The fragment D, printed in 1769, antedates the committing to writing of any of the other versions. E was taken down as early as 1783. A and B are from the beginning of this century. A was obtained "chiefly from the recitation of an old woman," but we are not informed who supplied the rest. Herd's fragment, D, furnished stanzas 2-6, 12, 17, 19. A doubt may be hazarded whether stanzas 8-10 came from the old woman. I is a combination of three recited versions, and J, perhaps a transcript of a stall-copy, is, like many of Buchan's ballads, extended to twice the length of genuine versions by tedious, sometimes nauseous, amplification and interpolation.
'Lady Jane,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, II, 73, is a combination of B and E, with a good many bad verses of Jamieson's own. A version in Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 477, "from the recitation of an old maid-servant of Mr. Alexander, of Southbar," was, as would be inferred from a memorandum at the end of the transcript, derived from a printed book, and is in fact an imperfect recollection of this compounded ballad of Jamieson's.
Grundtvig has attempted a reconstitution of the ballad from versions A, B, D, E, F, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, V, 42.
Annie [Helen, B, Ellen, G, Jane, E] was stolen from home in her childhood, A 15, B 23, C 31, E 9, F 25, I 38, J 50, 51, by a knight from over sea, to whom she has borne seven sons, out of wedlock. Her consort bids her prepare to welcome a bride, with whom he shall get gowd and gear; with her he got none. But she must look like a maid, comb down her yellow locks, braid her hair.[foot-note] Annie meekly assents, for love, she says, in C 12; in I 4, J 15, the welcoming goes against her heart; in F 9 she is told that she is to do it; in H 2 she says the welcome will have to come from him. Annie receives the bride and her train and serves the tables, suppressing her tears and drinking water to keep her cheek from paling. She passes for servant or housekeeper, and in I 23, J 25, uses the word 'master,' not to anger the bride; in C 17 she calls her lord brother, and the knight calls her sister in C 18 and (inconsistently) in J 38. What 'n a lady's that? asks the bride, E 9, J 37, and what means all these bonny boys that follow at her heel? J 37.
When the married pair have gone to their bed-chamber, Annie, in a room near by, bewails her sad lot in song; to the harp or her virginals, E, F, J, I. The bride hears the lament: it is that of a woman who will go mad ere day, B 20, C 26, J 44, 48. The bride goes to Fair Annie's chamber, A, C? to see what gars her greet, inquires her parentage, and discovers that they are sisters; or learns this fact from the song itself, B, E; or recognizes her sister's voice, F, I, J. King Henry was their father, B, F, I; King Easter, C;[foot-note] the Earl of Wemyss, of Richmond, A, E. Queen Easter was their mother, F; Queen Catherine, Elinor [Orvis], B, I. The bride, who had come with many well-loaded ships, gives all or most of them to her sister, A, B, C, F, I, and goes virgin home, A, B, F, I, J; expecting, as B, J add, to encounter derision for going away wife and coming back maid.
In C 27 the bride suspects that the woman who wails so madly is a leman, and urges her husband to get up and pack her down the stairs, though the woods were ne'er so wild. He refuses. A similar scene is elsewhere put earlier, during the bridal entertainment, I 29, 30, J 40: see also G 2, 3, which are partly explained by these passages, and partly by J 36. There are other variations in the story, and some additional particulars in one or another version: none of these, however, seem to belong to the original ballad. The bride, as soon as she sees Annie, is struck with the resemblance to her lost sister, A 14, E 9, J 29. The bridegroom repents, and rejects the woman he has married, E 19, F 30, J 49. The bridegroom confiscates without ceremony, as tocher for Annie, six of the seven ships which the bride had brought with her, E, J.[foot-note]
The name Lord Thomas in A was probably suggested by 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet.'
A Danish ballad of Fair Annie has been known to the English for fourscore years through Jamieson's translation. The Scandinavian versions are the following.
Danish. 'Skjön Anna,' Grundtvig, No 258, V, 13, eight versions: A, 39 four-line stanzas, B, 34 sts, C, 45 sts, from manuscripts of the sixteenth century; D, 48 sts, E, 41 sts, G, 32 sts, from seventeenth-century manuscripts; F, 41 sts, from broadsides or stall-copies, the earliest dated 1648, from Peder Syv, 1695, and from copies lately taken down which were derived from printed texts; H, 43 sts, a version recently obtained from tradition in Norway. Of these, A, B, C, G are independent texts; D, E, F are derived from some copy of C, or from a version closely akin to C; H is essentially the broadside copy F, but has one stanza of its own. F, Syv, No 17, Danske Viser, IV, 59, No 177, the form through which the Danish ballad has been made known by English translations, is unfortunately an Impure and sophisticated text.
