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
Eilhart von Oberge, vv. 9509-21 (ed. Lichtenstein, Quellen u.
Forschungen, xix, 429) and the German prose romance (Büsching u. von der
Hagen, Buch der Liebe, c. 60), Ulrich von Thürheim, vv. 3546-50, and
Heinrich von Freiberg, vv. 6819-41 (in von der Hagen's ed. of G.v.
Strassburg's Tristan) make King Marc _plant_, the first two a grape-vine
over Tristan and a rose over Isolde, the others, wrongly, the rose over
Tristan and the vine over Isolde. These plants, according to Heinrich,
struck their roots into the hearts of the lovers below, while their
branches embraced above. Icelandic ballads and an Icelandic saga
represent Tristan's wife as forbidding the lovers to be buried in the
same grave, and ordering them to be buried on opposite sides of the
church. Trees spring from their bodies and meet over the church roof,
(Íslenzk Fornkvæði, 23 #A#, #B#, #C#, #D#; Saga af Tristram ok Ísönd,
Brynjulfson, p. 199; Tristrams Saga ok Ísondar, Kölbing, p. 112). The
later Titurel imitates the conclusion of Tristan. (Der jüngere Titurel,
ed. Hahn, sts 5789, 5790.)
Among the miracles of the Virgin there are several which are closely
akin to the prodigies already noted. A lily is found growing from the
mouth of a clerk, who, though not leading an exemplary life, had every
day said his ave before the image of Mary: Unger, Mariu Saga, No 50;
Berceo, No 3; Miracles de N.D. de Chartres, p. lxiii, No 29, and p. 239;
Marien-legenden (Stuttgart, 1846), No xi and p. 269. A rose springs from
the grave and roots in the heart of a knight who had spared the honor
of a maid because her name was Mary: Unger, No clvi, Hagen's
Gesammtabenteuer, lxxiii. Roses inscribed Maria grow from the mouth,
eyes, and ears of a monk: Unger, cxxxvii; and a lily grows over a monk's
grave, springing from his mouth, every leaf of which bears Ave Maria in
golden letters: Unger, cxxxviii; Gesammtabenteuer, lxxxviii; Libro de
Exenplos, Romania, 1878, p. 509, 43, 44; etc., etc.
No one can fail to be reminded of the purple, lily-shaped flower,
inscribed with the mournful AI AI, that rose from the blood of
Hyacinthus, and of the other from the blood of Ajax, with the same
letters, "his name and eke his plaint," hæc nominis, illa querellæ.
(Ovid, Met. X, 210 ff; xiii, 394 ff.) The northern lindens have their
counterpart in the elms from the grave of Protesilaus, and in the trees
into which Philemon and Baucis were transformed. See, upon the whole
subject, the essay of Koberstein in the Weimar Jahrbuch, I, 73 ff, with
Köhler's supplement, p. 479 ff; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, II, 689 f,
and III, 246.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account