“Now one of them had his leg thrussen out from under bed, so t’ lad brings his sword down and cuts it off. Then another thrusts his arm out at t’ other side of t’ bed, and t’ lad cuts that off. So at last he had maimed them all, and they all went crying and wailing off, and forgot t’ ball, and let it lig there, under t’ bed; and the lad took it and went to seek his true love.[25]] “Now t’ lass was taken to York to be hanged; she was brought out on t’ scaffold, and t’ hangman said, ‘Now, lass, tha’ must hang by thy neck till tha’ be’st dead.’ But she cried out: ‘Stop, stop, I think I see my mother coming! O mother! hast brought my golden ball And come to set me free?’ ‘I’ve neither brought thy golden ball Nor come to set thee free, But I have come to see thee hung Upon this gallows tree.’ “Then the hangman said, ‘Now, lass, say thy prayers, for tha’ must dee.’ But she said: ‘Stop, stop, I think I see my father coming! O father! hast brought my golden ball And come to set me free?’ ‘I’ve neither brought thy golden ball Nor come to set thee free, But I have come to see thee hung Upon this gallows tree.’ “Then the hangman said, ‘Hast thee done thy prayers? Now, lass, put thy head into t’ noose.’ “But she answered, ‘Stop, stop, I think I see my brother coming,’ etc. After which she excused herself because she thought she saw her sister coming, and her uncle, then her aunt, then her cousin, each of which was related in full; after which the hangman said, ‘I wee-nt stop no longer, tha’s making gam o’ me.’ But now she saw her sweetheart coming through the crowd, and he held overhead i’ t’ air her own golden ball; so she said-- ‘Stop, stop, I see my sweetheart coming! Sweetheart, hast brought my golden ball And come to set me free?’ ‘Ay, I have brought thy golden ball And come to set thee free; I have not come to see thee hung Upon this gallows tree.’” In this very curious story, the portion within brackets reminds one of the German story of “Fearless John,” in Grimm (_K. M._ 4), of which I remember obtaining an English variant in a chap-book in Exeter when I was a child--alas! now lost. It is also found in Iceland,[26] and is indeed a widely-spread tale. The verses are like others found in Essex in connection with the child’s game of “Mary Brown,” and those of the Swedish “Fair Gundela.” But these points we must pass over. Our interest attaches specially to the golden ball. The story is almost certainly the remains of an old religious myth. The golden ball which one sister has is the sun, the silver ball of the other sister is the moon. The sun is lost; it sets, and the trolls, the spirits of darkness, play with it under the bed, that is, in the house of night, beneath the earth.