No. 36: The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea
[There are no known US or Canadian versions of this ballad. Reed Smith listed this ballad as a known US version but no text has been found. ]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes {moved to the end of narrative}
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A. (An additonal version of A is given in the Old Lady's Manuscript, No 2 in Additions and Corrections)
5. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea
A. Roud number 3968 Laily Worm (6 Listings)
2. English and Other Versions (Including Child version A with additional notes)]
3. Sheet Music: The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
Child's Narrative
A. Skene Manuscript, p. 30: taken down from recitation in the north of Scotland, in 1802 or 1803.
Somewhat mutilated, and also defaced, though it be, this ballad has certainly never been retouched by a pen, but is pure tradition. It has the first stanza in common with 'Kemp Owyne,' and shares more than that with 'Allison Gross.' But it is independent of 'Allison Gross,' and has a far more original sound. Maisry's services in washing and combing are more conceivable when rendered by a maid in her proper shape, as in 'Allison Gross,' than when attributed to a machrel of the sea; and it is likely that the machrel returned to her own figure every Saturday, and that this is one of the points lost from the story. It is said, here as in 'Allison Gross,' that Maisry kames the laily head on her knee.[1] It would be a mere cavil to raise a difficulty about combing a laily worm's head. The fiery beast in 'Kemp Owyne,' A, has long hair, and the laily worm may have had enough to be better for combing.[2]
It is only natural that the transformed maid should not wish to trust herself again in the hands of the stepmother, but it is not according to poetical justice that she should remain a machrel of the sea, and here again we may suppose something to have dropped out.
We have had a double transformation, of sister and brother, in the 'Marriage of Gawain' and in the 'Wedding of Gawen and Dame Ragnell,' and again, with a second sister added, in the story of Álsól. Brother and sister are transformed in the Danish 'Nattergalen,' Grundtvig, No 57. It is an aggravation of stepmother malice that the victim of enchantment, however amiable and inoffensive before, should become truculent and destructive; so with the brother of Gawain's bride, and with the Carl of Carlile. The stepmother is satisfactorily disposed of, as she is in 'Kemp Owyne,' B, and the 'Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heughs.'
Footnotes:
1. Dives, in one version of a well-known carol, has "a place prepared in hell, to sit upon a serpent's knee." The pious chanson in question is a very different thing from an old ballad, which, it is hoped, no one will think capable of fatuity.
2. As, for example, a dragon has in Hahn's Griechische Märchen, No 26, I, 187, and elsewhere.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Though this ballad is somewhat mutilated and defaced, it is pure tradition, and has never been retouched by a pen. It has the first stanza in common with 'Kemp Owyne' (No. 34), and shares more than that with 'Allison Gross' (No. 35). But it is independent of 'Allison Gross,' and has a far more original sound.
Child's Ballad Text A
'The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea'- Version A; Child 36
Skene Manuscript, p. 30: taken down from recitation in the north of Scotland, in 1802 or 1803.
1 'I was but seven year auld
When my mither she did die;
My father married the ae warst woman
The warld did ever see.
2 'For she has made me the laily worm,
That lies at the fit o the tree,
An my sister Masery she's made
The machrel of the sea.
3 'An every Saturday at noon
The machrel comes to me,
An she takes my laily head
An lays it on her knee,
She kaims it wi a siller kaim,
An washes't in the sea.
4 'Seven knights hae I slain,
Sin I lay at the fit of the tree,
An ye war na my ain father,
The eight ane ye should be.'
5 'Sing on your song, ye laily worm,
That ye did sing to me:'
'I never sung that song but what
I would it sing to thee.
6 'I was but seven year auld,
When my mither she did die;
My father married the ae warst woman
The warld did ever see.
7 'For she changed me to the laily worm,
That lies at the fit o the tree,
And my sister Masery
To the machrel of the sea.
8 'And every Saturday at noon
The machrel comes to me,
An she takes my laily head
An lays it on her knee,
An kames it wi a siller kame,
An washes it i the sea.
9 'Seven knights hae I slain,
Sin I lay at the fit o the tree,
An ye war na my ain father,
The eighth ane ye shoud be.'
