No. 90: Jellon Grame
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (there are no footnotes)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-D (B b is added in Additions and Corrections; the changes for A b are given in End-Notes)
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 90. Jellon Grame
A. Roud No. 58: Jellon Grame (20 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 90. Jellon Grame (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-D with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. a. 'Jellon Grame and Lillie Flower,' A. Fraser Tytler's Brown Manuscript, No 4.
b. 'Jellon Grame,' Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 20, 1802.
B. a. 'Hind Henry,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 443.
b. From the papers of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, "second collection," p. 6.
C. 'May-a-Row,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 231.
D. 'Lady Margerie,' Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 222.
'Jellon Grame' was first given to the world in Scott's Minstrelsy, in 1802. The editor says of this copy, A b, "This ballad is published from tradition, with some conjectural emendations. It is corrected by a copy in Mrs. Brown's Manuscript [A a], from which it differs in the concluding stanzas. Some verses are apparently modernized." The only very important difference between Scott's version and Mrs. Brown's is its having four stanzas of its own, the four before the last two, which are evidently not simply modernized, but modern.
There is a material difference between the story furnished by A and what we learn from the three other copies. Jellon Grame sends for his love Lillie Flower to come to the wood. She is very eager to go, though warned by the messenger that she may never come back. Jellon Grame, who has already dug her grave, kills her because her father will hang him when it is discovered that she has had a child by him. He brings up the child as his sister's son. One day, when the boy asks why his mother does not take him home, Jellon Grame (very unnaturally) answers, I slew her, and there she lies: upon which the boy sends an arrow through him.
In B, C, D, the man is Henry, Hind Henry, B, C; the maid is May Margerie, B, May-a-Roe, C, Margerie, D. Margerie, in B, receives a message to come to the wood to make her love a shirt, which surprises her, for no month had passed in the year that she had not made him three. Nevertheless, she goes, though warned by her mother that there is a plot against her life. She is stopped in the wood by Hind Henry, who kills her because she loves Brown Robin. Word is carried that Margerie has been slain; her sister hastens to the wood, takes under her care the child which Margerie was going with, and calls him Brown Robin, after his father. The lad goes to the wood one day after school to pull a hollin wand, and meets Hind Henry at the place where the mother had been killed. No grass is growing just there, and the boy asks Hind Henry why this is so. Hind Henry, not less frank than Jellon Grame, says, That is the very spot where I killed your mother. The boy catches at Henry's sword and runs him through.
Chas nearly the same incidents as B, diluted and vulgarized in almost twice as many verses. Brown Robin is made to be Hind Henry's brother. The sister does not appear in the action, and the child is brought up by the murderer, as in A, but is named Robin Hood, after that bold robber. On hearing from Hind Henry how his mother had come to her death, young Robin sends an arrow to his heart.
A story is supplied from the "traditions of Galloway" for the fragmentary, and perhaps heterogeneous, verses called D; I suppose by Allan Cunningham. Margerie was beloved by two brothers, and preferred the elder. Henry, the younger, forged a billet to her by which he obtained a meeting in a wood, when he reproached her for not returning his feelings: sts 1, 2. "She expostulated with him on the impropriety of bringing her into an unfrequented place for the purpose of winning affections which, she observed, were not hers to be stow;" but expostulations as to improprieties producing but slight effect in "those rude times," told him plainly that she was with child by his brother. Henry drew his sword and killed Margerie. The elder brother, who was hunting, was apprised of mischief by the omens in stanza 4. "Astonished at this singular phenomenon, he immediately flew to the bower of his mistress, where a page informed him she was gone to the 'silver wood,' agreeably to his desire. Thither he spurred his horse, and, meeting Henry with his bloody sword still in his hand, inquired what he had been killing." The other replied as in stanza 5. "A mutual explanation took place, and Henry fell by the sword of his unhappy brother."
The resemblance of this ballad at the beginning to 'Child Maurice' will not escape notice. Silver Wood, or the silver wood, is found in 'Child Maurice,' A 1, G 1. A 14, B 10, C 15, is a commonplace: see No 66, A 28, 29, B 20, 21, D 9, E 40; No 70, B 25; No 81, K 13. B 13 is found in 'Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter,' B 24: cf. A 15. The phenomenon in D 4 we have had in No 65, D 17.
