The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
General
The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
In some of the tales of this section the maid is not so fortunate: in
6, the two dead take her by the legs and tear her asunder; in 21, the
lover tears her, the dead man in the house having surrendered her. In
39, the lover, having been let in, says to the other dead man, Let us
tear her to pieces, and is proceeding to do so, but is stopped by the
cock. She dies of shock, or after a few days, 8, 11, 13, 16, 17, 29,
31, 32, 36.
The maid’s escape assured, in one way or another, the man calls to
her, Your good luck: I would have taught you to weep for the dead (he
had been tearing her things in the grave, and her shift, which she had
dropped to delay his pursuit), 9. Your body would have been rent into
as many bits as your smocks (a bit was found on every grave in the
churchyard), 22, 35. I would have torn you into a thousand tatters.
I was all but saved, and have had to come so far! Then he warned her
never again to long for the dead, 42. I would have taught you to
disturb the dead, 41. It was her luck, for she would have been torn
into a thousand bits, like her apron. Let this be a warning to you,
says Our Lady to the girl, never to mourn so much again for the dead,
for he had a hard journey to make, 43. He tore a portion of her gown
into a thousand pieces, and laid one on every grave, saying, You were
not so much a simpleton to mourn for me as I was not to tear you to
pieces, 30. There was on every grave a bit of her gown, from which we
may see how it would have fared with her, 31.
Resentment for the disturbance caused by the maid’s excessive grief is
expressed also in 6, Since you have wept so much for me, creep into my
grave; in 12, she has troubled him by her perpetual weeping, he will
take her where he dwells; in 20, Another time do not long for my dead
body; in 27, You have mourned for me, now sleep with me; in 32, the
maid’s continual weeping is a burden to her lover in his grave. In 40,
the remonstrance is affectionate and like (suspiciously like) that of
Helgi and of Sir Aage (II, 235).
In some copies the story closes at the grave, 2, 10, 19, 23, 28, 40,
43, 44, 47, 49, 51, 52, 54, 56, 58; many of these, however, are brief
and defective. The man lays himself in the grave, which closes, she
flies, 23; he descends into the grave and tries to draw her in by her
apron, the apron tears, she faints, and is found lying on the ground
the next morning, 43; he descends into the grave and tries to draw her
after him, she resists, the grave closes, and she remains without, 47;
he disappears, she is left alone, 49, 52. She goes into the grave,
remains there, and dies, 10; the grave opens, he pushes or drags her
in, 54; both disappear in the grave, 56; the horse rushes three times
round in a ring, and they are nowhere, 53; she is killed by the man,
her flesh torn off, and her bones broken, 51.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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