born,' with a wood-cut ten inches high by eight and one half inches
wide, representing the stable at Bethlehem; Christ in the crib, watched
by the Virgin and Joseph; shepherds kneeling; angels attending; a man
playing on the bagpipes; a woman with a basket of fruit on her head; a
sheep bleating and an ox lowing on the ground; a raven croaking and a
crow cawing on the hay-rack; a cock crowing above them; and angels
singing in the sky. The animals have labels from their mouths, bearing
Latin inscriptions. Down the side of the wood-cut is the following
account and explanation: 'A religious man, inventing the conceits of
both birds and beasts, drawn in the picture of our Saviour's birth, doth
thus express them. The cock croweth _Christus natus est_, Christ is
born. The raven asked _Quando_, When? The crow replied, _Hac nocte_,
This night. The ox cryeth out, _Ubi, ubi?_ Where, where? The sheep
bleated out, _Bethlehem_, Bethlehem. A voice from heaven sounded,
_Gloria in excelsis_, Glory be on high!'" London, 1701. Hone's Every-Day
Book, I, col. 1600 f.
So in Vieux Noëls français, in Les Noëls Bressans, etc., par Philibert
Le Duc, p. 145.
Joie des Bestes
à la nouvelle de la naissance du Sauveur.
Comme les Bestes autrefois
Parloient mieux latin que françois,
Le Coq, de loin voyant le faict,
S'écria: _Christus natus est_;
Le Bœuf, d'un air tout ébaubi,
Demande: _Ubi, ubi, ubi_?
La Chèvre, se torchant le groin,
Respond que c'est à _Bethleem_;
Maistre Baudet, _curiosus_
De l'aller voir, dit: _Eamus_;
Et, droit sur ses pattes, le Veau
Beugle deux fois: _Volo, volo_.[203]
And again, in Italian, Bolza, Canzoni popolari comasche, p. 654, No 30:
Il Gallo. È nato Gesù!
Il Bue. In dôva?
La Pecora. Betlèm! Betlèm!
L'Asino. Andèm! Andèm! Andèm!
A little Greek ballad, 'The Taking of Constantinople,' only seven lines
long, relates a miracle entirely like that of the cock, which was
operated for the conviction of incredulity. A nun, frying fish, hears a
voice from above, saying, Cease your frying, the city will fall into the
hands of the Turks. "When the fish fly out of the pan alive," she says,
"then shall the Turks take the city." The fish fly out of the pan alive,
and the Turkish admiraud comes riding into the city. Zambelios, p. 600,
No 2; Passow, p. 147, No 197. (Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 179.)
With Herod's questions and Stephen's answers in stanzas 5-8, we may
compare a passage in some of the Greek ballads cited under No 17, p.
199.
Σκλαβε, πανας· σκλαβε, διψας· μη το ψωμι σου λειπει·
Σκλαβε, πανας· σκλαβε, διψας· σκλαβε, κρασιν σου λειπει·
Lakkyt þe eyþer mete or drynk?
Μητε πεινω, μητε διψω, μητε ψωμι [κρασιν] μου λειπει.
Lakit me neyþer mete ne drynk.
Jeannaraki, p. 203, No 265:
Sakellarios, p. 37, No 13.
Σκλαβε, πεινας· σκλαβε, διψας· σκλαβε, ῥογα σου λειπει·
Σκλαβε, πεινας· σκλαβε, διψας· σκλαβε μου ῥουχα θελεις·
Lakkyt þe eyþer gold or fe,
Or ony ryche wede?
Ουτε πεινω, ουτε διψω, ουτε ῥογα μου λειπει.
Μητε πεινω, μητε διψω, μητε και ῥουχα θελω.
Lakyt me neyþer gold ne fe,
Ne non ryche wede.
Tommaseo, III, 154; Passow, p. 330, No 449:
Tommaseo, III, 152; Zambelios, p. 678, No 103; Passow, No 448.
A Danish translation of the English ballad is printed in Dansk
Kirketidende for 1852, p. 254 (Grundtvig). Danish #A# is translated by
Dr Prior, I, 398.
* * * * *
Sloane MS., 2593, fol. 22 b, British Museum.
1
Sey_n_t Steuene was a clerk i_n_ ky_n_g Herowd_e_s halle,
_And_ seruyd hi_m_ of bred _and_ cloþ, as euery ky_n_g befalle.