'Jellon Grame,' and particularly versions B, C, D, may be regarded as a counterpart to 'Fause Foodrage,' and especially to versions B, C, of that ballad. In 'Fause Foodrage,' B, C, and 'Jellon Grame,' B, C, D, a woman has two lovers. The one who is preferred is killed by the other in 'Fause Foodrage;' in 'Jellon Grame' the woman herself is killed by the lover she has rejected. This kind of interchange is familiar in ballads. In both 'Fause Foodrage' and 'Jellon Grame' the son of the woman, before he comes to manhood, takes vengeance on the murderer.
'Jellon Grame,' as well as 'Fause Foodrage,' has certainly suffered very much in transmission. It is interesting to find an ancient and original trait preserved even in so extremely corrupted a version as C of the present ballad, a circumstance very far from unexampled. In stanza 18 we read that the child who is to avenge his mother "grew as big in ae year auld as some boys woud in three," and we have a faint trace of the same extraordinary thriving in B 15: "Of all the youths was at that school none could with him compare." So in one of the Scandinavian ballads akin to 'Fause Foodrage,' and more remotely to 'Jellon Grame,' the corresponding child grows more in two months than other boys in eight years:
Mei voks unge Ingelbrett
í del maanar tvaa
hell híne smaabonni
vokse paa aatte aar.
Bugge, Norske Folkeviser, No 23, st. 17, p. 113.
This is a commonplace: so again Bugge, No 5, sts 7, 8, p. 23. Compare Robert le Diable, and Sir Gowther.
In B 14 we are told that the boy was called by his father's name (C 17 is corrupted). This is a point in the corresponding Scandinavian ballads: Danske Viser, No 126, st. 21, No 127, st. 34; Levninger, No 12, st. 26, No 13, st. 18; Íslenzk fornkvæði, No 28, st. 33 b; Bugge, No 23, st. 16; Kristensen, I, No 97, sts 7, 11, No 111, st. 9.
A b is translated by Schubart, p. 69; by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 234.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
'Jellon Grame' may be regarded as a counterpart to 'Fause Foodrage' (No. 89). It has certainly suffered very much in transmission. There is a material difference in plot between the story furnished by A and what we learn from the three other copies (of which B is here printed).
Child's Ballad Texts
'Jellon Grame and Lillie Flower'- Version A a; Child 90-Jellon Grame
A. a. Fraser Tytler's Brown Manuscript, No 4.
b. Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 20, 1802.
1 O Jellon Grame sat in Silver Wood,
He whistled and he sang,
And he has calld his little foot-page,
His errand for to gang.
2 'Win up, my bonny boy,' he says,
'As quick as eer you may;
For ye maun gang for Lillie Flower,
Before the break of day.'
3 The boy he's buckled his belt about,
And thro the green-wood ran,
And he came to the ladie's bower-door,
Before the day did dawn.
4 'O sleep ye, or wake ye, Lillie Flower?
The red run's i the rain:'
'I sleep not aft, I wake right aft;
Wha's that that kens my name?'
5 'Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
But I fear you'll never win hame;
Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
And speak wi Jellon Grame.'
6 'O I will gang to Silver Wood,
Though I shoud never win hame;
For the thing I most desire on earth
Is to speak wi Jellon Grame.'
7 She had no ridden a mile, a mile,
A mile but barely three,
Ere she came to a new made grave,
Beneath a green oak tree.
8 O then up started Jellon Grame,
Out of a bush hard bye:
'Light down, light down now, Lillie Flower,
For it's here that ye maun ly.'
9 She lighted aff her milk-white steed,
And knelt upon her knee:
'O mercy, mercy, Jellon Grame!
For I'm nae prepar'd to die.
10 'Your bairn, that stirs between my sides,
Maun shortly see the light;
But to see it weltring in my blude
Woud be a piteous sight.'
11 'O shoud I spare your life,' he says,
'Until that bairn be born,
I ken fu well your stern father
Woud hang me on the morn.'
12 'O spare my life now, Jellon Grame!
My father ye neer need dread;
I'll keep my bairn i the good green wood,
Or wi it I'll beg my bread.'
13 He took nae pity on that ladie,
Tho she for life did pray;
But pierced her thro the fair body,
As at his feet she lay.
14 He felt nae pity for that ladie,
Tho she was lying dead;
But he felt some for the bonny boy,
Lay weltring in her blude.
