Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

7. Earl Brand

P. 88. 'Ribold og Guldborg:' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 33, 'Nævnet til døde,' No 15, A-I.

91 b. Swedish. 'Kung Valdemo,' 'Ellibrand och Fröken Gyllenborg,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 1, No 1, a, b. ("Name not my name," a 20, b 12.)

95 b, 489 b; III, 498 a. For the whole subject, see K. Nyrop. Navnets Magt, 1887, and especially sections 4, 5, pp. 46-70. As to reluctance to have one's name known, and the advantage such knowledge gives an adversary, see E. Clodd, in The Folk Lore Journal, VII, 154 ff., and, in continuation, Folk-Lore, I, 272.

The berserkr Glammaðr could pick off any man with his pike, if only he knew his name. Saga Egils ok Ásmundar, Rafn, Fornaldar Sögur, III, 387, Ásmundarson, F. s. Norðrlanda, III, 292. (G.L.K.)

The demonic Gelô informs certain saints who force her "to tell them how other people's children [may] be defended from her attacks," that if they "can write her twelve names and a half she shall never be able to come within seventy-five stadia and a half:" Thomas Wright, Essays on Subjects connected with the Literature, etc., of the Middle Ages, 1846, I, 294 (referring to Leo Allatius, De Græcorura hodie quorundam opinationibus). The passage in question is to be found at p. 127 of Leo Allatius, De templis Græcorum recentioribus, ad Ioannem Morinum; De Narthece ecclesise veteris; nee non De Græcorum hodie quorundam opinationibus, ad Paullum Zacchiam. Coloniæ Agrippinæ, 1645. (G.L.K.)

96 b. Swedish. Two copies of 'Rosen lilla' in Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 37, No 10.

Danish. Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 215, No 52, C 9, two lilies; p. 318, No 78, 9, 10, graves south and north, two lilies.

97 b. French. 'Les deux Amoureux,' Daymard, Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p. 122, lavender and tree.

97 b, 489 b, II, 498 a, III, 498 b. Slavic. (1.) White-Russian: he buried in church, she in ditch; plane and linden (planted); plane embraces linden. Manuscript (2.) Little-Russian: buried apart; plane grows over his grave, two birches over hers; branches do not interlace. Kolberg, Pokucie, p. 41. (3.) White-Russian: he in church, she near church; oak, birch (planted); trees touch. Zbiór wiado. do antropol., XIII, 102 f. (4.) Little-Russian: burial apart in a church; rosemary and lily from graves. Var.: rose and sage, rosemary; flowers interlace. Holovatzky, III, 254. (J. Karlowicz, in Mélusine, V, 39 ff.)

Bulgarian. A poplar from the maid's grave, a pine from her lover's: Collection of the Bulgarian Ministry of Instruction, I, 85. (W.W.)

97 b, 490 a, III, 498 b. Breton. Luzel, Soniou, I, 272-3: a tree from the young man's grave, a rose from the maid's.

99 ff., 490 ff. 'The Earl o Bran,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 22 b, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of Richard Heber.

1   Did ye ever hear o guid Earl o Bran
An the queen's daughter o the south-lan?
2   She was na fifteen years o age
Till she came to the Earl's bed-side.
3   'O guid Earl o Bran, I fain wad see
^y grey hounds run over the lea.'
4   'O kind lady, I have no steeds but one,
But ye shall ride, an I shall run.'
5   'O guid Earl o Bran, but I have tua,
An ye shall hae yere wael o those.'
6   The're ovr moss an the're over muir,
An they saw neither rich nor poor.
7   Till they came to aid Carl Hood,
He's ay for ill, but he's never for good.
8   'O guid Earl o Bran, if ye loe me,
Kill Carl Hood an gar him die.'
9   'O kind lady, we had better spare;
I never killd ane that wore grey hair.
10   'We'll gie him a penny-fie an let him gae,
An then he'll carry nae tiddings away.'
11   'Where hae been riding this lang simmer-day?
Or where hae stolen this lady away?'
12   'O I hae not riden this lang simmer-day,
Nor hae I stolen this lady away.
13   'For she is my sick sister
I got at the Wamshester.'
14   'If she were sick an like to die,
She wad na be wearing the gold sae high.'
15   Ald Carl Hood is over the know,
Where they rode one mile, he ran four.
16   Till he came to her mother's yetts,
An I wat he rapped rudely at.
17   'Where is the lady o this ha?'
'She's out wie her maidens, playing at the ba.'
18   'O na! fy na!
For I met her fifteen miles awa.
19   'She's over moss, an she's over muir,
An a' to be the Earl o Bran's whore.'
20   Some rode wie sticks, an some wie rungs,
An a' to get the Earl o Bran slain.
21   That lady lookd over her left shoudder-bane:
'O guid Earl o Bran, we'll a' be taen!
For yond 'r a' my father's men.
22   'But if ye'll take my claiths, I'll take thine,
An I'll fight a' my father's men.'
23   'It's no the custom in our land
For ladies to fight an knights to stand.
24   'If they come on me ane by ane,
I'll smash them a' doun bane by bane.
25   'If they come on me ane and a',
Ye soon will see my body fa.'
26   He has luppen from his steed,
An he has gein her that to had.
27   An bad her never change her cheer
Untill she saw his body bleed.
28   They came on him ane by ane,
An he smashed them doun a' bane by bane.
29   He sat him doun on the green grass,
For I wat a wearit man he was.
30   But aid Carl Hood came him behind,
An I wat he gae him a deadly wound.
31   He's awa to his lady then,
He kissed her, an set her on her steed again.
32   He rode whistlin out the way,
An a' to hearten his lady gay.
33   'Till he came to the water-flood:
'O guid Earl o Bran, I see blood!'
34   'O it is but my scarlet hood,
That shines upon the water-flood.'
35   They came on 'till his mother's yett,
An I wat he rappit poorly at.
36   His mother she's come to the door:
'O son, ye've gotten yere dead wie an English whore!'
37   'She was never a whore to me;
Sae let my brother her husband be.'
38   Sae aid Carl Hood was not the dead o ane,
But he was the dead o hale seeventeen.

