Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 6

4.

'O wee wee man, but thou be strang!

O tell me where thy dwelling be?'

'My dwelling's down at yon bonny bower; O will you go with me and see?'

5.

On we lap, and awa' we rade, Till we came to yon bonny green; We lighted down for to bait our horse, And out there came a lady fine.

6.

Four and twenty at her back, And they were a' clad out in green; Though the King of Scotland had been there, The warst o' them might hae been his queen.

7.

On we lap, and awa' we rade, Till we came to yon bonny ha', Whare the roof was o' the beaten gould, And the floor was o' the cristal a'.

8.

When we came to the stair-foot, Ladies were dancing, jimp and sma', But in the twinkling of an eye, My wee wee man was clean awa'.

[Annotations: 1.4: 'ere,' _i.e._ e'er.

2.1: 'shathmont,' a span.

2.2: 'thimber,' gross.]

COSPATRICK

+The Text+ is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy_ (1802). It was 'taken down from the recitation of a lady' (his mother's sister, Miss Christian Rutherford), and collated with a copy in the Tytler-Brown MS. The ballad is also called _Gil Brenton_, _Lord Dingwall_, _Bangwell_, _Bengwill_, or _Brangwill_, _Bothwell_, etc.

+The Story+ is a great favourite, not only in Scandinavian ballads, but also in all northern literature. The magical agency of bed, blankets, sheets, and sword, is elsewhere extended to a chair, a stepping-stone by the bedside (see the _Boy and the Mantle_, First Series, p. 119), or the Billie Blin (see _Young Bekie_, First Series, pp. 6, 7, and _Willie's Lady_, p. 19). The Norwegian tale of Aase and the Prince is known to English readers in Dasent's _Annie the Goosegirl_. The Prince is possessed of a stepping-stone by his bedside, which answers his question night and morning, and enables him to detect the supposit.i.tious bride.

See also Jamieson's translation of _Ingefred and Gudrune_, in _Ill.u.s.trations of Northern Antiquities_, p. 340.

COSPATRICK

1.

Cospatrick has sent o'er the faem, Cospatrick brought his ladye hame.

2.

And fourscore s.h.i.+ps have come her wi', The ladye by the grenewood tree.

3.

There were twal' and twal' wi' baken bread, And twal' and twal' wi' gowd sae reid:

4.

And twal' and twal' wi' bouted flour, And twal' and twal' wi' the paramour.

5.

Sweet w.i.l.l.y was a widow's son, And at her stirrup he did run.

6.

And she was clad in the finest pall, But aye she let the tears down fall.

7.

'O is your saddle set awrye?

Or rides your steed for you owre high?

8.

'Or are you mourning in your tide That you suld be Cospatrick's bride?'

9.

'I am not mourning at this tide That I suld be Cospatrick's bride;

10.

'But I am sorrowing in my mood That I suld leave my mother good.

11.

'But, gentle boy, come tell to me, What is the custom of thy countrye?'

12.

'The custom thereof, my dame,' he says, 'Will ill a gentle laydye please.

13.

'Seven king's daughters has our lord wedded, And seven king's daughters has our lord bedded;

14.

'But he's cutted their b.r.e.a.s.t.s frae their breast-bane, And sent them mourning hame again.

15.

'Yet, gin you're sure that you're a maid, Ye may gae safely to his bed;

16.

'But gif o' that ye be na sure, Then hire some damsell o' your bour.'

17.

The ladye's call'd her bour-maiden, That waiting was into her train.

18.

'Five thousand merks I will gie thee, To sleep this night with my lord for me.'

19.

When bells were rung, and ma.s.s was sayne, And a' men unto bed were gane,

20.

Cospatrick and the bonny maid, Into ae chamber they were laid.

21.