15 Up has he taen that bonny boy,
Gien him to nurices nine,
Three to wake, and three to sleep,
And three to go between.
16 And he's brought up that bonny boy,
Calld him his sister's son;
He thought nae man would eer find out
The deed that he had done.
17 But it sae fell out upon a time,
As a hunting they did gay,
That they rested them in Silver Wood,
Upon a summer-day.
18 Then out it spake that bonny boy,
While the tear stood in his eye,
'O tell me this now, Jellon Grame,
And I pray you dinna lie.
19 'The reason that my mother dear
Does never take me hame?
To keep me still in banishment
Is baith a sin and shame.'
20 'You wonder that your mother dear
Does never send for thee;
Lo, there's the place I slew thy mother,
Beneath that green oak tree.'
21 Wi that the boy has bent his bow,
It was baith stout and lang,
And through and thro him Jellon Grame
He's gard an arrow gang.
22 Says, Lye you thare now, Jellon Grame,
My mellison you wi;
The place my mother lies buried in
Is far too good for thee.
----------
'Hind Henry'- Version B a; Child 90 Jellon Grame
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 443.
1 Word has come to May Margerie,
In her bower where she sat:
'You are bid come to good green-wood,
To make your love a shirt.'
2 'I wonder much,' said May Margerie,
'At this message to me;
There is not a month gone of this year
But I have made him three.'
3 Then out did speak her mother dear,
A wise woman was she;
Said, Stay at home, my daughter May,
They seek to murder thee.
4 'O I'll cast off my gloves, mother,
And hang them up, I say;
If I come never back again,
They will mind you on May.
5 'Go saddle my horseback,' she said,
'It's quick as ever you may,
And we will ride to good green-wood;
It is a pleasant day.'
6 And when she came to good green-wood,
It's through it they did ride;
Then up did start him Hind Henry,
Just at the lady's side.
7 Says, Stop, O stop, you May Margerie,
Just stop I say to thee;
The boy that leads your bridle reins
Shall see you red and blue.
8 It's out he drew a long, long brand,
And stroked it ower a strae,
And through and through that lady's sides
He made the cauld weapon gae.
9 Says, Take you that now, May Margerie,
Just take you that from me,
Because you love Brown Robin,
And never would love me.
10 There was less pity for that lady,
When she was lying dead,
As was for her bony infant boy,
Lay swathed amang her bleed.
11 The boy fled home with all his might,
The tear into his ee:
'They have slain my lady in the wood,
With fear I'm like to die.'
12 Her sister's ran into the wood,
With greater grief and care,
Sighing and sobbing all the way,
Tearing her cloaths and hair.
13 Says, I'll take up that fair infant,
And lull him on my sleeve;
Altho his father should wish me woe,
His mother to me was leeve.
14 Now she has taken the infant up,
And she has brought him hame,
And she has called him Brown Robin,
That was his father's name.
15 And when he did grow up a bit,
She put him to the lair,
And of all the youths was at that school
None could with him compare.
16 And it fell once upon a day
A playtime it was come,
And when the rest went from the school,
Each one to their own home,
17 He hied him unto good green-wood,
And leapt from tree to tree;
It was to pull a hollin wand,
To play his ownself wi.
18 And when he thus had passed his time,
To go home he was fain,
He chanced to meet him Hind Henry,
Where his mother was slain.
19 'O how is this,' the youth cried out,
'If it to you is known,
How all this wood is growing grass,
And on that small spot grows none?'
20 'Since you do wonder, bonnie boy,
I shall tell you anon;
That is indeed the very spot
I killed your mother in.'
21 He catched hold of Henry's brand,
And stroked it ower a strae,
And thro and thro Hind Henry's sides
He made the cauld metal gae.
22 Says, Take you that, O Hind Henry,
O take you that from me,
For killing of my mother dear,
And her not hurting thee.
--------------
'May-a-Row,'- Version C; Child 90- Jellon Grame
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 231.
1 When spring appeard in all its bloom,
And flowers grew fresh and green,
As May-a-Roe she set her down,
To lay gowd on her seam.
2 But word has come to that lady,
At evening when 'twas dark,
To meet her love in gude greenwood,
And bring to him a sark.
3 'That's strange to me,' said May-a-Roe,
'For how can a' this be?