Swedish. A, 'Skön Anna,' 19 sts, Arwidsson, I, 291, No 42; B, Afzelius, I, 24, No 5, 32 sts; C, Wigström, Folkdiktning, I, 57, No 28, 37 sts. C follows in the main Danish F, but with a variation in st. 31 which is of much importance if traditional. A translation of Danish F has long circulated in Sweden as a broadside: see, besides Grundtvig, Bergström's Afzelius, II, 30.
The Scandinavian story will, for more brevity, be collected principally from Danish A, B, C, and some variations of the other copies be added.
Fair Annie [Anneck, Annecke, A], a king's daughter, is stolen in her early years, and sold to a man of rank, who is in fact heir to a crown. They have seven sons in eight [seven] years, and he then becomes king. Fair Annie begs the queen-mother to intercede with her son now to make her a lawful wife and legitimate his children. The mother loves Annie, and heartily desires that he may. The son refuses; she has great virtues, but he does not know Annie's friends [her forbears, lineage, Danish F, Swedish C]. He makes suit for a king's daughter in a distant land. Annie's heart all but breaks when the bride comes. The young king asks the bride what gift she will give his amie, A. I will give her my old shoes, she says, B, D, F. She must give something else if she would get his good will. Then she will give Annie seven mills that lie far over the Rhine and grind nought but cinnamon, B, D, F. Annie is now asked what gift she will make the bride. I will give her you, whom I can so ill spare, answers Annie. No, that is not enough; she must give another gift to win the bride's good will. I will give her the seven sons I have borne, says Annie. Neither is that enough; she must give the bride her gold brooch. This Annie will not surrender, for it was his morning-gift. Annie now asks her lord to let her go into the bride-house [hall] and see the bride. He refuses emphatically, but his kind mother says, Yes; she will even go with Annie, though it should cost her her life. Annie goes to the bride-house, preceded by her seven sons, who wear her father's color. She pours wine for the bride, with many tears, A, C. The bride asks who this fair woman is that weeps so sore. And who are these that wear her father's color?[foot-note] It is the king's sister's daughter, from a foreign land, C-F, H; his sister, Danish A, Swedish A, B. "It is not your sister's daughter," says the bride; "that I plainly see. I fear it is your leman," C 34, D, E. The king now avows the truth. It is Fair Annie, my leman, Danish A 33, Swedish A 16 (which adds, "Her father I never knew"); she was stolen from a foreign land in her young days, and has been with me seven years, Danish B 31; she was sold to me from a foreign land; these are her seven sons, they will be bastards now, and that is the cause of her grief, C 35, 36, D, E; these are my seven sons, Fair Annie is their mother, Swedish B 27. I had a sister, says the bride; she was stolen from my father's land; Fair Annie was her name, this must be she,[foot-note] she shall keep her husband. The king sends tbe new-come bride home with due ceremony, and keeps Fair Annie for his heart's deligbt, C 37-44, D, E.
In Danish G 7, the king gives as a reason for not espousing Fair Annie that she has no fortune, ingen rente, which is tbe objection to her in English A 1, C 2, etc. The oldest [youngest] son of Fair Annie attends his mother's sister to her father's land in Swedish C, Danish F, K, as in English J 54. The king promises his brother to Annie's sister in Danish A 39 (compare also Swedish B 33). In English I 26, J 30, the bride thinks her brother would be a good match for Annie.
Swedish C, though in itself of little authority, has an advantage over the Danish copies and Swedish B in making Annie refuse to part with the gold brooch, not because it was a morning-gift, but because she had had it ever since she was a child and was kidnapped from her father's court; and again in making this brooch the means of her recognition as sister by the bride.
The Scandinavian ballad is regarded by Grundtvig as transmitted from Low German. The rhymes are frequently not after the Danish manner (see Grundtvig, V, 46, 7), and the heroine's name has a Low German look.
