34. Shee said, ‘Rise vp, thou Child Waters! I thinke thou art a cursed man; For yonder is a ghost in thy stable, That greiuously doth groane, Or else some woman laboures of child, Shee is soe woe begone!’ 35. But vp then rose Child Waters, & did on his shirt of silke; Then he put on his other clothes On his body as white as milke. 36. & when he came to the stable dore, Full still that hee did stand, That hee might heare now faire Ellen, How shee made her monand. 37. Shee said, ‘Lullabye, my owne deere child! Lullabye, deere child, deere! I wold thy father were a king, Thy mother layd on a beere!’ 38. ‘Peace now,’ he said, ‘good faire Ellen! & be of good cheere, I thee pray, & the bridall & the churching both, They shall bee vpon one day.’ [Annotations: 2.2: ‘see,’ protect. So constantly in this phrase. 18.2: ‘yates,’ gates. 18.3: In each case the Folio gives ‘24’ for ‘four and twenty.’ 18.4: ‘wordlye make,’ worldly mate. 26.6: ‘rich’ added by Percy. 28.6: ‘For filinge,’ to save defiling. 30.4: ‘say,’ essay, attempt. 31.1: ‘night.’ Child’s emendation. Percy read: ‘This done, the nighte drove on apace.’ 32.3: ‘and’; Folio _on_. 36.4: ‘monand,’ moaning.] EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE CHILD OF ELL There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular story. There is yet another ballad, _Erlinton_, printed by Sir Walter Scott in the _Minstrelsy_, embodying an almost identical tale. _Earl Brand_ preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete form of the story. A Danish ballad, _Ribold and Guldborg_, gives the fine tale thus:--