A month or twa is scarcely past
Sin I sent my lovie three.'
4 Then May-a-Roe lap on her steed,
And quickly rade away;
She hadna ridden but hauf a mile,
Till she heard a voice to say:
5 'Turn back, turn back, ye ventrous maid,
Nae farther must ye go;
For the boy that leads your bridle rein
Leads you to your overthrow.'
6 But a' these words she neer did mind,
But fast awa did ride;
And up it starts him Hynde Henry,
Just fair by her right side.
7 'Ye'll tarry here, perfidious maid,
For by my hand ye'se dee;
Ye married my brother, Brown Robin,
Whan ye shoud hae married me.'
8 'O mercy, mercy, Hynde Henry,
O mercy have on me!
For I am eight months gane wi child,
Therefore ye'll lat me be.'
9 'Nae mercy is for thee, fair maid,
Nae mercy is for thee;
You married my brother, Brown Robin,
Whan ye shoud hae married me.'
10 'Ye will bring here the bread, Henry,
And I will bring the wine,
And ye will drink to your ain love,
And I will drink to mine.'
11 'I winna bring here the bread, fair maid,
Nor yet shall ye the wine,
Nor will I drink to my ain love,
Nor yet shall ye to thine.'
12 'O mercy, mercy, Hynde Henry,
Until I lighter be!
Hae mercy on your brother's bairn,
Tho ye hae nane for me.'
13 'Nae mercy is for thee, fair maid,
Nae mercy is for thee;
Such mercy unto you I'll gie
As what ye gae to me.'
14 Then he's taen out a trusty brand,
And stroakd it ower a strae,
And thro and thro her fair body
He's gart cauld iron gae.
15 Nae meen was made for that lady,
For she was lying dead;
But a' was for her bonny bairn,
Lay spartling by her side.
16 Then he's taen up the bonny bairn,
Handled him tenderlie,
And said, Ye are o my ain kin,
Tho your mother ill used me.
17 He's washen him at the crystal stream,
And rowd him in a weed,
And namd him after a bold robber
Who was calld Robin Hood.
18 Then brought to the next borough's town,
And gae him nurses three;
He grew as big in ae year auld
As some boys woud in three.
19 Then he was sent to guid squeel-house,
To learn how to thrive;
He learnd as muckle in ae year's time
As some Boys would in five.
20 'But I wonder, I wonder,' said little Robin,
'Gin eer a woman bare me;
For mony a lady spiers for the rest,
But nae ane spiers for me.
21 'I wonder, I wonder,' said little Robin,
'Were I of woman born;
Whan ladies my comrades do caress,
They look at me wi scorn.'
22 It fell upon an evening-tide,
Was ae night by it lane,
Whan a' the boys frae guid squeel-house
Were merrily coming hame,
23 Robin parted frae the rest,
He wishd to be alane;
And when his comrades he dismist,
To guid greenwood he's gane.
24 When he came to guid greenwood,
He clamb frae tree to tree,
To pou some o the finest leaves,
Ffor to divert him wi.
25 He hadna pu'd a leaf, a leaf,
Nor brake a branch but ane,
Till by it came him Hynde Henry,
And bade him lat alane.
26 'You are too bauld a boy,' he said,
'Sae impudent you be,
As pu the leaves that's nae your ain,
Or yet to touch the tree.'
27 'O mercy, mercy, gentleman,
O mercy hae on me!
For if that I offence hae done,
It was unknown to me.'
28 'Nae boy comes here to guid greenwood
But pays a fine to me;
Your velvet coat, or shooting-bow,
Which o them will ye gie?'
29 'My shooting-bow arches sae well,
Wi it I canno part;
Lest wer't to send a sharp arrow
To pierce you to the heart.'
30 He turnd him right and round about,
His countenance did change:
'Ye seem to be a boy right bauld;
Why can ye talk sae strange?
31 'I'm sure ye are the bauldest boy
That ever I talkd wi;
As for your mother, May-a-Roe,
She was neer sae bauld to me.'
32 'O, if ye knew my mother,' he said,
'That's very strange to me;
And if that ye my mother knew,
It's mair than I coud dee.'
33 'Sae well as I your mother knew,
Ance my sweet-heart was she;
Because to me she broke her vow,
This maid was slain by me.'
34 'O, if ye slew my mother dear,
As I trust ye make nae lie,
I wyte ye never did the deed
That better paid shall be.'
