Liebrecht's notes, Zur Volkskunde, p. 207.
[175] This high-mettled horse is a capital figure in most of the
versions. In one of them the caution is given, "Do not feel safe in
spurring him: he will scatter thy brains ten ells below the ground." The
gray (otherwise the black) is of the same breed as the Russian
Dobrynya's, a little way on; or the foal that took Charles the Great,
under similar circumstances, from Passau to Aachen between morn and eve,
('Karl der Grosse,' from Enenkels Weltbuch, c. 1250, in von der Hagen's
Gesammtabenteuer, II, 619 ff); or the black in the poem and tale of
Thedel von Walmoden.
[176] In Jeannaraki the bey says, "My slave, give us a song, and I will
free you." John sings of his love, whom he was to lose that day. So
Zambelios, as above, Tommaseo, p. 152, and Νεο. Αναλ. No. 20.
Compare Brunswick, in Wyssenhere, and Moringer.
[177] Otherwise: Nastasya waits _six_ years, as desired; is told that
Dobrynya is dead and is urged to marry Alesha; will not hear of marriage
for six years more; Vladimir then interposes. Dobrynya is furious, as
these absentees are sometimes pleased to be. He complains that women
have long hair and short wits, and so does Brunswick in Wyssenhere's
poem, st. 89. Numerous as are the instances of these long absences, the
woman is rarely, if ever, represented as in the least to blame. The
behavior of the man, on the other hand, is in some cases trying. Thus,
the Conde Dirlos tells his young wife to wait for him seven years, and
if he does not come in eight to marry the ninth. He accomplishes the
object of his expedition in three years, but stays fifteen, never
writes,--he had taken an unnecessary oath not to do that before he
started,--and forbids anybody else to write, on pain of death. Such is
his humor; but he is very much provoked at being reported dead. Wolf and
Hofmann, Primavera y Flor de Romances, II, 129, No 164.
[178] Kathá Sarit Ságara (of the early part of the 12th century),
Tawney's translation, I, 136 ff. The story is cited by Rajna, in
Romania, VI, 359. Herr v. Bodman leaves his marriage ring in a
wash-bowl! Meier, Deutsche V. m. aus Schwaben, 214 f.
[179] The ring given Horn by Rymenbild, in 'King Horn,' 579 ff
(Wissmann), and in the French romance, 2056 ff, protects him against
material harm or mishap, or assures him superiority in fight, as long as
he is faithful. So in Buchan's version of 'Bonny Bee-Ho'm,' st. 8:
'As lang's this ring's your body on,
Your blood shall neer be drawn.'
"The king's daughter of Linne" gives her champion two rings, one of
which renders him invulnerable, and the other will staunch the blood of
any of his men who may be wounded: Motherwell's Minstrelsy,
Introduction, p. lvii. Eglamore's ring, Percy MS., II, 363, st. 51, will
preserve his life on water or land. A ring given Wolfdietrich by the
empress, #D# VIII, st. 42, ed. Jänicke, doubles his strength and makes
him fire-proof in his fight with the dragon. The ring lent Ywaine by his
lady will keep him from prison, sickness, loss of blood, or being made
captive in battle, and give him superiority to all antagonists, so long
as he is true in love: Ritson, Met. Rom. I, 65, vv 1533 ff. But an
Indian ring which Reinfrît receives from his wife before he departs for
the crusade, 15,066 ff, has no equal, after all; for, besides doing as
much as the best of these, it imparts perpetual good spirits. It is
interesting to know that this matchless jewel had once been the property
of a Scottish king, and was given by him to his daughter when she was
sent to Norway to be married: under convoy of Sir Patrick Spens?
18
SIR LIONEL.
#A.# 'Sir Lionell,' Percy MS., p. 32, Hales and Furnivall,
I, 75.
#B.# 'Isaac-a-Bell and Hugh the Græme,' Christie,
Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 110.
#C. a.# 'The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove,' Allies, The
British, Roman and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of
Worcestershire, 2d ed., p. 116. #b.# Bell's Ancient Poems,
Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 124.
#D.# Allies, as above, p. 118.
#E. a.# 'The Old Man and his Three Sons,' Bell, as above,
p. 250. #b.# Mr Robert White's papers.
#F.# Allies, as above, p. 120.
