Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

36. The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea

P. 315. Though Skene has rendered this ballad with reasonable fidelity, for an editor, it shall, on account of its interest, be given as it stands in the old lady's Manuscript, where it is No 2. It proves not absolutely true, as I have said, that the Skene ballad has "never been retouched by a pen."

1	'I was bat seven year alld Fan my mider she did dee, My father marred the ae warst woman The wardle did ever see.
2	'For she has made me the lailly worm That lays att the fitt of the tree, An o my sister Meassry The machrel of the sea.
3	'An every Saterday att noon The machrl comes ea to me, An she takes my layle head, An lays it on her knee, An keames it we a silver kemm, An washes it in the sea.
4	'Seven knights ha I slain Sane I lay att the fitt of the tree; An ye war na my ain father, The eight an ye sud be.'
5	'Sing on your song, ye l[a]ily worm, That ye sung to me; ' 'I never sung that song But fatt I wad sing to ye.
6	'I was but seven year aull Fan my mider she [did] dee, My father marred the a warst woman The wardle did ever see.
7	'She changed me to the layel[y] worm That layes att the fitt of the tree, An my sister Messry [To] the makrell of the sea.
8	And every Saterday att noon The machrell comes to me, An she takes my layly head, An layes it on her knee, An kames it weth a siller kame, An washes it in the sea.
9	'Seven knights ha I slain San I lay att the fitt of the tree; An ye war na my ain father, The eight ye sud be.'
10	He sent for his lady As fast as sen cod he: 'Far is my son, That ye sent fra me, And my daughter, Lady Messry?'
11	'Yer son is att our king's court, Sarving for meatt an fee, And yer doughter is att our quin's court, A mary suit an free.'
12	Ye lee, ye ill woman, Sa loud as I hear ye lea, For my son is the layelly worm That lays at the fitt of the tree, An my daughter Messry The machrell of the sea.'
13	She has tain a silver wan An gine him stroks three, An he started up the bravest knight Your eyes did ever see.
14	She has tane a small horn An loud an shill blue she, An a' the came her tell but the proud machrell, An she stood by the sea: 'Ye shaped me ance an unshemly shape, An ye's never mare shape me.'
15	He has sent to the wood For hathorn an fun, An he has tane that gay lady, An ther he did her burne.

Written without division into stanzas or verses.
3². comes ea (aye); but, on repetition in 8², comes simply, with better metre.
15¹. hes has.
15³. that that.

316. 'Nattergalen,' in Kristensen, Folkeminder, XI, 25, No 20, A-C.

In a Kaffir tale a girl marries a crocodile. The crocodile bids her lick his face. Upon her doing so, the crocodile casts his skin and turns into a strong and handsome man. He had been transformed by the enemies of his father's house. (Theal, Kaffir Folk-Lore, 1882, p. 37, cited by Mr. Clouston.)

P. 316 a. Naktergalsvisan, Bohlin, in Nyare Bidrag till Kännedom om de Svenska Landsmålen, II, 10, Folktoner fran Jämtland, pp. 5, 6.

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