Note at the end: I have not written the chorus, but Mr. Leyden, having it by him, knows how to insert it.

"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 22 d. In the handwriting of William Laidlaw. Scott has written at the head, Earl Bran, another copy.

1   Earl Bran's a wooing gane;
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
He woo'd a lady, an was bringing her hame.
      O the gae knights o Airly
2   . . .
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
They met neither wi rich nor poor.
      O the gae knights o Airly
3   Till they met wi an auld palmer Hood,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Was ay for ill, an never for good.
      O the gae knights o Airly
4   'O yonder is an auld palmer Heed:
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Tak your sword an kill him dead.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
5   Gude forbid, O ladie fair,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
That I kill an auld man an grey hair.
      O the gae knights o Airly
6   'We'll gie him a an forbid him to tell;'
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
The gae him a an forbad him to tell.
      O the gae knights o Airly
7   The auld man than he's away hame,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
He telld o Jane whan he gaed hame.
      O the gae knights o Airly
8   'I thought I saw her on yon moss,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Riding on a milk-white horse.
      O the gae knights o Airly
9   'I thought I saw her on yon muir;
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
By this time she's Earl Bran's whore.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
10   Her father he's ca'd on his men:
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
'Gae follow, an fetch her again.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
11   She's lookit oer her left shoulder:
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
'O yonder is my father's men!
      O the gae knights o Airly
12   'O yonder is my father's men:
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Take my cleadin, an I'll take thine.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
13   'O that was never law in land,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
For a ladie to feiht an a knight to stand.
      O the gae knights o Airly
14   'But if yer father's men come ane an ane,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Stand ye by, an ye'll see them slain.
      O the gae knights o Airly
15   'If they come twae an twae,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Stand ye by, an ye'll see them gae.
      O the gae knights o Airly
16   'And if they come three an three,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
Stand ye by, an ye'll see them die.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
17   Her father's men came ane an ane,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
She stood by . . .
      O the gae knights o Airly
18   Than they cam by twae an twae,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
. . .
      O the gae knights o Airly
19   Than they cam by three an three,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
. . .
      O the gae knights o Airly
20   But ahint him cam the auld palmer Hood,
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
An ran him outthro the heart's blood.
      O the gae knights o Airly
21   'I think I see your heart's blood:'
      Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
'It's but the glistering o your scarlet hood.'
      O the gae knights o Airly
   71. Manuscript, he's *, and, in the margin, * away has been gane. Over away hame is written thre them (= thrae, frae, them), or, perhaps, thre than.
201. Manuscript, palmer weed: cf. 31, 41.
202. outr thro.

P. 100, B; 489 b, 492, I. The printed copy used by Scott was 'Lord Douglas' Tragedy,' the first of four pieces in a stall-pamphlet, "licensed and entered, 1792:" "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 1. I is another edition of the same. The variations from I are as follows:

   11. says.
22. your arms.
34. father who.
43. seven wanting.
44. just now.
51. better for (the obvious misprint) bitter.
53. once that.
61. Hold your hand.
72. wounds,
74. forkd in the.
81. Lady Margret.
93, 133. blue gilded, as in I, for bugelet: hanging down.
94, 134. slowly they both.
103. yon clear river-side.
113. his pretty.
123. 'T is nothing.
152. soft.
162. long ere day.
164. died wanting,
171. St. for Lady.
173. sprung.
182. be near.
188. ye: weil.

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