The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)
General
The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
Besides Sølverlad and Vendelrod, there is a considerable number of
Danish ballads characterized by the feature that a bride is not a maid,
and most or all of these have similarities to 'Gil Brenton.' 'Hr. Find
og Vendelrod,' Grundtvig, No 275, has even the talking blanket
(sometimes misunderstood to be a bed-_board_). In this piece there is no
substitution. Vendelrod gives birth to children, and the news makes Find
jump over the table. Still he puts the question mildly, who is the
father, and recognizes that he is the man, upon hearing the story of the
bower on the strand, and seeing half a gold ring which Vendelrod had
received "for her honor."
In 'Ingelilles Bryllup,' Grundtvig, No 276, Blidelild is induced to take
Ingelild's place by the promise that she shall marry Ingelild's brother.
Hr. Magnus asks her why she is so sad, and says he knows she is not a
maid. Blidelild says, "Since you know so much, I will tell you more,"
and relates Ingelild's adventure,--how she had gone out to the river,
and nine knights came riding by, etc. [so #A#; in #B# and #C# we have
the bower on the strand, as before]. Hr. Magnus avows that he was the
ninth, who stayed when eight rode away. Blidelild begs that he will
allow her to go and look for some lost rings, and uses the opportunity
to send back Ingelild in her stead.
Various other Scandinavian ballads have more or less of the story of
those which have been mentioned. In the Danish 'Brud i Vaande,'
Grundtvig, No 277, a bride is taken with untimely pains while being
"brought home." The question asked in several of the Scottish ballads,
whether the saddle is uncomfortable, occurs in #A#, #B#; the bower that
was forced by eight swains and a knight in #A#, #C#, #D#, #F#; the gifts
in #A#, #B#, #F#; and an express acknowledgment of the act of violence
by the bridegroom in #A#, #B#, #D#. We find all of these traits except
the first in the corresponding Swedish ballad 'Herr Äster och Fröken
Sissa,' Afzelius, No 38, new ed., No 32,^1; the saddle and broken
bower in Swedish #D#, Grundtvig, No 277, Bilag 1; only the saddle in
Swedish #F#, Grundtvig, No. 277, Bilag 3, and #C#, Arwidsson, No 132;
the saddle and gifts in Icelandic #A#, #B#, #C#, #D#, #E#, Grundtvig, No
277, Bilag 5, 6, 7, 8.
'Peder og Malfred,' Grundtvig, No 278, in four versions, the oldest from
a manuscript of 1630, represents Sir Peter as riding away from home
about a month after his marriage, and meeting a woman who informs him
that there is a birth in his house. He returns, and asks who is the
father. Sir Peter satisfies himself that he is the man by identifying
the gifts, in #A#, #B#, #C#, #D#; and in #A#, #B# we have also the bower
by the strand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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