#B# can be traced in Banffshire, according to Christie, for more than a
hundred years, through the old woman that sang it, and her forbears. #C
a#, #D# were originally published by Allies in the year 1845, in a
pamphlet bearing the title The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove, Horne the
Hunter, and Robin Hood. No intimation as to the source of his copy, #C
b#, is given by Bell, i. e., Dixon. Apparently all the variations from
Allies, #C a#, are of the nature of editorial improvements. #E a# is
said (1857) to be current in the north of England as a nursery song.
One half of #A#, the oldest and fullest copy of this ballad (the second
and fourth quarters), is wanting in the Percy MS. What we can gather of
the story is this. A knight finds a lady sitting in a tree, #A#, #C#,
#D# [under a tree, #E#], who tells him that a wild boar has slain Sir
Broning, #A# [killed her lord and thirty of his men, #C#; worried her
lord and wounded thirty, #E#]. The knight kills the boar, #B-D#, and
seems to have received bad wounds in the process, #A#, #B#; the boar
belonged to a giant, #B#; or a wild woman, #C#, #D#. The knight is
required to forfeit his hawks and leash, and the little finger of his
right hand, #A# [his horse, his hound, and his lady, #C#]. He refuses to
submit to such disgrace, though in no condition to resist, #A#; the
giant allows him time to heal his wounds, forty days, #A#; thirty-three,
#B#; and he is to leave his lady as security for his return, #A#. At the
end of this time the knight comes back sound and well, #A#, #B#, and
kills the giant as he had killed the boar, #B#. #C# and #D# say nothing
of the knight having been wounded. The wild woman, to revenge her
"pretty spotted pig," flies fiercely at him, and he cleaves her in two.
The last quarter of the Percy copy would, no doubt, reveal what became
of the lady who was sitting in the tree, as to which the traditional
copies give no light.
Our ballad has much in common with the romance of 'Sir Eglamour of
Artois,' Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, II, 338; Thornton Romances,
Camden Society, ed. Halliwell, p. 121; Ellis, Metrical Romances, from an
early printed copy, Bohn's ed., p. 527. Eglamour, simple knight, loving
Christabel, an earl's daughter, is required by the father, who does not
wish him well, to do three deeds of arms, the second being to kill a
boar in the kingdom of Sattin or Sydon, which had been known to slay
forty armed knights in one day (Percy, st. 37). This Eglamour does,
after a very severe fight. The boar belonged to a giant, who had kept
him fifteen years to slay Christian men (Thornton, st. 42, Percy, 40).
This giant had demanded the king of Sydon's daughter's hand, and comes
to carry her off, by force, if necessary, the day following the
boar-fight. Eglamour, who had been found by the king in the forest, in a
state of exhaustion, after a contest which had lasted to the third or
fourth day, and had been taken home by him and kindly cared for, is now
ready for action again. He goes to the castle walls with a squire, who
carries the boar's head on a spear. The giant, seeing the head,
exclaims,
'Alas, art thou dead!
My trust was all in thee!
Now by the law that I lieve in,
My little speckled hoglin,
Dear bought shall thy death be.'
Percy, st. 44.
Eglamour kills the giant, and returns to Artois with both heads. The
earl has another adventure ready for him, and hopes the third chance may
quit all. Eglamour asks for twelve weeks to rest his weary body.
#B# comes nearest the romance, and possibly even the wood of Tore is a
reminiscence of Artois. The colloquy with the giant in #B# is also,
perhaps, suggested by one which had previously taken place between
Eglamour and another giant, brother of this, after the knight had killed
one of his harts (Percy, st. 25). #C# 11, #D# 9 strikingly resemble the
passage of the romance cited above (Percy, 44, Thornton, 47).
The ballad has also taken up something from the romance of 'Eger and
Grime,' Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, I, 341; Laing, Early Metrical
Tales, p. 1; 'Sir Eger, Sir Grahame, and Sir Gray-Steel,' Ellis's
Specimens, p. 546. Sir Egrabell (Rackabello, Isaac-a-Bell), Lionel's
father, recalls Sir Eger, and Hugh the Græme in #B# is of course the
Grahame or Grime of the romance, the Hugh being derived from a later
ballad. Gray-Steel, a man of proof, although not quite a giant, cuts off
the little finger of Eger's right hand, as the giant proposes to do to
Lionel in #A# 21.
