British and other Versions- 8. Erlinton (Roud 24) (Earlington's Daughter; True Tammas; Sir Thamas; Robin Hood and the Tanner's Daughter)
Aa. Erlinton- W. Scott (Selkirkshire) ed. 1803; Child Aa
b. Erlinton- Laidlaw (Selkirkshire) Abbotsford Collection c. 1803; Child A* (or Child Ab)
c. Earlington's Daughter- Hogg (Ettrick, Selkirkshire) c.1803- Child Ac
Ba. True Tammas- James Telfer ( Liddesdale); early 1800s (c.1820s), Child Ba
b. Sir Thamas (changes from True Tammas) Child Bb
C. Robin Hood & the Tanner's Daughter- from Gutch's "Robin Hood," 1847 attributed to "T. Fleming" from a forged MS dating c.1836 of J. Payne Collier. Child C
[Child A, my Aa, is given by Sir Walter Scott in his Minstrelsy (1803) who says[1], "This ballad is published from the collation of two copies obtained from recitation." The two copies are presumed to be the ones collected by William Laidlaw (Kittredge's A*, my Ab) and James Hogg (my Ac) for Scott's Minstrelsy (c. 1801) and that they are from the same informant[2]. Scott's version is a recreation of the two so there are three versions of the same ballad, my Aa-Ac.
Scott compares Erlinton to Percy's "Child of Elle" while Child says that, "This ballad (Erlinton) has only with much hesitation been separated from the foregoing (Earl Brand). "Child of Elle," "Erlinton" and the ballads under Earl Brand are all "elopement" ballads: the daughter has eloped or married- without consent- a man of a lower station and the lovers are pursed by the maid's father and his men (and/or brothers) who plan to kill her lover and bring her back. Even though "Erlinton," "Earl Brand" and the "Douglas Tragedy" are elopement ballads they are different ballads and should be separated. Both "Erlinton" and "Earl Brand" were not printed as broadsides or in chapbooks, were not popular and disappeared by the mid-1800s. The extant versions of Erlinton are two, Child A, the Selkirkshire version and Child B, a version from the early 1800s (c.1820s) taken down by James Telfer, a school teacher of Saughtree, Liddesdale. Child C, of dubious authenticity[3], is a different, but similar, ballad.
R. Matteson 2018]
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Footnotes:
1. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border by Sir Walter Scott, Volume III, 1803, p.235
2. In ESPB Additions and Corrections, P. 107: "The differences are purely verbal, and both copies may probably have been derived from the same reciter. . ."
3. Child C was taken from a forged MS dating c.1836 in the possession of J. Payne Collier, a noted Shakespeare forger. Why Child accepts this obvious recreation from Collier (to a "Robin Hood" setting) as traditional, is unknown.
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Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border by Sir Walter Scott, Volume III, 1803, p.235
ERLINTON.
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.
This ballad is published from the collation of two copies obtained from recitation. It seems to be the rude original, or perhaps a corrupt and imperfect copy, of " The Child of Elle," a beautiful legendary tale, published in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry. It is singular that this charming ballad should have been translated, or imitated, by the celebrated Burger, without acknowledgment of the English original. As "The Child of Elle " avowedly received corrections, we may ascribe its greatest beauties to the poetical taste of the ingenious editor. They are in the true style of Gothic embellishment. We may compare, for example, the following beautiful verse, with the same idea in an old romance :—
"The baron stroked his dark-brown cheek,
And turned his face aside,
To wipe away the starting tear,
He proudly strove to hide!"—Child of Elle.
The heathen Soldan, or Amiral, when about to slay two lovers, relents in a similar manner :—
"Weeping, he turned his heued awai,
And his swerde hit fell to grounde."
Florice and Blauncheflour.
ERLINTON.
ERLINTON had a fair daughter,
I wat he weird her in a great sin,1
For he has built a bigly bower,
An' a' to put that lady in.
An' he has warn'd her sisters six,
An' sae has he her brethren se'en,
Outher to watch her a' the night,
Or else to seek her morn and e'en.
She hadna been i' that bigly bower,
Na not a night but barely ane,
Till there was Willie, her ain true love,
Chapp'd at the door, cryin', "Peace within!"—
"O whae is this at my bower door,
That chaps sae late, or kens the gin?[2]"—
"O it is Willie, your ain true love,
I pray you rise and let me in!"—
"But in my bower there is a wake,
An' at the wake there is a wane[3];
But I'll come to the green-wood the morn,
Whar blooms the brier, by mornin' dawn."—
Then she's gane to her bed again,
Where she has layen till the cock crew thrice,
Then she said to her sisters a',
"Maidens, 'tis time for us to rise."—
She pat on her back a silken gown,
An' on her breast a siller pin,
An' she's ta'en a sister in ilka hand,
And to the green-wood she is gane.
She hadna walk'd in the green-wood,
Na not a mile but barely ane,
Till there was Willie, her ain true love,
Wha frae her sisters has her ta'en.
He took her sisters by the hand,
He kiss'd them baith, and sent them hame,
An' he's ta'en his true love him behind,
And through the green-wood they are gane.
They hadna ridden in the bonnie green-wood,
Na not a mile but barely ane,
When there came fifteen o' the boldest knights,
That ever bare flesh, blood, or bane.
The foremost was an aged knight,
He wore the grey hair on his chin,
Says, "Yield to me thy lady bright,
An' thou shalt walk the woods within."—
"For me to yield my lady bright
To such an aged knight as thee,
People wad think I war gane mad,
Or a' the courage flown frae me."
But up then spak the second knight,
I wat he spake right boustouslie,
"Yield me thy life, or thy lady bright,
Or here the tahe of us shall die."—
"My lady is my warld's meed:
My life I winna yield to nane;
But if ye be men of your manhead,
Yell only fight me ane by ane."—
He lighted aft his milk-white steed,
An' gae his lady him by the head,
Say'n, "See ye dinna change your cheer,
Until you see my body bleed."—
He set his back unto an aik,
He set his feet against a stane,
An' he has fought these fifteen men,
An' killed them a' but barely ane:
For he has left that aged knight,
An' a' to carry the tidings hame.
When he gaed to his lady fair,
I wat he kiss'd her tenderlie:
"Thou art mine ain love, I have thee bought;
Now we shall walk the green-wood free."