Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 35

12.

'Tis I maun hae some winter fruit that in December grew, And I maun hae a silk mantil that waft gaed never through; A sparrow's horn, a priest unborn, this nicht to join us twa, Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.'

13.

'My father has some winter fruit that in December grew; My mither has a silk mantil the waft gaed never through; A sparrow's horn ye soon may find, there's ane on ev'ry claw, And twa upo' the gab o' it, and ye shall get them a'.

14.

'The priest he stands without the yett, just ready to come in; Nae man can say he e'er was born, nae man without he sin; He was haill cut frae his mither's side, and frae the same let fa': Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'se lie at the wa'.'

15.

'O haud awa' frae me, kind sir, I pray don't me perplex, For I'll na lie in your bed till ye answer questions six: Questions six ye maun answer me, and that is four and twa, Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.

16.

'O what is greener than the gress, what's higher than thae trees?

O what is worse than women's wish, what's deeper than the seas?

What bird craws first, what tree buds first, what first does on them fa'?

Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.'

17.

'Death is greener than the gress, heaven higher than thae trees; The devil's waur than women's wish, h.e.l.l's deeper than the seas; The c.o.c.k craws first, the cedar buds first, dew first on them does fa'; Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'se lie at the wa','

18.

Little did this lady think, that morning whan she raise, That this was for to be the last o' a' her maiden days.

But there's na into the king's realm to be found a blither twa, And now she's Mrs. Wedderburn, and she lies at the wa'.

[Annotations: 2.4: The 'stock' of a bed is the outer side, and the 'wa''

(= wall) the inner. Ancient beds were made like boxes with the outer side cut away.

7.1: 'quartering-house,' lodging-house.

9.3: 'gaw,' gall. It is an ancient superst.i.tion that the dove or pigeon has no gall, the fact being that the gall-bladder is absent. See Sir Thomas Browne's _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_, iii. 3.

10.3: 'genty,' neat, limber. --Jamieson.

14.1: 'yett,' gate.]

THE ELPHIN KNIGHT

+The Text+ is from a broadside in black letter in the Pepysian Library at Cambridge; bound up at the end of a book published in 1673.

+The Story+ of this ballad but poorly represents the complete form of the story as exhibited in many German and other ballads, where alternate bargaining and riddling ensues between a man and a maid. This long series of ballads is akin to the still longer series in which the person upon whom an impossible task is imposed is considered to have got the mastery by retaliating with another impossible task.

The opening stanzas of this ballad correspond closely with those of _Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight_.

THE ELPHIN KNIGHT

_My plaid awa, my plaid awa,_ _And ore the hill and far awa,_ _And far awa to Norrowa,_ _My plaid shall not be blown awa._

1.

The elphin knight sits on yon hill, _Ba, ba, ba, lilli-ba_ He blaws his horn both lowd and shril.

_The wind hath blown my plaid awa_

2.

He blowes it east, he blowes it west, He blowes it where he lyketh best.

3.

'I wish that horn were in my kist, Yea, and the knight in my armes two.'

4.

She had no sooner these words said, When that the knight came to her bed.

5.

'Thou art over young a maid,' quoth he, 'Married with me thou il wouldst be.'

6.

'I have a sister younger than I, And she was married yesterday.'

7.

'Married with me if thou wouldst be, A courtesie thou must do to me.

8.

'For thou must shape a sark to me, Without any cut or heme,' quoth he.

9.

'Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerlesse, And also sue it needle-threedlesse.'

10.

'If that piece of courtesie I do to thee, Another thou must do to me.

11.

'I have an aiker of good ley-land, Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand.

12.

'For thou must eare it with thy horn, So thou must sow it with thy corn.

13.

'And bigg a cart of stone and lyme, Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame.

14.

'Thou must barn it in a mouse-holl, And thrash it into thy shoe's soll.

15.

'And thou must winnow it in thy looff, And also seek it in thy glove.

16.

'For thou must bring it over the sea, And thou must bring it dry home to me.