2
Steuy_n_ out of kechon_e_ ca_m_, w_y_t_h_ boris hed o_n_ honde;
He saw a sterr_e_ was fayr _and_ bryȝt ou_er_ Bedle_m_ sto_n_de.
3
He kyst adoun þe boris hed _and_ went in to þe halle:
'I forsak þe, ky_n_g Herowd_e_s, _and_ þi werk_e_s alle.
4
'I forsak þe, ky_n_g Herowd_es_, _and_ þi werk_e_s alle;
Þ_er_ is a chyld in Bedle_m_ born is bet_er_ þa_n_ we alle.'
5
'Q_uat_ eylyt þe, Steuene? q_uat_ is þe befalle?
Lakkyt þe eyþ_er_ mete or drynk in kyng Herowd_es_ h_alle_?'
6
'Lakit me neyþ_er_ mete ne drynk i_n_ ky_n_g Herowd_es_ halle;
Þ_er_ is a chyld in Bedle_m_ born is bet_er_ þa_n_ we alle.'
7
Q_uat_ eylyt þe, Steuyn? art þu wod, or þu gy_n_nyst to brede?
Lakkyt þe eyþ_er_ gold or fe, or ony ryche wede?'
8
'Lakyt me neyþ_er_ gold ne fe, ne no_n_ ryche wede;
Þ_er_ is a chyld in Bedle_m_ born xal helpy_n_ vs at _our_ nede.'
9
'Þ_a_t is al so soþ, Steuy_n_, al so soþ, iwys,
As þis capou_n_ crowe xal þ_a_t lyp her_e_ in my_n_ dysh.'
10
Þ_a_t word was not so sone seyd, þ_a_t word i_n_ þ_a_t halle,
Þe capou_n_ crew C_ristus_ nat_us_ est! among þe lord_es_ alle.
11
Rysyt vp, my_n_ turme_n_towr_es_, be to _and_ al be on,
_And_ led_y_t Steuy_n_ out of þis town, _and_ sto_n_yt hy_m_ w_y_t_h_
ston!'
12
Toky_n_ he Steuene, _and_ stonyd hy_m_ in the way,
_And_ þ_e_rfor_e_ is his euy_n_ on Cryst_es_ owy_n_ day.
* * * * *
1^2, 5^1. be falle.
3^1. a dou_n_.
3^2, 4^1. for sak.
5^2. _There is room only for the ~h~ at the end of the
line._
9^1. also ... also ... I wys.
9^2. dych.
10^2. a mong.
[184] Everriculum fermenti veteris, seu residuæ in Danico orbe cum
paganismi tum papismi reliquiæ in apricum prolatæ. "Rogata anus num vera
esse crederet quæ canebat, respondit: Me illa in dubium vocaturam
averruncet Deus!" Grundtvig, II, 518.
[185] "Staffans-skede, lusus, vel, ut rectius dicam, licentia puerorum
agrestium, qui in Festo S. Stephani, equis vecti per villas discurrunt,
et cerevisiam in lagenis, ad hoc ipsum præparatis, mendicando ostiatim
colligunt:" a dissertation, Upsala, 1734, cited by Bergström in his
edition of Afzelius, II, 358, note 28. Skede is gallop, or run,
Icelandic skeið (Bergström), Norwegian skeid, skjei. Many copies of the
Staffansvisa have been collected: see Bergström's Afzelius, II, 356: and
for a description of the custom as practised among Swedes in Finland,
with links and lanterns, but no foals, Fagerlund, Anteckningar om Korpo
och Houtskärs Socknar, p. 39 ff. Something very similar was known in
Holstein: see Schütze, Holsteinsches Idioticon, III, 200, as quoted by
Grundtvig, II, 521, note **. From Chambers' Book of Days, II, 763 f, it
appears that a custom, called a Stephening, was still existing at the
beginning of this century, of the inhabitants of the parish of Drayton
Beauchamp, Bucks, paying a visit to the rector on December 26, and
lightening his stores of all the bread, cheese and ale they wanted.
Chambers, again, in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland, p. 168 f, gives a
song closely resembling the Staffansvisa, which was sung before every
house on New Year's eve, in Deerness, Orkney, with the same object of
stimulating hospitality. Similar practices are known in the Scottish
Highlands: see Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands, III, 19, and
Chambers, at p. 167 of the Popular Rhymes.
