There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the
same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because
each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular
story. There is yet another ballad, _Erlinton_, printed by Sir Walter
Scott in the _Minstrelsy_, embodying an almost identical tale. _Earl
Brand_ preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more
exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in
too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete
form of the story. A Danish ballad, _Ribold and Guldborg_, gives the
fine tale thus:--
Ribold, a king's son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away
'to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are
cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with
wine.' Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict
watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold
disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor
they meet an earl, who asks, 'Whither away?' Ribold answers that he is
taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the
earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg's father, learning
that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold
bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that,
whatever may chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her
father and some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest
brother is left: Guldborg cries, 'Ribold, spare him,' that he may carry
tidings to her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He
ceases fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, 'Wilt thou go home
to thy mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?' And she says
she will follow him. In silence they ride on. 'Why art not thou merry as
before?' asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, 'Thy brother's sword has
been in my heart.' They reach his house: he calls for one to take his
horse, another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg.
But she refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and
dies in his arms.
A second and even more dramatic ballad, _Hildebrand and Hilde_, tells a
similar story.
A comparison of the above tale with _Earl Brand_ will show a close
agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English ballad
is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name while he
fights. The very name 'Brand' is doubtless a direct derivative of
'Hildebrand.' Winchester (13.2), as it implies a nunnery, corresponds to
the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his mother to
marry the King's daughter to his youngest brother; but her refusal, if
she did as Guldborg did, has been lost.
_The Douglas Tragedy_, a beautiful but fragmentary version, is, says
Scott, 'one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete
locality.' The ascribed locality, if more complete, is no more probable
than any other: to ascribe any definite locality to a ballad is in all
cases a waste of time and labour.
_The Child of Ell_, in the Percy Folio, _may_ have contained anything;
but immediately we approach a point where comparison would be of
interest, we meet an _hiatus valde deflendus_. Percy, in the _Reliques_,
expanded the fragment here given to about five times the length.