The friar in #E# 1^3, 4^1, may be a corruption of Ryalas, or some like
name, as the first line of the burden of #E#, 'Wind well, _Lion_, good
hunter,' seems to be a perversion of 'Wind well _thy horn_, good
hunter,' in #C#, #D#.[180] This part of the burden, especially as it
occurs in #A#, is found, nearly, in a fragment of a song of the time of
Henry VIII, given by Mr Chappell in his Popular Music of the Olden Time,
I, 58, as copied from "MSS Reg., Append. 58."
'Blow thy horne, hunter,
Cum, blow thy horne on hye!
In yonder wode there lyeth a doo,
In fayth she woll not dye.
Cum, blow thy horne, hunter,
Cum, blow thy horne, joly hunter!'
A terrible swine is a somewhat favorite figure in romantic tales. A
worthy peer of the boar of Sydon is killed by King Arthur in 'The
Avowynge of King Arthur,' etc., Robson, Three Early English Metrical
Romances (see st. xii). But both of these, and even the Erymanthian,
must lower their bristles before the boar in 'Kilhwch and Olwen,'
Mabinogion, Part iv, pp. 309-16. Compared with any of these, the "felon
sow" presented by Ralph Rokeby to the friars of Richmond (Evans, Old
Ballads, II, 270, ed. 1810, Scott, Appendix to Rokeby, note M) is a tame
villatic pig: the old mettle is bred out.
Professor Grundtvig has communicated to me a curious Danish ballad of
this class, 'Limgrises Vise,' from a manuscript of the latter part of
the 16th century. A very intractable damsel, after rejecting a multitude
of aspirants, at last marries, with the boast that her progeny shall be
fairer than Christ in heaven. She has a litter of nine pups, a pig, and
a boy. The pig grows to be a monster, and a scourge to the whole region.
He drank up the water from dike and from dam,
And ate up, besides, both goose, gris and lamb.
The beast is at last disposed of by baiting him with the nine
congenerate dogs, who jump down his throat, rend liver and lights, and
find their death there, too. This ballad smacks of the broadside, and is
assigned to the 16th century. A fragment of a Swedish swine-ballad, in
the popular tone, is given by Dybeck, Runa, 1845, p. 23; another, very
similar, in Axelson's Vesterdalarne, p. 179, 'Koloregris,' and Professor
Sophus Bugge has recovered some Norwegian verses. The Danish story of
the monstrous birth of the pig has become localized: the Liimfiord is
related to have been made by the grubbing of the Limgris: Thiele,
Danmarks Folkesagn, II. 19, two forms.
There can hardly be anything but the name in common between the Lionel
of this ballad and Lancelot's cousin-german.
A
Percy MS., p. 32, Hales and Furnivall, I, 75.
1
Sir Egrabell had sonnes three,
Blow thy horne, good hunter
Sir Lyonell was one of these.
As I am a gentle hunter
2
S_ir_ Lyonell wold on hunting ryde,
Vntill the forrest him beside.
3
And as he rode thorrow the wood,
Where trees and harts and all were good,
4
And as he rode over the plaine,
There he saw a knight lay slaine.
5
And as he rode still on the plaine,
He saw a lady sitt in a graine.
6
'Say thou, lady, and tell thou me,
What blood shedd heere has bee.'
7
'Of this blood shedd we may all rew,
Both wife and childe and man alsoe.
8
'For it is not past 3 days right
Since S_ir_ Broninge was mad a k_nigh_t.
9
'Nor it is not more than 3 dayes agoe
Since the wild bore did him sloe.'
10
'Say thou, lady, and tell thou mee,
How long thou wilt sitt in _tha_t tree.'
11
She said, 'I will sitt in this tree
Till my friends doe feitch me.'
12
'Tell me, lady, and doe not misse,
Where that y_ou_r friends dwellings is.'
13
'Downe,' shee said, 'in yonder towne,
There dwells my freinds of great renowne.'
14
Says, 'Lady, Ile ryde into yonder towne
And see wether y_ou_r friends beene bowne.
15
'I my self wilbe the formost man
That shall come, lady, to feitch you home.'
16
But as he rode then by the way,
He thought it shame to goe away;
17
And vmbethought him of a wile,
How he might that wilde bore beguile.