Dutch and German versions, all ill enough preserved, are:
Dutch. A. 'Schon Adelheid,' 22 four-line stanzas, Hoffmann, Niederländische Volkslieder, 2d ed., 1856, p. 46, No 11, 'Mooi Aeltje en Koning Alewijn,' Willems, p. 177, No 70; from Den Italiaenschen Quacksalver, Amsterdam, 1708. B. 'Madel,' 15 stanzas, Snellaert, Oude en nieuwe Liedjes, p. 70, No 65, 2d ed., 1864.
German. A. Longard, Altrheinländische Mährlein und Liedlein, 1843, p. 23, No 12; Wilhelm von Zuccalmaglio, Deutsche Volkslieder, 1840, p. 74, No 32, = Mittler, No 333: 21 four-line stanzas. B. Montanus (Vincenz von Zuccalmaglio), Die deutschen Volksfeste, 1854, p. 46, 17 stanzas, apparently rewritten. According to Dutch A Aaltje, Ethel, Adeline, a king's daughter, is stolen, and sold for a great sum to King Alewijn. She asks the king's mother, who is quite disposed to have her for a daughter, when her son will marry her, and the mother asks her son how long Maid Aaltje is to live under disgrace. The king objects that Aaltje is a vondeling, a waif-woman (English C 2, I 2); Heaven only knows her friends and kin. He adds that he was over the Rhine yesterday, and that Aaltje will break her heart with sorrow. The young woman asks the mother's permission to go to the bride's house, and is told to go in good style, her seven sons before her and fourteen ladies-in-waiting behind. The king meets Aaltje half-way, and says, If you are going to the bride's house, what gift do you mean to make the bride? The bride will have enough, she replies; I will give her my old stockings and shoes. She must give something better to gain her friendship. Then Aaltje will give her "seven sons of yours and mine" to serve her. She will have your seven sons, says the king, but you must give her your brooch.[foot-note] No, that you will not get, says Aaltje. There were two at my father's court; my sister and I each had one. Are you then of royal birth? says the king. Had you told me that, I would have married you. When Aaltje appears at the bride's house, they offer her to drink, and many a tear she drops in the cup. Who is this woman that weeps so piteously? asks the bride. These are some of our nieces and nephews, who have come from foreign parts to bring you presents, is the king's answer. Nieces and nephews! Says the bride; it is Maid Aaltje, my youngest sister. She takes the crown from her head: Take it, Aaltje, and keep your husband. Saddle my horse. I came in honor, I must go back in shame. (Cf. English B 26, I 45.)
B. Madel (M'Adel), the oldest of a king's two daughters, is stolen by a king's son to be his leman, and taken to a far country. They have seven sons, and he forsakes her and betroths himself to her sister. He asks his mother what present she will make his bride; she has seven mills which she will give her. Madel, asked in like manner, replies, My old stockings and shoes. Madel asks the queen-mother if she may go to the bridal, for the king is to marry, and is answered as in A. When she comes to the bride-loft they pour wine for her, and she drops tears in the cup. The bride asks who this is, and the king replies, One of my nieces from a far country, who came to do me honor, but only puts me to shame. You are not telling me the truth, says the bride. The king owns that it is Madel, his leman, with her seven sons. The bride recognizes a brooch[foot-note] stiff with gold and silk. "There are but two such in all Flanders; I and my sister each had one." She tears the crown from her own head and puts it on her sister, saying, King, marry her in my place. The brooch is distinctly made the means of identification, which it by all likelihood was originally in all the Scandinavian ballads, though only Swedish C has retained (or restored) this feature.
The German ballad resembles Dutch A closely. The queen-mother gives Adelheid permission to go to the wedding, and her seven sons must walk before her. At the feast the king offers her to drink; she cannot drink for the grief he has caused her. The bride sees her weeping, and orders food and drink to be offered her (cf. English J 36), but she cannot touch them. The king pretends that she is one of his nieces who has lived with him seven years [is fatigued by her journey, B]. The bride exclaims, I see the fore-span (by your fore-span, A), you are driving a pair! In A she asks the fair woman's name and country. Her country is over the Rhine, and thence she had been stolen. "Then you must be my sister," declares the bride somewhat hastily, gives up her seat and the crown, puts her ring on Adelheid's finger, and bids the news be sent to father and mother.
The lyric beauty of the Scottish version of this ballad, especially conspicuous in A, C, E, has been appreciatingly remarked by Grundtvig.