[186] Stephen in all the ballads can be none other than the first
martyr, though Ihre, and other Swedes since his day, choose, for their
part, to understand a "Stephanum primum Helsingorum apostolum," who
certainly did not see the star in the east. The peasantry in
Helsingland, we are told, make their saints' day December 26, too, and
their St Stephen is a great patron of horses. The misappropriation of
the glories of the protomartyr is somewhat transparent.
[187] Grundtvig, whom I chiefly follow here, II, 521-24. In a note on
page 521, supplemented at III, 883 e, Grundtvig has collected much
interesting evidence of December 26 being the great Horse Day. J. W.
Wolf, cited by Grundtvig, II, 524, had said previously: "Nichts im leben
des ersten christlichen blutzeugen erinnert auch nur fern an pferde;
trotzdem machte das volk ihn zum patron der pferde, und setzte ihn also
an die stelle des Fro, dem im Norden, und nicht weniger bei uns, die
pferde heilig waren." Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie, I, 124.
[188] Jean Baptiste Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, etc., 2d ed.,
Paris, 1697, as cited by Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, Otia
Imperialia, p. 233, No 169, condemns the belief, "qu'il vaut bien mieux
...saigner des chevaux le jour de la fête de S. Estienne qu'à tout autre
jour." This may be one of the practices which Thiers had learned of from
his reading (see Liebrecht's preface, p. xvii f), but might also have
migrated from the east or north into France. Superstitions, like new
fashions, are always sure of a hospitable reception, even though they
impose a servitude.
[189] From a copy of this collection the story is given in Acta
Sanctorum, VI Julii, p. 50, § 202 ff.
[190] Vincent, as pointed out by Professor George Stephens, knew of the
miracle of the cock, and tells it at l. 25, c. 64, on the authority of
Pietro Damiani. Two Bolognese dining together, one of them carved a cock
and dressed it with pepper and sauce. "Gossip," says the other, "you
have 'fixed' that cock so that Peter himself could not put him on his
legs again." "Peter? No, not Christ himself." At this the cock jumped
up, in all his feathers, clapped his wings, crow, and threw the sauce
all over the blasphemous pair, whereby they were smitten with leprosy.
[191] So, naturally, the Fornsvenskt Legendarium, I, 170, and the
Catalan Recull de Eximplis e Miracles, etc., Barcelona, 1880, I, 298.
[192] Opus de Tholosanorum gestis, fol. 49 verso, according to Acta S.,
p. 46, of the volume last cited. Toulouse rivalled with Compostella in
the possession of relics of St James, and was amply entitled to the
honor of the miracle. Dr Andrew Borde, in his First Book of the
Introduction of Knowledge, says that an ancient doctor of divinity at
Compostella told him, "We have not one hair nor bone of St. James; for
St James the More and St James the Less, St Bartholomew and St Philip,
St Simon and Jude, St Bernard and St George, with divers other saints,
Carolus Magnus brought them to Toulouse." Ed. Furnivall, p. 204 f. I do
not know where the splenetic old divine got his information, but
certainly from no source so trustworthy as the chronicle of Turpin.
Besides other places in France, the body, or at least the head, of St
James was claimed by churches in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries.
But the author of an old Itinerary of the Pilgrims to Compostella
asserts that James the Greater is one of four saints who never changed
his burial-place. See Victor Le Clerc in Hist. Litt. de la France, xxi,
283.
[193] See 'La grande Chanson des Pélerins de Saint-Jacques,' in Socard,
Noëls et Cantiques, etc., p. 76, last stanza, p. 80, third stanza, p.
89, fifth stanza; the last==Romancero de Champagne, I, 165, stanza 5.
[194] Southey follows Marineo in his Christmas Tale of "The Pilgrim to
Compostella."
[195] "Auch eine deutsche Jesuitenkomödie, Peregrinus Compostellanus,
Innsbruck, 1624, behandelt diesen Stoff. F. Liebrecht, in Serapeum,
1864, S. 235."
[196] Vasari, V, 184, Milan, 1809; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, III, 124, II,
566 ff, ed. 1866; Mrs Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, I, 241, ed.
1857. Professor N. Høyen indicated to Grundtvig the picture of Pietro
Antonio, and d'Ancona refers to Pisanello's.