18
'S_i_r Egrabell,' he said, 'my father was;
He neuer left lady in such a case;
19
'Noe more will I' ...
. . . . . . .
20
'And a[fter] that thou shalt doe mee
Thy hawkes and thy lease alsoe.
21
'Soe shalt thou doe at my com_m_and
The litle fingar on thy right hand.'
22
'Ere I wold leaue all this with thee,
Vpoon this ground I rather dyee.'
23
The gyant gaue S_i_r Lyon_el_l such a blow,
The fyer out of his eyen did throw.
24
He said then, 'if I were saffe and sound,
As with-in this hower I was in this ground,
25
'It shold be in the next towne told
How deare thy buffett it was sold;
26
'And it shold haue beene in the next towne _sai_d
How well thy buffett it were paid.'
27
'Take 40 daies into spite,
To heale thy wounds that beene soe wide.
28
'When 40 dayes beene at an end,
Heere meete thou me both safe and sound.
29
'And till thou come to me againe,
With me thoust leaue thy lady alone.
30
When 40 dayes was at an end,
Sir Lyon_el_l of his wounds was healed sound.
31
He tooke with him a litle page,
He gaue to him good yeomans wage.
32
And as he rode by one hawthorne,
Even there did hang his hunting horne.
33
He sett his bugle to his mouth,
And blew his bugle still full south.
34
He blew his bugle lowde and shrill;
The lady heard, and came him till.
35
Sayes, 'the gyant lyes vnder yond low,
And well he heares yo_u_r bugle blow.
36
'And bidds me of good cheere be,
This night heele supp with you and me.'
37
Hee sett that lady vppon a steede,
And a litle boy before her yeede.
38
And said, 'lady, if you see that I must dye,
As euer you loued me, from me flye.
39
'But, lady, if you see _tha_t I must liue,'
. . . . . . .
B
Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 110. From the
singing of an old woman in Buckie, Enzie, Banffshire.
1
A knicht had two sons o sma fame,
Hey nien nanny
Isaac-a-Bell and Hugh the Graeme.
And the norlan flowers spring bonny
2
And to the youngest he did say,
'What occupation will you hae?
When the, etc.
3
'Will you gae fee to pick a mill?
Or will you keep hogs on yon hill?'
While the, etc.
4
'I winna fee to pick a mill,
Nor will I keep hogs on yon hill.
While the, etc.
5
'But it is said, as I do hear,
That war will last for seven year,
And the, etc.
6
'With a giant and a boar
That range into the wood o Tore.
And the, etc.
7
'You'll horse and armour to me provide,
That through Tore wood I may safely ride.'
When the, etc.
8
The knicht did horse and armour provide,
That through Tore wood Graeme micht safely ride.
When the, etc.
9
Then he rode through the wood o Tore,
And up it started the grisly boar.
When the, etc.
10
The firsten bout that he did ride,
The boar he wounded in the left side.
When the, etc.
11
The nexten bout at the boar he gaed,
He from the boar took aff his head.
And the, etc.
12
As he rode back through the wood o Tore,
Up started the giant him before.
And the, etc.
13
'O cam you through the wood o Tore,
Or did you see my good wild boar?'
And the, etc.
14
'I cam now through the wood o Tore,
But woe be to your grisly boar.
And the, etc.
15
'The firsten bout that I did ride,
I wounded your wild boar in the side.
And the, etc.
16
'The nexten bout at him I gaed,
From your wild boar I took aff his head.'
And the, etc.
17
'Gin you have cut aff the head o my boar,
It's your head shall be taen therfore.
And the, etc.
18
'I'll gie you thirty days and three,
To heal your wounds, then come to me.'
While the, etc.
19
'It's after thirty days and three,
When my wounds heal, I'll come to thee.'
When the, etc.
20
So Graeme is back to the wood o Tore,
And he's killd the giant, as he killd the boar.
And the, etc.
C
#a.# Allies, The British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and
Folk-Lore of Worcestershire, 2d ed., p. 116. From the
recitation of Benjamin Brown, of Upper Wick, about 1845.
#b.# Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of
England, edited by Robert Bell, p. 124.
1
Sir Robert Bolton had three sons,
Wind well thy horn, good hunter
And one of them was called Sir Ryalas.
For he was a jovial hunter
2
He rang'd all round down by the woodside,
Till up in the top of a tree a gay lady he spy'd.
