+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio MS., with the spelling modernised,
except in two or three instances for the sake of the rhyme (13.4) or
metre (102.2). Other alterations, as suggested by Child, are noted.
Apart from the irregularities of metre, this ballad is remarkable for
the large proportion of 'e' rhymes, which are found in 71 stanzas, or
two-thirds of the whole. The redundant 'that,' which is a feature of the
Percy Folio, also occurs frequently--in eleven places, three of which
are in optative sentences (8.2, 14.4, 91.4).
The ballad is more commonly known as _The Lord of Lorne_, under which
title we find it registered in the Stationers' Company on October 6,
1580. Guilpin refers to it in his _Skialethia_ (1598), Satire 1, ll.
107-108:--
'... the old ballad of the Lord of Lorne
Whose last line in King Harry's day was born.'
Probably this implies little more than that the ballad was known in
Henry VIII.'s day. Three broadsides are known, two in the Roxburghe and
one in the Pepys collection. Both the Roxburghe ballads are later than
the Folio version.
+The Story+ is derived from that of _Roswall and Lillian_. Roswall, the
king's son, of Naples, overhearing three lords bewailing their long
imprisonment, promised to set them free, and did so by stealing the keys
from under the king's pillow at night. The king, on hearing of their
escape, vowed to slay at sight the man who had set them free. The queen,
however, interceding for her son, Roswall was banished under charge of a
steward. From this point our ballad follows the romance fairly closely.
Roswall and the steward, after changing places, entered the kingdom of
Bealm. At length Roswall, under the name Dissawar (see 29.2, etc.),
became chamberlain to the Princess Lillian, and she fell in love with
him. The King of Bealm meanwhile sent to the King of Naples, proposing
to wed his daughter to the young prince of Naples, and the Neapolitan
king assented. A joust was proclaimed, and Lillian told Dissawar to
joust for her; but he preferred to go a-hunting. However, in the wood he
found the three knights he had helped to escape, and they equipped him
for the three days' tourney, in which he defeated the steward. He did
not, however, proclaim himself, and Lillian was forced to ask the king
herself for Dissawar; but her father married her to the steward. During
the wedding feast the three Neapolitan lords appeared, but would not
acknowledge the steward as their prince, and went in search of Roswall,
who told the king of the steward's treachery, and announced himself to
be the victor of the jousts. The steward was hanged and Roswall married
to Lillian.
Other romances and stories exist, with similar foundations, especially
amongst the Slavic nations. But the best known is the _Goose-girl_ (_Die
Gänse-magd_) of the Grimms, where the sexes are reversed. A connection
may be traced between the horse Falada's head and the gelding of the
ballad; and the trick of a person, who is sworn to secrecy, divulging
the secret to some object (as the gelding, here; but more often a stove
or oven) in the presence of witnesses has obtained a wide vogue.