In the ballad of ‘Prince Robert,’ Prince Robert has wedded a gay ladye He has wedded her with a ring, Prince Robert has wedded a gay ladye, But he darna bring her hame. The Prince is poisoned, and his lady-love arrives just after the funeral, and is told:-- ‘Ye’se get nane o’ his gowd, ye’se get nane o’ his gear, Ye’se get nothing frae me. Ye’se no get an inch o’ his good braid land, Though your heart suld burst in three.’ ‘I want nane o’ his gowd, I want nane o’ his gear, I want nae land frae thee: But I’ll hae the rings that’s on his finger, For them he did promise to me.’ ‘Ye’se no get the rings that’s on his finger, Ye’se no get them frae me; Ye’se no get the rings that’s on his finger, An your heart suld burst in three.’ In the ballad of ‘Broomfield Hill’ a witch-woman says to ‘a lady bright:’ Take ye the rings off your fingers, Put them on his right hand, To let him know when he doth wake, His love was at his command. The Child of Elle receives from the page of his lady-love, the ‘fayre Emmeline,’ some tokens of her affection to him in her ‘woe-begone’ state:-- And here she sends thee a ring of golde, The last boone thou mayst have, And biddes thee weare it for her sake, When she is layde in grave. The famous Guy, Earl of Warwick, after marvellous adventures abroad, returns to his own country, and becomes a hermit at Guy’s Cliff, near Warwick Castle. Falling sick, he sends a ring-token to the fair Félice. He came to his rocky dwelling, Like pilgrim poore, and was not knowne; And there I lived a hermit’s life, A mile and more out of the towne, And dayle came to beg my bread Of Pheliss, att my castle-gate, Not known unto my loved wiffe, Who dayle mourned for her mate: Till, at the last, I fell sore sicke, Yea, sicke soe sore that I must dye; I sent to her a ringe of golde, By which she knew me presentlye. In the romance of ‘Floire and Blanceflor,’ the young hero, on his way to Babylon, arrives at a bridge, the keeper of which has a brother in the city, to whose hospitality he wishes to recommend Floire, and for that purpose he gives him his ring. ‘Take this ring to him,’ he says, ‘and tell him from me to receive you in his best manner.’ The message was attended with complete success.