Clerk Colvill, or, The Mermaid- Herd 1769 Child B
[Below Child's text is the same text with an interesting background paragraph from A Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Ballads 1815. See the three attached articles (Recordings & Info) for more information and about the connection with Child 85.]
Clerk Colvill, or, The Mermaid- Version B; Child 42 Clerk Colvill
Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 302: ed. 1776, I, 161.
1 Clerk Colvill and his lusty dame
Were walking in the garden green;
The belt around her stately waist
Cost Clerk Colvill of pounds fifteen.
2 'O promise me now, Clerk Colvill,
Or it will cost ye muckle strife,
Ride never by the wells of Slane,
If ye wad live and brook your life.'
3 'Now speak nae mair, my lusty dame,
Now speak nae mair of that to me;
Did I neer see a fair woman,
But I wad sin with her body?'
4 He's taen leave o his gay lady,
Nought minding what his lady said,
And he's rode by the wells of Slane,
Where washing was a bonny maid.
5 'Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid,
That wash sae clean your sark of silk;'
'And weel fa you, fair gentleman,
Your body whiter than the milk.'
* * * * *
6 Then loud, loud cry'd the Clerk Colvill,
'O my head it pains me sair;'
'Then take, then take,' the maiden said,
'And frae my sark you'll cut a gare.'
7 Then she's gied him a little bane-knife,
And frae her sark he cut a share;
She's ty'd it round his whey-white face,
But ay his head it aked mair.
8 Then louder cry'd the Clerk Colvill,
'O sairer, sairer akes my head;'
'And sairer, sairer ever will,'
The maiden crys, 'Till you be dead.'
9 Out then he drew his shining blade,
Thinking to stick her where she stood,
But she was vanishd to a fish,
And swam far off, a fair mermaid.
10 'O mother, mother, braid my hair;
My lusty lady, make my bed;
O brother, take my sword and spear,
For I have seen the false mermaid.'
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A Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Ballads, Page 270; 1815
CLERK COLVILL; Or, THE MERMAID.
A FRAGMENT
[The inhabitants of our northern and western coasts, at no distant period, firmly believed, that the dangerous shelves around them were tenanted with sea-monsters; the chief of these was the mermaid, who was represented as a beautiful female dragging a fish's tail; so fatal was her appearance considered, that whoever beheld her was supposed to survive the sight but a very short time: this part of the popular superstition is exemplified in the following fragment, where the hero's temerity in approaching and accosting one hastens his death.—The scene of the poem is laid at Slains on the coast of Buchan, which ,is indented by the sea with immense chasms, excavated in many places to a great extent.]
Clerk Colvill and his lusty dame
Were walking in the garden green;
The belt around her stately waist
Cost Clerk Colvill of pounds fifteen.
"O promise me now, Clerk Colvill,
Or it will cost ye muckle strife;
" Ride never by the wells of Slane,
If ye wad live and brook your life."
"Now speak nae mair, my lusty dame,
Now speak nae mair of that to me;
Did I ne'er see a fair woman,
But I wad sin with her fair body?"
He's ta'en leave o' his gay lady,
Nought minding what his lady said;
And he's rode by the wells of Slane,
Where washing was a bonny maid.
"Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid,
That wash sae clean your sark of silk
"And weel fa' you, fair gentleman,
Your body's whiter than the milk."
Then loud, loud cried the Clerk Colvill,
O my head it pains me sair;
"Then take, then take," the maiden said,
"And frae my sark you'll cut a gare."
Then she's gi'ed him a little bane-knife,
And frae his sark he cut a share;
She's ty'd it round his whey-white face,
But ay his head it aked mair.
Then louder cried the Clerk Colvill,
"O sairer, sairer akes my head;"
"And gairer, sairer ever will,"
The maiden cries, "'till you be dead."
Out then he drew his shining blade,
Thinking to stick her where she stood
But she was vanish'd to a fish,
And swam far off a fair mermaid.
"O mother, mother, braid my hair;
My lusty lady, make my bed;
O brother, take my sword and spear,
For I have seen the false mermaid."
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Let us take an example of the legends in which the charmer is a mermaid. In all these the plot is essentially similar. The hero is fascinated by the glance or gesture or song of the mermaid, and dies or is lured into the water, while a shout of elfin revelry is heard, or some other jign of elfin merriment is observed, over the success of her charm. Herd has preserved an imperfect specimen in Clerk Colvill, or the Mermaid; and another, entitled The Mermaid, of more poetical merit, though of more modern appearance, was obtained by Finlay from the recitation of a lady, who informed him that it had once been popular on the Carrick coast.