35 'O mercy, mercy, little Robin,
O mercy hae on me!'
'Sic mercy as ye pae my mother,
Sic mercy I'll gie thee.
36 'Prepare yourself, perfidious man,
For by my hand ye'se dee;
Now come's that bluidy butcher's end
Took my mother frae me.'
37 Then he hae chosen a sharp arrow,
That was baith keen and smart,
And let it fly at Hynde Henry,
And piercd him to the heart.
38 These news hae gaen thro Stirling town,
Likewise thro Hunting-ha;
At last it reachd the king's own court,
Amang the nobles a'.
39 When the king got word o that,
A light laugh then gae he,
And he's sent for him little Robin,
To come right speedilie.
40 He's putten on little Robin's head
A ribbon and gowden crown,
And made him ane o's finest knights,
For the valour he had done.
----------
'Lady Margerie'- Version D; Child 90- Jellon Grame
Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 222.
1 * * * *
D'ye mind, d'ye mind, Lady Margerie,
When we handed round the beer?
Seven times I fainted for your sake,
And you never dropt a tear.
2 'D'ye mind, d'ye mind, Lady Margerie,
When we handed round the wine?
Seven times I fainted for your sake,
And you never fainted once for mine.'
* * * * *
3 And he's taen the baby out of her womb
And thrown it upon a thorn:
'Let the wind blow east, let the wind blow west,
The cradle will rock its lone.'
* * * * *
4 But when brother Henry's cruel brand
Had done the bloody deed,
The silver-buttons flew off his coat,
And his nose began to bleed.
* * * * *
5 'O I have been killing in the silver wood
What will breed mickle woe;
I have been killing in the silver wood
A dawdy and a doe.'
* * * * *
End-Notes
A. a. 104. piteouus.
b. 12, he sharpd his broad-sword lang.
14. An errand.
22. quickly as ye.
31. boy has.
33. ladye's bower.
41. or omitted.
42. red sun 's on.
43,4. wanting.
51,2. as 43,4: I doubt ye'll.
53,4. wanting.
6. wanting.
71. had na.
82. there bye.
94. no.
112. were born.
113. Full weel I ken your auld.
122. ye need na.
123. babe in gude.
131. on Lillie Flower.
141. for Lillie Flower.
142. Where she.
143. bonny bairn.
144. That lay.
153. Three to sleep and three to wake.
161. he bred.
163. And he thought no eye could ever see.
171. O so it fell upon a day.
172. When hunting they might be.
173. That omitted.
174. Beneath that green aik tree.
18-20.
And mony were the green wood flowers
Upon the grave that grew,
And marvelld much that bonny boy
To see their lovely hue.
'What 's paler than the prymrose wan?
What 's redder than the rose?
What 's fairer than the lilye flower
On this wee know that grows?'
O out and answered Jellon Grame,
And he spake hastilie;
'Your mother was a fairer flower,
And lies beneath this tree.
'More pale she was, when she sought my grace,
Than prymrose pale and wan,
And redder than rose her ruddy heart's blood,
That down my broad-sword ran.'
221. Lie ye.
222. gang you wi.
B. 121. sisters ran: into altered to unto.
Additions and Corrections
P. 303 b, the first paragraph. Add to Bugge, No 5, Landstad's version, No 18, stanzas 6, 7, p. 224. The trait of the extraordinary growth of the boy who is to avenge his father is preserved also in the Färöe 'Sveinur í Vallalíð' (a variety of 'Ung Villum,' II, 297 a), Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi. p. 181, stanzas 44, 45. Again in 'Ivar Erlingen og Riddarsonen,' Landstad, No 13, 8tanzas 22, 23, p. 161. Sigurd grows more in one month than other bairns in six in some Färöe versions of 'Regin Smith,' as Lyngbye, p. 58, stanzas 33, 34; the verses having, perhaps, been adopted from other ballads: see Hammershaimb, Sjúðar kvæði, p. 6, note 2. This marvellous growth occurs in some popular tales, as 'Der Grindkopf' (Italian), Köhler, in Jahrbuch für rom. u. eng. Literatur, VIII, 253, Gonzenbach, Sicilianische Volksmärchen, I, 158, No 26.
