. "La nuit si jolie fille, le jour si jolie biche:" Pineau, Le Folk-lore du Poitou, p. 391. [A raven by day, a woman by night: von Wlislocki, M. u. S. der Bukowinaer u. Siebenbürger Armenier, p. 75. On transformations of all kinds, see S. Prato, Bulletin de Folklore, 1892, p. 316 ff.]
298, II, 502 b, IV, 454 a. A man marries a snake. At midnight it becomes a woman, and it keeps that form thereafter: J. Krainz, Mythen u. Sagen aus dem steirischen Hochlande. No. 147, p. 194. A snake (enchanted man) marries a girl, and is thereby freed: Brüder Zingerle, Tirols Volksdichtungen, II, 173 ff.; cf. II, 317. G. L. K.