[197] He denies the perpetual multiplication of the feathers, and adds
that the very gallows on which the pilgrim was hanged is erected in the
upper part of the church, where everybody can see it. It is diverting to
find Grossenhain, in Saxony, claiming the miracle on the ground of a big
cock in an altar picture in a chapel of St James: Grässe, Sagenschatz
des Königreichs Sachsen, 2d ed., I, 80, No 82, from Chladenius,
Materialien zu Grossenhayner Stadtchronik, I, 2, Pirna, 1788; in verse
by Ziehnert, Volkssagen, p. 99, No 14, ed. 1851.
[198] For Luis de la Vega, see Acta Sanctorum, III Maii, p. 171 f, §§ 6,
7, 8, VI Julii, p. 46, § 187. The Spanish and the Dutch ballad give due
glory to St James and the Virgin; French #C# to God and St James. The
Wendish ballad can hardly be expected to celebrate St James, and refers
the justification and saving of the boy to the Virgin and the saints.
French #A# has St Michas; #B#, God and the Virgin.
Luis de la Vega, with what seems an excess of caution, says, p. 172, as
above, § 8: appositique erant ad comedendum gallus et gallina, _assati
nescio an elixi_. Of boiled fowl we have not heard so far. But we find
in a song in Fletcher's play of 'The Spanish Curate,' this stanza:
The stewd cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo,
A loud cock-a-loodle shall he crow;
The duck and the drake shall swim in a lake
Of onions and claret below.
Act III, Sc. 2; Dyce, viii, 436.
In Father Merolla's Voyage to Congo, 1682, a reference to which I owe to
Liebrecht, there is a story of a stewed cock, which, on the whole,
justifies Luis de la Vega's scruple. This must have been introduced into
Africa by some missioner, and, when so introduced, the miracle must have
had an object, which it had lost before the tale came to Father Merolla.
One of two parties at feud having marched upon the chief city of his
antagonist, and found all the inhabitants fled, the soldiers fell to
rifling the houses and killing all the living creatures they met, to
satisfy their hunger. "Amongst the rest they found a cock of a larger
size than ordinary, with a great ring of iron about one of his legs,
which occasioned one of the wisest among them to cry out, Surely this
cock must be bewitched, and it is not at all proper for us to meddle
with. To which the rest answered, Be it what it will, we are resolved to
eat it. For this end they immediately killed and tore it to pieces after
the manner of the negroes, and afterwards put it into a pot to boil.
When it was enough, they took it out into a platter, and two, according
to the custom, having said grace, five of them sat down to it with great
greediness. But before they had touched a bit, to their great wonder and
amazement, the boiled pieces of the cock, though sodden, and near
dissolved, began to move about and unite into the form they were in
before, and, being so united, the restored cock immediately raised
himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon the ground, where he
walked about as well as when he was first taken. Afterwards he leaped
upon an adjoining wall, where he became new feathered all of a sudden,
and then took his flight to a tree hard by, where fixing himself, he,
after three claps of his wings, made a most hideous noise, and then
disappeared. Every one may easily imagine what a terrible fright the
spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with a thousand Ave
Marias in their mouths from the place where this had happened, were
contented to observe most of the particulars at a distance." It appears
that the brother of one of the two contending parties was said to have
had a very large cock, from whose crowing he took auguries, but whether
this was the same as the one restored to life is not known. Churchill's
Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704, I, 682, Pinkerton's Collection,
XVI, 229.
[199] La Chevalerie Ogier de Danemarche, par Raimbert de Paris, Poëme du
xii siècle, etc., II, 485, vv 11606-627.
[200] The gospel of Nicodemus was introduced into the French and the
Italian romance of Perceforest, but unfortunately this "narratio ab
inepto Græculo pessime interpolata" (Thilo) seems to be lacking.
[201] Cursor Mundi, a Northumbrian poem of the 14th century, in four
versions, ed. by R. Morris, p. 912 f, vv 15961-998. This passage was
kindly pointed out to me by Professor George Stephens.
[202] Rélation d'un Voyage fait au Levant par Monsieur De Thévenot,
Paris, 1665, I, 502. Cited by Thilo, p. xxxvii, and by Victor Smith,
Romania, II, 474, who adds: "Parmi les manuscrits rapportés d'Éthiopie
par M. d'Abbadie, il se trouve un volume dont le titre a pour
équivalent, Actes de la passion. Un chapitre de ce volume, intitulé Le
livre du coq, développe la légende indiquée par Thévenot. Catalogue
raisonné des manuscrits éthiopiens, appartenant à M. A. T. d'Abbadie, in
4^o, imp. impériale, Paris, 1859."