For he was, etc.
3
'O what dost thou mean, fair lady?' said he;
'O the wild boar has killed my lord and his men thirty.'
As thou beest, etc.
4
'O what shall I do this wild boar to see?'
'O thee blow a blast, and he'll come unto thee.'
As thou beest, etc.
5
[Then he put his horn unto his mouth],
Then he blowd a blast full north, east, west and south.
As he was, etc.
6
And the wild boar heard him full into his den;
Then he made the best of his speed unto him.
To Sir Ryalas, etc.
7
Then the wild boar, being so stout and so strong,
He thrashd down the trees as he came along.
To Sir Ryalas, etc.
8
'O what dost thou want of me?' the wild boar said he;
'O I think in my heart I can do enough for thee.'
For I am, etc.
9
Then they fought four hours in a long summer's day,
Till the wild boar fain would have gotten away.
From Sir Ryalas, etc.
10
Then Sir Ryalas drawd his broad sword with might,
And he fairly cut his head off quite.
For he was, etc.
11
Then out of the wood the wild woman flew:
'Oh thou hast killed my pretty spotted pig!
As thou beest, etc.
12
'There are three things I do demand of thee,
It's thy horn, and thy hound, and thy gay lady.'
As thou beest, etc.
13
'If these three things thou dost demand of me,
It's just as my sword and thy neck can agree.'
For I am, etc.
14
Then into his locks the wild woman flew,
Till she thought in her heart she had torn him through.
As he was, etc.
15
Then Sir Ryalas drawd his broad sword again,
And he fairly split her head in twain.
For he was, etc.
16
In Bromsgrove church they both do lie;
There the wild boar's head is picturd by
Sir Ryalas, etc.
D
Allies, Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire, p.
118. From the recitation of ---- Oseman, Hartlebury.
1
As I went up one brook, one brook,
Well wind the horn, good hunter
I saw a fair maiden sit on a tree top.
As thou art the jovial hunter
2
I said, 'Fair maiden, what brings you here?'
'It is the wild boar that has drove me here.'
As thou art, etc.
3
'I wish I could that wild boar see;'
Well wind the horn, good hunter,
And the wild boar soon will come to thee.'
As thou art, etc.
4
Then he put his horn unto his mouth,
And he blowd both east, west, north and south.
As he was, etc.
5
The wild boar hearing it into his den,
[Then he made the best of his speed unto
him].
6
He whetted his tusks for to make them strong,
And he cut down the oak and the ash as he came along.
For to meet with, etc.
7
They fought five hours one long summer's day,
Till the wild boar he yelld, and he'd fain run away.
And away from, etc.
8
O then he cut his head clean off,
. . . . . . .
9
Then there came an old lady running out of the wood,
Saying, 'You have killed my pretty, my pretty spotted pig.'
As thou art, etc.
10
Then at him this old lady she did go,
And he clove her from the top of her head to her toe.
As he was, etc.
11
In Bromsgrove churchyard this old lady lies,
And the face of the boar's head there is drawn by,
That was killed by, etc.
E
#a.# Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of
England, edited by Robert Bell, p. 250. #b.# Mr Robert
White's papers.
1
There was an old man and sons he had three;
Wind well, Lion, good hunter
A friar he being one of the three,
With pleasure he ranged the north country.
For he was a jovial hunter
2
As he went to the woods some pastime to see,
He spied a fair lady under a tree,
Sighing and moaning mournfully.
He was, etc.
3
'What are you doing, my fair lady?'
'I'm frightened the wild boar he will kill me;
He has worried my lord and wounded thirty.'
As thou art, etc.
4
Then the friar he put his horn to his mouth,
And he blew a blast, east, west, north and south,
And the wild boar from his den he came forth.
Unto the, etc.
* * * * * * *
F
Allies, Antiquities of Worcestershire, p. 120.
1
Sir Rackabello had three sons,
Wind well your horn, brave hunter
Sir Ryalash was one of these.
And he was a jovial hunter
* * * * *
#A.#
3^1. _MS._ And as thé.
6^2. _MS._ had bee.
11^1. _MS._ I wilt.
12^1. _MS._ miste.
16^2. _MS._ awaw.
17^1. _MS._ vnbethought ... while.