Pp. 303 b, 513 b. Marvellous growth, etc. Ormr Stórólfsson very early attained to a great size, and at seven was a match for the strongest men: Flateyjarbok, I, 521, Fornmanna Sögur, III, 205, cited by Bugge in Paul u. Braune's Beiträge, XII, 58. Wolfdietrich gains one man's strength every year, and amazes everybody in his infancy even. Wolfdietrich A, ed. Amelung, sts 31, 38-41, 45, 233, 234, pp. 84, 85, 86, 108. (Some striking resemblances to Robert le Diable.) Cf. also Wigalois, ed. Pfeiffer, 36, 2f., = Benecke, 1226 f.:
In einem jare wuchs ez mer
dan ein anderz in zwein tuo.
Elias (afterwards the Knight of the Swan), who is to avenge his mother, astonishes by his rapid growth the old hermit who brings him up:
"A! Dieu! dist ly preudons, a qui est cest enfant?
Il est sy jouènes d'âge et s'a le corps sy grant:
S'il croist sy faitement, ce sera ung gaiant."
Chevalier au Cygne, ed. Reiffenberg, vv. 960-963, I, 45. "The little Malbrouk grew fast, and at seven years old he was as tall as a tall man." Webster, basque Legends, 2d ed., p. 78; Vinson, Folk-Lore du Pays basque, p. 81. The Ynca Mayta Ccapac "a few months after his birth began to talk, and at ten years of age fought valiantly and defeated his enemies." Markham, Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas, Hakluyt Society, p. 83. A Tête-Rasée infant in four days grows to the full size of man. Petitot, Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest, pp. 241-243. (G. L. K.)
P. 303 b, 513 b, III, 515 b. Robert le Diable in Luzel's ballad, II, 24 f, when one year old, was as big as a child of five.
At the age of five, Cuchulinn sets out for his uncle's court, where he performs prodigies of strength. In his seventh year he is received among the heroes, etc.: Zimmer, Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1890, pp. 519-20. Merlin, when two years old, "speaks and goes," and defends his mother before the justice: Arthour and Merlin, vv. 1069-70, ed. Turnbull for the Abbotsford Club, p. 41. Ögmundr when seven years old was as strong as a full-grown man: Örvar-Odds Saga, c. 19, Rafn, Fornaldar Sögur, II, 241. The three-nights-old son of Thórr and Járnsaxa removes the foot of Hrungnir from the neck of his father when all the gods have tried in vain. He also speaks. Skáldskaparmál, c. 17. "The Shee an Gannon was born in the morning, named at noon, and went in the evening to ask his daughter of the king of Erin:" Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, p. 114. Cf. p. 223, where a champion jumps out of the cradle. (G. L. K.)
P. 303 b, 513 b, III, 515 b, IV, 479 b. Precocious growth.
The French romance of Alexander. Albéric de Besançon: Alexander had more strength when three days old than other children of four months; he walked and ran better from his first year than any other child from its seventh. (The same, nearly, in Lamprecht, vv. 142-4: he throve better in three days than any other child of three months; 178-80, in his first year his strength and body waxed more than another's in three.) Manuscript de l'Arsenal: the child grew in vitality and knowledge more in seven years than others do in a hundred. Manuscript de Venise: he grew more in body and knowledge in eight years than others in a hundred. P. Meyer, Alexandre le Grand, I, 5, v. 56 f., 6, v. 74 f., 27, v. 39 f., 240, v. 53 f. 'Plus sot en x jors que i. autres en c:' Michelant, p. 8, v. 20. A similar precocity is recorded of the Chinese Emperor Schimong: Gützlaff, Geschichte der Chinesen, hrsgg. v. Neumann, S. 19, cited by Weismann, Lamprecht's Alexander, I, 432.
In the romance of Mélusine it is related how, after her disappearance in serpent-form, she was seen by the nurses to return at night and care for her two infant sons, who, according to the earliest version, the prose of Jehan d'Arras, grew more in a week than other children in a month: ed. Brunet, 1854, p. 361. The same in the French romance, I. 4347 f., the English metrical version, I. 4035-37, and in the German Volksbuch. (H. L. Koopman.)
Tom Hickathrift "was in length, when he was but ten years of age, about eight foot, and in thickness five foot, and his hand was like unto a shoulder of mutton, and in all parts from top to toe he was like a monster." The History of Thomas Hickathrift, ed. by G.L. Gomme, Villon Society, 1885, p. 2. (G. L. K.)