[203] "Ce couplet se débite en imitant successivement le chant du coq,
le mugissement du bœuf, le cri de la chèvre, le braiment de l'âne, et
le beuglement du veau." Bolza makes a similar explanation with regard to
the Italian colloquy.
23
JUDAS
MS. B. 14, 39, of the thirteenth century, library of
Trinity College, Cambridge, as printed in Wright &
Halliwell's Reliquiæ Antiquæ, I, 144.
This legend, which has not been heretofore recognized as a ballad, is,
so far as is known, unique in several particulars. The common tradition
gives Judas an extraordinary domestic history,[204] but does not endow
him with a sister as perfidious as himself. Neither is his selling his
Master for thirty pieces accounted for elsewhere as it is here, if it
may be strictly said to be accounted for here.
A popular explanation, founded upon John xii, 3-6, and current for six
centuries and more, is that Judas, bearing the bag, was accustomed to
take tithes of all moneys that came into his hands, and that he
considered he had lost thirty pence on the precious ointment which had
not been sold for three hundred pence, and took this way of indemnifying
himself.
A Wendish ballad, Haupt und Schmaler, I, 276, No 284, has the following
story. Jesus besought hospitality for himself and his disciples of a
poor widow. She could give a lodging, but had no bread. Jesus said he
would care for that, and asked which of his disciples would go and buy
bread for thirty pieces of silver. Judas offered himself eagerly, and
went to the Jews' street to do his errand. Jews were gaming, under a
tub, and they challenged Judas to play. The first time he won the stake,
and the second. The third time he lost everything. "Why so sad, Judas?"
they say: "go sell your Master for thirty pieces." We are to suppose
Judas to have rejoined his company. Jesus then asks who has sold him.
John says, Is it I? and Peter, and then Judas, to whom Jesus replies,
Thou knowest best. Judas, in remorse, runs to hang himself. The Lord
bids him turn, for his sin is forgiven. But Judas keeps on till he comes
to a fir: "Soft wood, thou fir, thou wilt not bear me." Further on, till
he comes to an aspen. "Hard wood, thou aspen, thou wilt bear me." So he
hanged himself on the aspen; and still the aspen shakes and trembles for
fear of the judgment day.
According to the ballads, then, Judas lost the thirty pieces at play, or
was robbed of them, with collusion of his sister. But his passionate
behavior in the English ballad, st. 9, goes beyond all apparent
occasion. Surely it was not for his tithe of the thirty pieces.
And why does he insist to Pilate on the very thirty pieces he had lost,
rejecting every other form of payment? The ballad-singer might answer,
So it was, and rest contented. Or perhaps he might have heard, and might
tell us by way of comment, that these pieces had for long ages been
destined to be "the price of him that was valued, whom they of the
children of Israel did value;" had been coined by Abraham's father for
Ninus, and been given by Terah to his son; had passed through various
hands to the Ishmaelites, had been paid by them as the price of Joseph,
and been repaid to Joseph by his brethren for corn in Egypt; thence were
transferred to Sheba, and in the course of events were brought by the
Queen of the South as an offering to Solomon's temple; when the temple
was despoiled by Nebuchadnezzar, were given by him to the king of
Godolia, and after the kingdom of Godolia had been fused in that of
Nubia, were brought as his tribute to the infant Jesus by Melchior, king
of the same, etc.[205]
It is much to be regretted that the manuscript from which this piece was
taken has been for some years lost from Trinity College Library, so that
a collation of Wright's text has not been possible.
1
Hit wes upon a Scere-thorsday that ure loverd aros;
Ful milde were the wordes he spec to Judas.
2
'Judas, thou most to Jurselem, oure mete for to bugge;
Thritti platen of selver thou bere up othi rugge.
3
'Thou comest fer ithe brode stret, fer ithe brode strete;
Summe of thine tunesmen ther thou meiht imete.'
4
. . . . . . .
Imette wid is soster, the swikele wimon.
5
'Judas, thou were wrthe me stende the wid ston,
For the false prophete that tou bilevest upon.'
