Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 29

29.

There's thousands of children young Which for his sake did die; Do not forbid those little ones, And do not them deny.

30.

The truth now I have spoken, And the truth now I have shown; Even the Blessed Virgin She's now brought forth a son.

[Annotations: 1.2: 'reign' = renne, the old form of run.

1.4: 'Carnal,' jackdaw (? der. _cornicula_, _corneille_).

10.4: 'fences,' times.

21.4: _i.e._ though all (mankind) be undeserving.]

DIVES AND LAZARUS

+The Text+ is given from Joshua Sylvester's _A Garland of Christmas Carols_, where it is printed from an old Birmingham broadside.

+The Story+ is one which naturally attracted the attention of the popular ballad-maker, and parallel ballads exist in fairly wide European distribution.

Like the _Carnal and the Crane_, the form in which this ballad is now known is no witness of its antiquity. A 'ballet of the Ryche man and poor Lazarus' was licensed to be printed in 1558; 'a ballett, Dyves and Lazarus,' in 1570-1.

In Fletcher's _Monsieur Thomas_ (1639), a fiddler says he can sing the merry ballad of _Diverus and Lazarus_. A correspondent in _Notes and Queries_ (ser. IV. iii. 76) says he had heard only Diverus, never Dives, and contributes from memory a version as sung by carol-singers at Christmas in Worcesters.h.i.+re, in which the parallelism of the stanzas is pushed so far that, in the lines corresponding to 13.3 and 13.4 in the present version, we have the delightfully popular idea--

'There is a place prepared in h.e.l.l, For to sit upon a serpent's knee.'

Husk (_Songs of the Nativity_) also gives this version, from an eighteenth-century Worcesters.h.i.+re broadside. I have no doubt but that this feature is traditional from the unknown sixteenth-century ballad.

DIVES AND LAZARUS

1.

As it fell out upon a day, Rich Dives he made a feast, And he invited all his friends, And gentry of the best.

2.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down, And down at Dives' door: 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, Bestow upon the poor.'

3.

'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, That lies begging at my door; No meat nor drink will I give thee, Nor bestow upon the poor.'

4.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down, And down at Dives' wall: 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, Or with hunger starve I shall.'

5.

'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, That lies begging at my wall; No meat nor drink will I give thee, But with hunger starve you shall.'

6.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down, And down at Dives' gate: 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, For Jesus Christ his sake.'

7.

'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, That lies begging at my gate; No meat nor drink will I give thee, For Jesus Christ his sake.'

8.

Then Dives sent out his merry men, To whip poor Lazarus away; They had no power to strike a stroke, But flung their whips away.

9.

Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs.

To bite him as he lay; They had no power to bite at all, But licked his sores away.

10.

As it fell out upon a day, Poor Lazarus sickened and died; There came two angels out of heaven.

His soul therein to guide.

11.

'Rise up, rise up, brother Lazarus, And go along with me; For you've a place prepared in heaven, To sit on an angel's knee.'

12.

As it fell out upon a day, Rich Dives sickened and died; There came two serpents out of h.e.l.l, His soul therein to guide.

13.

'Rise up, rise up, brother Dives, And go with us to see A dismal place prepared in h.e.l.l, From which thou canst not flee.'

14.

Then Dives looked up with his eyes.

And saw poor Lazarus blest: 'Give me one drop of water, brother Lazarus, To quench my flaming thirst.

15.

'Oh! had I as many years to abide, As there are blades of gra.s.s, Then there would be an end, but now h.e.l.l's pains will ne'er be past.

16.

'Oh! was I now but alive again, The s.p.a.ce of an half hour: Oh! that I'd made my peace secure, Then the devil should have no power.'

BROWN ROBYN'S CONFESSION

+The Text+ is the only one known, that printed by Buchan, _Ballads of the North of Scotland_, and copied into Motherwell's MS.

+The Story+, relating as it does a miracle of the Virgin, is, perhaps, the only one we possess of a cla.s.s which, in other lands, is so extensive. A similar Scandinavian ballad has a tragical termination, except in one version.

The casting of lots to discover the Jonah of a s.h.i.+p is a feature common to many literatures.