Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 26

12.

Then Sweet Willie raise, and put on his claise, And drew till him stockings and sheen, And took by his side his berry-brown sword, And ower yon lang hill he's gane.

13.

As he gaed ower yon high, high hill, And down yon dowie den, Great and grievous was the ghost he saw, Would fear ten thousand men.

14.

As he gaed in by Mary kirk, And in by Mary stile, Wan and weary was the ghost Upon sweet Willie did smile.

15.

'Aft hae ye travell'd this road, Willie, Aft hae ye travell'd in sin; Ye ne'er said sae muckle for your saul As, My Maker bring me hame!

16.

'Aft hae ye travell'd this road, Willie, Your bonny love to see; But ye'll never travel this road again Till ye leave a token wi' me.'

17.

Then she has ta'en him Sweet Willie, Riven him frae gair to gair, And on ilka seat o' Mary's kirk O' Willie she hang a share; Even abeen his love Meggie's dice, Hang's head and yellow hair.

18.

His father made moan, his mother made moan, But Meggie made muckle mair; His father made moan, his mother made moan, But Meggie reave her yellow hair.

[Annotations: 6.1: 'swack,' nimble; 'snack,' quick.

13.4: 'fear,' frighten.

17.2: 'frae gair to gair,' from side to side.

17.5: 'dice,' pew.

18.4: 'reave,' tore.]

ADAM

+The Text+ of this half-carol, half-ballad is taken from the Sloane MS.

2593, whence we get _Saint Stephen and King Herod_ and other charming pieces like the well-known carol, 'I syng of a mayden.' It is written in eight long lines in the MS.

+The Story.+--Wright, who printed the above MS. for the Warton Club in 1856, remarks that Adam was supposed to have remained bound in the _limbus patrum_ from the time of his death until the Crucifixion. In the romance of _Owain Miles_ (Cotton MS. Calig. A. ii.) the bishops told Owain that Adam was 'yn h.e.l.le with Lucyfere' for four thousand six hundred and four years. On account of this tradition incorporated in the carol, I have ventured to include it as a ballad, although it does not find a place in Professor Child's collection.

ADAM

1.

Adam lay i-bowndyn, bowndyn in a bond, Fowre thowsand wynter thowt he not to long;

2.

And al was for an appil, an appil that he tok, As clerkes fyndyn wretyn in here book.

3.

Ne hadde the appil take ben, the appil taken ben, Ne hadde never our lady a ben hevene qwen.

4.

Blyssid be the tyme that appil take was!

Therfore we mown syngyn _Deo gracias_.

[Annotations: 2.4: 'here,' their. The 'book' is, of course, the Bible.

3.4: 'hevene' is the old genitive = of heaven.

4.3: 'mown' = can or may.]

SAINT STEPHEN AND KING HEROD

+The Text+ is taken from the same ma.n.u.script as the last. This ma.n.u.script is ascribed, from the style of handwriting, to the reign of Henry VI. The ballad is there written without division into stanzas in twenty-four long lines.

+The Story.+--The miraculous resuscitation of a roast fowl (generally a c.o.c.k, as here), in confirmation of an incredible prophecy, is a tale found in nearly all European countries. Originally, we find, the miracle is connected with the Pa.s.sion, not the Nativity. See the _Carnal and the Crane_.

An interpolation in a late Greek MS. of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus relates that Judas, having failed to induce the Jews to take back the thirty pieces of silver, went home to hang himself, and found his wife roasting a c.o.c.k. On his demand for a rope to hang himself, she asked why he intended to do so; and he told her he had betrayed his master Jesus to evil men, who would kill him; yet he would rise again on the third day. His wife was incredulous, and said, 'Sooner shall this c.o.c.k, roasting over the coals, crow again'; whereat the c.o.c.k napped his wings and crew thrice. And Judas, confirmed in the truth, straightway made a noose in the rope, and hanged himself.

Thence the miracle-tale spread over Europe. In a Spanish version not only the c.o.c.k crows, but his partner the hen lays an egg, in a.s.severation of the truth. The tale is generally connected with the legend of the Pilgrims of St. James; so in French, Spanish, Dutch, Wendish, and Breton ballads.

In 1701 there was printed in London a broadside sheet of carols, headed with a woodcut of the Nativity, by the side of which is printed: 'A religious man, inventing the conceits of both birds and beasts drawn in the picture of our Saviour's birth, doth thus express them:-- The c.o.c.k croweth _Christus natus est_, Christ is born. The raven asked _Quando?_ When? The crow replied _Hac nocte_, This night. The ox cryeth out _Ubi? Ubi?_ Where? where? The sheep bleated out _Bethlehem_' (Hone's _Every-day Book_).

SAINT STEPHEN AND KING HEROD

1.

Seynt Stevene was a clerk in kyng Herowdes halle, And servyd him of bred and cloth, as every kyng befalle.

2.

Stevyn out of kechoun cam wyth boris hed on honde, He saw a sterre was fayr and brycht over Bedlem stonde.

3.

He kyst adoun the bores hed, and went in to the halle; 'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, and thi werkes alle.

4.

'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, and thi werkes alle, Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born is beter than we alle.'

5.

'Quat eylyt the, Stevene?

quat is the befalle?

Lakkyt the eyther mete or drynk in kyng Herodwes halle?'

6.

'Lakit me neyther mete ne drynk in king Herowdes halle; There is a chyld in Bedlem born, is beter than we alle.'