19. _Between 19 and 20 half a page of the MS. is wanting._
20^1. a[fter]: _MS. blotted._
36^1. _MS._ bidds eue.
39. _Half a page of the MS. is wanting._
#B.#
_The stanzas are doubled in Christie, to suit the air._
#C#.
#a.# 3^1, 4^2, 7^2. #D.# 2^1, 3^2, 6. _John Cole, who had
heard an old man sing the ballad fifty years before
(Allies, p. 115), could recollect only so much:_
'Oh! lady, Oh! lady, what bringst thou here?'
Wind went his horn, as a hunter
'Thee blow another blast, and he'll soon come to thee.'
As thou art a jovial hunter
He whetted his tusks as he came along,
Wind went his horn, as a hunter
#a# 5, 6 _stand thus in Allies_:
V
Then he blowd a blast full north, east, west and south,
For he was, etc.
And the wild boar heard him full into his den,
As he was, etc.
VI
Then he made the best of his speed unto him.
_(Two lines wrongly supplied from another source.)_
To Sir Ryalas, etc.
_5 has been completed from the corresponding stanza in
#D#, and the two verses of 6, separated above, are put
together._
#b.#
1^1. Old Sir Robert.
1^2. was Sir Ryalas.
2^2. Till in a tree-top.
3^1. dost thee.
3^2. The wild boar's killed my lord and has thirty men
gored.
_Burden_^2. And thou beest.
4^1. for to see.
5^1. _As in Allies (see above), except ~full~ in his den._
5^2. then heard him full in his den.
6^1. _As in Allies (see above), but 6^2 supplied by Bell._
7^2. Thrashed down the trees as he ramped him along.
8^1. 'Oh, what dost thee want of me, wild boar.'
_Burden_^2. the jovial.
9^1. summer.
9^2. have got him.
10^2. cut the boar's head off quite.
11^2. Oh, my pretty spotted pig thou hast slew.
_Burden_^2. for thou beest.
12^1. I demand them of thee.
13^1. dost ask.
14^1. long locks.
14^2. to tear him through.
_Burden_^2. Though he was.
15^2. into twain.
16^1. the knight he doth lie.
16^2. And the wild boar's head is pictured thereby.
#D#.
5, 6. _In Allies thus:_
V
The wild boar hearing it into his den,
Well wind, etc.
He whetted his tusks, for to make them strong,
And he cut down the oak and the ash as he came along.
For to meet with, etc.
_Stanza 5 has been completed from stanza vi of Allies'
other ballad, and 6 duly separated from the first line of
5._
8^2, 9. _In Allies' copy thus_:
VII
Oh! then he cut his head clean off!
Well wind, etc.
Then there came an old lady running out of the wood
Saying, 'You have killed my pretty, my pretty spotted pig.'
As thou art, etc.
_What stanza 8 should be is easily seen from #C# 10._
#C# 16, #D# 11. _As imperfectly remembered by Allies (p.
114):_
In Bromsgrove church his corpse doth lie,
Why winded his horn the hunter?
Because there was a wild boar nigh,
And as he was a jovial hunter.
#E.#
#b.# "Fragment found on the fly-leaf of an old book." _Mr
R. White's papers._
1^2, one of these three.
1^3. wide countrie.
_Burden_^2. He was.
2^1. was in woods.
2^3. With a bloody river running near she.
3^1. He said, 'Fair lady what are you doing there?'
3^3. killed my lord.
4. _wanting._
[180] The friar might also be borrowed from 'The Felon Sow and the
Friars of Richmond,' but this piece does not appear to have been
extensively known.
19
KING ORFEO
The Leisure Hour, February 14, 1880, No 1468: Folk-Lore
from Unst, Shetland, by Mrs Saxby, p. 109.
Mr Edmondston, from whose memory this ballad was derived, notes that
though stanzas are probably lost after the first which would give some
account of the king in the east wooing the lady in the west, no such
verses were sung to him. He had forgotten some stanzas after the fourth,
of which the substance was that the lady was carried off by fairies;
that the king went in quest of her, and one day saw a company passing
along a hill-side, among whom he recognized his lost wife. The troop
went to what seemed a great "ha-house," or castle, on the hillside.
Stanzas after the eighth were also forgotten, the purport being that a
messenger from behind the grey stane appeared and invited the king in.