10 He sent for his lady,
As fast as send could he:
'Whar is my son that ye sent frae me,
And my daughter, Lady Masery?'
11 'Your son is at our king's court,
Serving for meat an fee,
An your daughter's at our queen's court,
. . . . . '
12 'Ye lie, ye ill woman,
Sae loud as I hear ye lie;
My son's the laily worm,
That lies at the fit o the tree,
And my daughter, Lady Masery,
Is the machrel of the sea!'
13 She has tane a siller wan,
An gien him strokes three,
And he has started up the bravest knight
That ever your eyes did see.
14 She has taen a small horn,
An loud an shrill blew she,
An a' the fish came her untill
But the proud machrel of the sea:
'Ye shapeit me ance an unseemly shape,
An ye's never mare shape me.'
15 He has sent to the wood
For whins and for hawthorn,
An he has taen that gay lady,
An there he did her burn.
End-Notes
22, 72. lays: but lies, 124.
33. ducks, but compare 83
Additions and Corrections
P. 315. Though Skene has rendered this ballad with reasonable fidelity, for an editor, it shall, on account of its interest, be given as it stands in the old lady's Manuscript, where it is No 2. It proves not absolutely true, as I have said, that the Skene ballad has "never been retouched by a pen."
1 'I was bat seven year alld
Fan my mider she did dee,
My father marred the ae warst woman
The wardle did ever see.
2 'For she has made me the lailly worm
That lays att the fitt of the tree,
An o my sister Meassry
The machrel of the sea.
3 'An every Saterday att noon
The machrl comes ea to me,
An she takes my layle head,
An lays it on her knee,
An keames it we a silver kemm,
An washes it in the sea.
4 'Seven knights ha I slain
Sane I lay att the fitt of the tree;
An ye war na my ain father,
The eight an ye sud be.'
5 'Sing on your song, ye l[a]ily worm,
That ye sung to me; '
'I never sung that song
But fatt I wad sing to ye.
6 'I was but seven year aull
Fan my mider she [did] dee,
My father marred the a warst woman
The wardle did ever see.
7 'She changed me to the layel[y] worm
That layes att the fitt of the tree,
An my sister Messry
[To] the makrell of the sea.
8 And every Saterday att noon
The machrell comes to me,
An she takes my layly head,
An layes it on her knee,
An kames it weth a siller kame,
An washes it in the sea.
9 'Seven knights ha I slain
San I lay att the fitt of the tree;
An ye war na my ain father,
The eight ye sud be.'
10 He sent for his lady
As fast as sen cod he:
'Far is my son,
That ye sent fra me,
And my daughter,
Lady Messry?'
11 'Yer son is att our king's court,
Sarving for meatt an fee,
And yer doughter is att our quin's court,
A mary suit an free.'
12 Ye lee, ye ill woman,
Sa loud as I hear ye lea,
For my son is the layelly worm
That lays at the fitt of the tree,
An my daughter Messry
The machrell of the sea.'
13 She has tain a silver wan
An gine him stroks three,
An he started up the bravest knight
Your eyes did ever see.
14 She has tane a small horn
An loud an shill blue she,
An a' the came her tell but the proud machrell,
An she stood by the sea:
'Ye shaped me ance an unshemly shape,
An ye's never mare shape me.'
15 He has sent to the wood
For hathorn an fun,
An he has tane that gay lady,
An ther he did her burne.
Written without division into stanzas or verses.
32. comes ea (aye); but, on repetition in 82, comes simply, with better metre.
151. hes has.
153. that that.
316. 'Nattergalen,' in Kristensen, Folkeminder, XI, 25, No 20, A-C.
In a Kaffir tale a girl marries a crocodile. The crocodile bids her lick his face. Upon her doing so, the crocodile casts his skin and turns into a strong and handsome man. He had been transformed by the enemies of his father's house. (Theal, Kaffir Folk-Lore, 1882, p. 37, cited by Mr. Clouston.)
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P. 316 a. Naktergalsvisan, Bohlin, in Nyare Bidrag till Kännedom om de Svenska Landsmålen, II, 10, Folktoner fran Jämtland, pp. 5, 6.