18.

And he called vnto his hors-keeper, 'Make readye you my steede!'

I, and soe he did to his chamberlaine, 'Make readye thou my weede!'

19.

And he cast a lease vpon his backe, And he rode to the siluer wood, And there he sought all about, About the siluer wood.

20.

And there he ffound him Child Maurice Sitting vpon a blocke, With a siluer combe in his hand, Kembing his yellow locke.

21.

But then stood vp him Child Maurice, And sayd these words trulye: 'I doe not know your ladye,' he said, 'If that I doe her see.'

22.

He sayes, 'How now, how now, Child Maurice?

Alacke, how may this bee?

Ffor thou hast sent her loue-tokens, More now then two or three;

23.

'Ffor thou hast sent her a mantle of greene, As greene as any grasse, And bade her come to the siluer woode To hunt with Child Maurice.

24.

'And thou [hast] sent her a ring of gold, A ring of precyous stone, And bade her come to the siluer wood, Let ffor noe kind of man.

25.

'And by my ffaith, now, Child Maurice, The tone of vs shall dye!'

'Now be my troth,' sayd Child Maurice, 'And that shall not be I.'

26.

But hee pulled forth a bright browne sword, And dryed itt on the grasse, And soe ffast he smote att Iohn Steward, I-wisse he neuer rest.

27.

Then hee pulled fforth his bright browne sword, And dryed itt on his sleeue, And the ffirst good stroke Iohn Stewart stroke, Child Maurice head he did cleeue.

28.

And he pricked itt on his swords poynt, Went singing there beside, And he rode till he came to that ladye ffaire, Wheras this ladye lyed.

29.

And sayes, 'Dost thou know Child Maurice head, If that thou dost itt see?

And lap itt soft, and kisse itt oft, For thou louedst him better than mee.'

30.

But when shee looked on Child Maurice head, She neuer spake words but three: 'I neuer beare no child but one, And you haue slaine him trulye.'

31.

Sayes, 'Wicked be my merrymen all, I gaue meate, drinke, and clothe!

But cold they not haue holden me When I was in all that wrath!

32.

'Ffor I haue slaine one of the curteousest knights That euer bestrode a steed, Soe haue I done one [of] the fairest ladyes That euer ware womans weede!'

[Annotations: 1.1: 'siluer': the Folio gives _siluen_.

4.3,4: These lines in the Folio precede st. 6.

5.2: _i.e._ as many times as there are knots knit in a net for the hair; cf. French _cale_.

5.3: 'leeue,' lovely.

8.4: 'Let,' fail: it is the infinitive, governed by 'bidd.'

9.1: 'yode,' went.

9.4: 'blan,' lingered.

13.3: 'are': omitted in the Folio.

18.3: 'I,' aye.

19.1: 'lease,' leash, thong, string: perhaps for bringing back any game he might kill.

After 20 at least one verse is lost.

22.1,2: In the Folio these lines precede 21.1,2.

24.1: 'hast' omitted in the Folio.

25.2: 'tone,' the one (or other).]

FAUSE FOOTRAGE

+The Text+ is from Alexander Fraser Tytler's Brown MS., which was also the source of Scott's version in the _Minstrelsy_. One line (31.1), closely resembling a line in Lady Wardlaw's forged ballad _Hardyknute_, caused Sir Walter to investigate strictly the authenticity of the ballad, but the evidence of Lady Douglas, that she had learned the ballad in her childhood, and could still repeat much of it, removed his doubts. It is, however, quite possible, as Professor Child points out, 'that Mrs. Brown may unconsciously have adopted this verse from the tiresome and affected _Hardyknute_, so much esteemed in her day.'

+The Story.+--In _The Complaynt of Scotlande_ (1549) there is mentioned a tale 'how the King of Estmure Land married the King's daughter of Westmure Land,' and it has been suggested that there is a connection with the ballad.

This is another of the ballads of which the English form has become so far corrupted that we have to seek its Scandinavian counterpart to obtain the full form of the story. The ballad is especially popular in Denmark, where it is found in twenty-three manuscripts, as follows:--

The rich Svend wooes Lisbet, who favours William for his good qualities.

Svend, ill with grief, is well-advised by his mother, not to care for a plighted maid, and ill-advised by his sister, to kill William. Svend takes the latter advice, and kills William. Forty weeks later, Lisbet gives birth to a son, but Svend is told that the child is a girl.

Eighteen years later, the young William, sporting with a peasant, quarrels with him; the peasant retorts, 'You had better avenge your father's death.' Young William asks his mother who slew his father, and she, thinking him too young to fight, counsels him to bring Svend to a court. William charges him in the court with the murder of his father, and says that no compensation has been offered. Not a penny shall be paid, says Svend. William draws his sword, and slays him.

Icelandic, Swedish, and Faroe ballads tell a similar story.

FAUSE FOOTRAGE

1.

King Easter has courted her for her gowd, King Wester for her fee; King Honor for her lands sae braid, And for her fair body.

2.

They had not been four months married, As I have heard them tell, Until the nobles of the land Against them did rebel.

3.

And they cast kaivles them amang, And kaivles them between; And they cast kaivles them amang, Wha shoud gae kill the king.