+The Text+ is given here from Kinloch's MSS. He gives also three other
versions and various fragments. The tale is also found amongst the
Roxburghe Ballads, as _The Beautifull Shepherdesse of Arcadia_, in two
broadsides printed about 1655 and 1680. This is the only English version
extant. But earlier than any text of the ballad is a quotation from it
in John Fletcher's _The Pilgrim_, iv. 2 (1621). The Scots versions,
about a dozen in number, are far more lively than the broadside. Buchan
printed two, of sixty and sixty-three stanzas respectively. Another text
is delightfully inconsequent:--
'"Some ca' me Jack, some ca' me John,
Some ca' me Jing-ga-lee,
But when I am in the queen's court
Earl Hitchcock they ca' me."
"Hitchcock, Hitchcock," Jo Janet she said,
An' spelled it ower agane,
"Hitchcock it's a Latin word;
Earl Richard is your name."
But when he saw she was book-learned,
Fast to his horse hied he....'
Both this version (from the Gibb MS.) and one of Buchan's introduce the
domestic genius known as the 'Billy-Blin,' for whom see _Young Bekie_,
First Series, p. 6, ff.; _Willie's Lady_, p. 19 of this volume; and
_Cospatrick_, p. 26.
+The Story.+--The King of France's auld dochter, disguised as a
shepherdess, is accosted by Sweet William, brother to the Queen of
Scotland, who gives his name as Wilfu' Will, varied by Jack and John. He
attempts to escape, but she follows him to court, and claims him in
marriage from the king. He tries to avoid discovery by pretending to be
a cripple, but she knows him, refuses to be bribed, marries him, and
finally reveals herself to him.
The _dénouement_ of the story is reminiscent of _The Marriage of Sir
Gawain_ (First Series, pp. 107-118). A Danish ballad, _Ebbe Galt_, has
similar incidents.