'It is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.'
--_Twelfth Night_, II. 4.
+The Text.+--This ballad, concluding a small class of three--_Lord
Thomas and Fair Annet_, and _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ being the
other two--is distinguished by the fact that the lady dies of hope
deferred. It is a foolish ballad, at the opposite pole to _Lord Thomas
and Fair Annet_, and is pre-eminently one of the class meant only to be
sung, with an effective burden. The text given here, therefore, is that
of a broadside of the year 1846.
+The Story+ in outline is extremely popular in German and Scandinavian
literature. Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_,
also found north of Germany; twenty-six different versions in all, in
some of which lilies spring from the grave. In a Swedish ballad a
linden-tree grows out of their bodies; in Danish ballads, roses, lilies,
or lindens. This conclusion, a commonplace in folk-song, occurs also in
a class of Romaic ballads, where a clump of reeds rises from one of the
lovers, and a cypress or lemon-tree from the other, which bend to each
other and mingle their leaves whenever the wind blows. Classical readers
will recall the tale of Philemon and Baucis.
For further information on this subject, consult the special section of
the Introduction.
Various other versions of this ballad are named _Lady Ouncebell_, _Lord
Lavel_, _Lord Travell_, and _Lord Revel_.