Index of Ballad Titles 425 Titles of Collections of Ballads, or Books containing Ballads, which are very briefly cited in this work 455 Index of Matters and Literature 469 Bibliography 503 Corrections to be made in the Print 567 Appendix: Professor Child and the Ballad 571 266 JOHN THOMSON AND THE TURK =A.= ‘John Thomson and the Turk,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 159; Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. ix. ‘John Tamson,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 615. =B.= Leyden’s Glossary to The Complaynt of Scotland, p. 371, four stanzas. * * * * * Leyden (1801) says that he had “heard the whole song when very young.”[1] Motherwell’s copy was probably given him by Buchan. John Thomson has been fighting against the Turks for more than three years, when he is surprised by receiving a visit from his wife, who walks up to him in a rich dress, as if Scotland were just round the corner. The lady stays several days, and then gives her husband to understand that she is going home. He recommends her to take a road across the lea, for by doing this she will escape wild Hind Soldan and base Violentrie. It is not so much an object with the lady to avoid these Turks as John Thomson supposes. The Soldan, it turns out, has been slain; but she goes straight to Violentrie. After a twelvemonth John Thomson sends a letter to Scotland, “to see about his gay lady.” An answer is returned that her friends have not laid eyes on her in all that time. John Thomson disguises himself as a palmer and hies to Violentrie’s castle, where he finds his lady established. Learning that the palmer has come from the Scots’ army in Greece, she asks whether one of the chieftains has seen his wife lately, and is told that it is long since the knight in question parted with his wife, and that he has some fear lest the lady should have been captured by his foes. The lady declares that she is where she is by her own will, and means to stay. The palmer throws off his disguise, begs to be hidden from Violentrie, and is put down in a dark cellar. Violentrie soon arrives and calls for his dinner, casually remarking that he would give ten thousand sequins for a sight of the Scot who has so often put him to flight. The lady takes him at his word, and calls up John Thomson. The Turk demands what he would do if their positions were exchanged. “Hang you up,” the Scot replies, with spirit, “and make you wale your tree.” Violentrie takes his captive to the wood. John Thomson climbs tree after tree, ties a ribbon to every branch, and puts up a flag as a sign to his men: all which the Turk thinks no harm. Then John Thomson blows his horn. Three thousand men come tripping over the hill and demand their chief. The