6
'Be stille, leve soster, thin herte the tobreke!
Wiste min loverd Crist, ful wel he wolde be wreke.'
7
'Judas, go thou on the roc, heie upon the ston;
Lei thin heved imy barm, slep thou the anon.'
8
Sone so Judas of slepe was awake,
Thritti platen of selver from hym weren itake.
9
He drou hymselve bi the cop, that al it lavede a blode;
The Jewes out of Jurselem awenden he were wode.
10
Foret hym com the riche Jeu that heihte Pilatus:
'Wolte sulle thi loverd, that hette Jesus?'
11
'I nul sulle my loverd [for] nones cunnes eihte,
Bote hit be for the thritti platen that he me bitaihte.'
12
'Wolte sulle thi lord Crist for enes cunnes golde?'
'Nay, bote hit be for the platen that he habben wolde.'
13
In him com ur lord Crist gon, as is postles seten at mete:
'Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?
14
['Wou sitte ye, postles, ant wi nule ye ete?]
Ic am ibouht ant isold today for oure mete.'
15
Up stod him Judas: 'Lord, am I that ...?
'I nas never othe stude ther me the evel spec.'
16
Up him stod Peter, and spec wid al is mihte,
. . . . . . .
17
'Thau Pilatus him come wid ten hundred cnihtes,
Yet ic wolde, loverd, for thi love fihte.'
18
'Still thou be, Peter, wel I the icnowe;
Thou wolt fursake me thrien ar the coc him crowe.'
* * * * *
_Not divided into stanzas in Reliquiæ Antiquæ._
3^2. meist.
10^1. heiste.
11^1. eiste.
11^2. bitaiste.
14^2. i-boust.
16^1. miste.
17^1. cnistes.
17^2. fiste.
_In the absence of the original manuscript, I have thought
it better to change Wright's ~s~ in the above instances
(3-17) to ~h~. In this substitution I follow Mätzner's
Altenglische Sprachproben, I, 114._
[204] Legenda Aurea, Grässe, 2d ed., p. 184 ff; Mone's Anzeiger, VII,
col. 532 f, and du Méril, Poésies populaires latines du Moyen Age, p.
326 ff; Furnivall, Early English Poems and Lives of Saints, p. 107 ff;
Douhet, Dictionnaire des Légendes, col. 714 ff; Das alte Passional, ed.
K.A. Hahn, p. 312 ff; Bäckström, Svenska Folkböcker, II, 198 ff; etc.
[205] See Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti, II, 79;
Godfrey of Viterbo (who derives his information from a lost writing of
the apostle Bartholomew) in his Pantheon, Pistorius, German. Script.,
ed. Struve, II, 243, or E. du Méril, Poésies pop. latines du Moyen Age,
p. 321; Genesi de Scriptura, Biblioteca Catalana, p. 20, etc.
24
BONNIE ANNIE
#A.# 'Bonnie Annie,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads,
p. 123.
#B.# 'The High Banks o Yarrow,' Motherwell's MS., p. 652.
Had an old copy of this still pretty and touching, but much disordered,
ballad been saved, we should perhaps have had a story like this. Bonnie
Annie, having stolen her father's gold and her mother's fee, and fled
with her paramour (like the maid in No 4), the ship in which she is
sailing encounters a storm and cannot get on. Annie is seized with the
pangs of travail, and deplores the absence of women (#B# 6, 7, #A# 9,
10; compare No 15, 21-26). The sailors say there is somebody on board
who is marked for death, or flying from a just doom. They cast lots, and
the lot falls on Annie,--a result which strikes us as having more
semblance of the "corrupted currents of this world" than of a pure
judgment of God. Annie, conscious only of her own guilt, asks to be
thrown overboard. Her paramour offers great sums to the crew to save
her, but their efforts prove useless, and Annie again begs, or they now
insist, that she shall be cast into the sea with her babe. This done,
the ship is able to sail on; Annie floats to shore and is buried there.
The captain of the ship is the guilty man in #A#, in #B# a rich squire.
#A# may exhibit the original plot, but it is just as likely that the
captain was substituted for a passenger, under the influence of another
ballad, in which there is no Annie, but a ship-master stained with many
crimes, whom the lot points out as endangering or obstructing the
vessel. See 'Brown Robyn's Confession,' further on.