305. B. The following, a variety of B, is from the papers of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, "second collection," p. 6.
1 Word has come to May Young Ho,
In her bower where she sat,
'You'r bidden come to good green wood
And sew your love a shirt.'
2 'I wonder much,' said May Young Roe,
'Such word is come to me;
Ther's not a month throwout this year
But I have sewed him three.'
3 Then out it spake her mother,
And a wise word spoke she;
Said, Stay at home, my daughter,
They want to murder thee.
4 'I will cast off my gloves, mother,
And hing them on a pin;
If I come never back again,
You'l mind on your daugh[t]er young.
5 'Come here, my boy,' she cried,
'And bring my horse to me,
That I may ride to good green wood,
The flowers in it to see.'
6 When she was got to good green wood,
No further did she ride
Till up did start him Hind Henry,
Just at the ladie's side.
7 'O stop, O stop there, May,' he cried,
'O stop, I say to thee;
The boy who holds your bridle-reins
Shall see your body wea.'
8 Then out he drew a large long brand,
And struck it ower a str[ow],
And throw and throw that ladie's side
He made the cold steel go.
9 Said, Take you that now, May Young Roe,
Just take you that from me,
Because you loved Brown Robin,
And never would love me.
10 The boy was in a dreadful fright,
And in great haste rode home,
Lamenting sadly all the way,
And made a piteous moan.
11 And when her mother heard his tale
She took the bed of care;
Her sister ran to good green wood,
A tearing of her hair.
12 There was small pity for that lady,
Where she was lying dead,
Compared with for the pretty babe,
Weltring among the blood.
13 I will take up this babe,' she said,
'And lull him on my sleeve;
Altho his father should wish me woe,
His mother was to me live.'
14 Now she has taken the boy up,
And she has brought him hame,
And she has called him Brown Robin,
It was his father's name.
15 And she has nursed him carefuly,
And put him to the school,
And any who affronted him
He soon did make cry dule.
16 And it fell ance upon a time
It was a haly day,
And all the boys at that school
On it they got the play.
17 He hied him unto good green wood,
And leap from tree to tree,
And there did pull some hollin wands,
To play his own self we.
18 And aft he looked on a spot,
And at it marvelled sair,
That all the wood was clad with leaves,
And that one spot was bare.
19 And he said unto Hind Henry,
'I wonder very sair
That all the wood is clad with leaves,
And this one spot is bare.'
20 'You need not wonder, boy,' he said,
'You need not wonder none,
For it is just the very spot
I killed your mother on.'
21 The boy's pulled out his daggar then,
And struck it ower a strow,
And even to Hind Henry's heart
He made the cold steel go.
22 Says, Take you that, you vile Henry,
Just take you that from me,
For killing of my mother dear,
And she not harming thee.
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P. 303 b, 513 b, III, 515 b, IV, 479 b, V, 226 a.
Vol'ga, Volch, of the Russian bylinas, must have a high place among the precocious heroes. When he was an hour and a half old his voice was like thunder, and at five years of age he made the earth tremble under his tread. At seven he had learned all cunning and wisdom, and all the languages. Dobrynya is also to be mentioned. See Wollner, Volksepik der Grossrussen, pp. 47 f., 91.
Simon the Foundling in the fine Servian heroic song of that name, Karadzic, II, 63, No 14, Talvj, I, 71, when he is a year old is like other children of three; when he is twelve like others of twenty, and wonderfully learned, with no occasion to be afraid of any scholar, not even the abbot. (Cf. 'The Lord of Lorne,' V, 54, 9, 10.)
Other cases, Revue Celtique, XII, 63; Wardrop, Georgian Folk Tales, No 6, p. 26. G. L. K. [Lady Guest's Mabinogion, III, 32, 65; 201, 232; Firdusi, Livre des Rois, Mohl, 1838, 1, 353 ff. A. and A. Schott, Walachische Märchen, p. 265 (cf. A. Wirth, Danae in christlichen Legenden, p. 34). F.N. Robinson. See also von Wlislocki, M. u. S. der Bukowinaer u. Siebenbürger Armenier, No 24, p. 65; Jacottet, Contes pop. des Bassoutos, p. 196 f.; Georgeakis et Pineau, Folk-lore de Lesbos, p. 168.]