But Fair Annie's fortunes have not only been charmingly sung, as here; they have also been exquisitely told in a favorite lay of Marie de France, 'Le Lai del Freisne.' This tale, of Breton origin, is three hundred years older than any manuscript of the ballad. Comparison will, however, quickly show that it is not the source either of the English or of the Low German and Scandinavian balld. The tale and the ballads have a common source, which lies further back, and too far for us to find.
The story of the lay is this.[foot-note] There were two knights in Brittany, living on contiguous estates, and both married. The lady of one of the two gave birth to two boys, and the father sent information of the event to his neighbor and friend. His friend's wife was a scoffing, envious woman, "judging always for the worse," and said,
In the course of the same year the woman that had made this hateful insinuation was brought to bed of twin girls. To save her reputation she was ready even to put one of them to death, but a favorite damsel in her house suggested a better way out of her perplexity, and that was to leave one of the children at the door of a convent. The child, wrapped in a rich pall that had been brought from Constantinople, with a jewelled ring bound to its arm to show that it was well born, was taken away in the night to a considerable distance, and was laid between the branches of a great ash-tree in front of a nunnery. In the morning it was discovered by the porter, who told his adventure to the abbess; and the abbess, having inspected the foundling, resolved to bring it up under the style of her niece. The girl, who received the name La Freisne from the tree in which she had been found, turned out a marvel of beauty and of all good qualities. A gentleman of the vicinity fell in love with her, and made large gifts to the monastery to constitute himself a lay-brother, and so have access to her without exciting suspicion. He obtained her love, and in the end induced her to fly with him to his château. This she did with sufficient deliberation to take with her the robe and ring which were the tokens of her birth; for the abbess had told her how she had been found in the ash, and had committed these objects to her care. She lived a good while with the knight as his mistress, and made herself loved by everybody; but his retainers had repeatedly remonstrated with him for not providing himself with a lawful successor, and at last forced him to marry the daughter and heiress of a gentleman near by. On the day of the nuptials La Freisne let no sign of grief or anger escape her, but devoted herself to the bride so amiably as even to win over the mother, who had accompanied her daughter, and had at first felt much uneasiness at the presence of a possible rival. Finding the marriage bed not decked with sufficient elegance, La Freisne took from a trunk the precious pall from Constantinople, and threw it on for a coverlet. When the bride's mother was about to put her daughter to bed, this robe was of course the first object that met her eyes. Her heart quaked. She sent for the chamberlain, and asked where the cloth came from. The chamberlain explained that "the damsel" had put it on to improve the appearance of the bed. The damsel was summoned, and told what she knew: the abbess who brought her up had given her the robe, and with it a ring, and charged her to take good care of them. A sight of the ring was asked; the lady cried, You are my daughter, and fainted. When she recovered she sent for her husband and confessed everything. The husband was only too happy to find that the damsel tant pruz è sage è bele was his daughter. The story was repeated to La Freisne, and then to the knight and to the archbishop who had performed the marriage ceremony. The marriage was dissolved the next day, and La Freisne formally espoused by the knight, who received with her half her father's heritage. The sister went home and made a rich marriage.
The common ground-work of the ballads and the lay is, that a man who has formed an irregular union with a woman whose family he does not know undertakes matrimony with another person, who is discovered on the day of the nuptials to be sister to his leman. A jewel in the possession of the latter, by itself or together with another token, reveals and proves the kinship in the lay and in the Scandinavian-German ballad, but there is no trace of such an instrumentality in the Scottish.
Single features, or even several features, of the story of Fair Annie or of La Freisne occur in many other ballads and tales, but there is no occasion to go into these resemblances here. A Norse ballad has almost every point in 'Fair Annie' but the sisterly relation of leman and bride: see 'Slegfred og Brud,' Grundtvig, No 255, and 'Thomas o Yonderdale,' an apocryphal ballad of Buchan's, further on. Bare mention may be made of the beautiful Spanish romance 'Las dos Hermanas,' found also in Portuguese, in which the queen of a Moor or Turk discovers her sister in a slave who has been presented to her, or captured at her request.[foot-note]
Translated after A by Schubart, p. 115; mainly after E, with stanzas from A and C, by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 28; after E by Wolff, Hausschatz, p. 209, Halle der Völker, I, 3; after D by Gerhard, p. 77; by Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, No 3, after Allingham.
Danish F by Jamieson, Popular Ballads, II, 103; by Prior, III, 300, No 148. Dutch A by Prior, III, 484.
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