"What to your servants leave? My son beloved, blooming, and gentle bred, What to your servants leave?" "The road to go to Mass; O lady mother, my heart is very sick: The road to go to Mass; Alas, alas, that I should have to die." "What leave you to your tomb? My son beloved, blooming, and gentle bred, What leave you to your tomb?" "Masses seven score and ten; O lady mother, my heart is very sick: Masses seven score and ten; Alas, alas, that I should have to die." "What leave you to your love? My son beloved, blooming, and gentle bred, What leave you to your love?" "The tree to hang her on; O lady mother, my heart is very sick: The tree to hang her on; Alas, alas, that I should have to die." At first sight it would seem that the supreme dramatic element of the English song--the circumstance that the mother does not know, but only suspects, with increasing conviction, the presence of foul play--is weakened in the Lombard ballad by the refrain, "Alas, alas, that I should have to die." But a little more reflection will show that this is essentially of the nature of an _aside_. In many instances the office of the burden in old ballads resembles that of the chorus in a Greek play: it is designed to suggest to the audience a clue to the events enacting which is not possessed by the _dramatis personae_--at least not by all of them. In the northern songs, Lord Ronald is a murdered child: a character in which he likewise figures in the Scotch lay of "The Croodlin Doo." This is the Swedish variant: "Where hast thou been so long, my little daughter?" "I have been to B[oe]nne to see my brother; Alas! how I suffer." "What gave they thee to eat, my little daughter?" "Roast eel and pepper, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What didst thou do with the bones, my little daughter?" "I threw them to the dogs, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What happened to the dogs, my little daughter?" "Their bodies went to pieces, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What dost thou wish for thy father, my little daughter?" "Good grain in the grange, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What dost thou wish for thy brother, my little daughter?" "A big ship to sail in, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What dost thou wish for thy sister, my little daughter?" "Coffers and caskets of gold, my step-mother. Alas! how I suffer." "What dost thou wish for thy step-mother, my little daughter?" "The chains of hell, step-mother. Alas! how I suffer."