4

Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight

A. a. `The Gowans sae gay,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 22. b. `Aye as the Gowans grow gay,' Motherwell's MS., p. 563.

B. `The Water o Wearie's Well.' a. Buchan's MSS, II, fol. 80. b. Buchan's B. N. S., II, 201. c. Motherwell's MS., p. 561. d. `Wearie's Wells,' Harris MS., No. 19.

C. a. `May Colven,' Herd's MSS, I, 166. b. `May Colvin,' Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, I, 93. c. `May Colvin, or, False Sir John, Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 67.

D. a. `May Collin,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, No 17, p. 45. b. `Fause Sir Jon and May Colvin,' Buchan, B. N. S., II, 45. c. `May Collean,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxi.

E. `The Outlandish Knight,' Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 74 = Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads, etc., p. 61.

F. `The False Knight Outwitted,' Roxburg Ballads, British Museum, III, 449.

OF all ballads this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation. It is nearly as well known to the southern as to the northern nations of Europe. It has an extraordinary currency in Poland. The Germans, Low and High, and the Scandinavians, preserve it, in a full and evidently ancient form, even in the tradition of this generation. Among the Latin nations it has, indeed, shrunk to very meagre proportions, and though the best English forms are not without ancient and distinctive marks, most of these have been eliminated, and the better ballads are brief.

A has but thirteen two-line stanzas. An elf-knight, by blowing his horn, inspires Lady Isabel with love-longing. He appears on her first breathing a wish for him, and induces her to ride with him to the greenwood (note 1). Arrived at the wood, he bids her alight, for she is come to the place where she is to die. He had slain seven kings' daughters there, and she should be the eighth. She persuades him to sit down, with his head on her knee, lulls him asleep with a charm, binds him with his own sword-belt, and stabs him with his own dagger, saying, If seven kings' daughters you have slain, lie here a husband to them all.

A
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 22. b. Motherwell's MS., p. 563. 

	1    Fair lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing,
	     Ay as the gowans grow gay
	     There she heard an elf-knight blawing his horn.
	     The first morning in May
	     
	2    'If I had yon horn that I hear blawing,
	     And yon elf-knight to sleep in my bosom.'
	     
	3    This maiden had scarecely these words spoken,
	     Till in at her window the elf-knight has luppen.
	     
	4    'It's a very strange matter, fair maiden,' said he,
	     'I canna blaw my horn but ye call on me.
	     
	5    'But will ye go to yon greenwood side?
	     If ye canna gang, I will cause you to ride.'
	     
	6    He leapt on a horse, and she on another
	     And they rode on to the greenwood together.
	     
	7    'Light down, light down, lady Isabel,' said he,
	     'We are come to the place where ye are to die.'
	     
	8    'Hae mercy, hae mercy, kind sir, on me,
	     Till ance my dear father and mother I see.'
	     
	9    'Seven king's-daughters here hae I slain,
	     And ye shall be the eight o them.'
	     
	10   'O sit down a while, lay your head on my knee,
	     That we may hae some rest before that I die.'
	     
	11   She stroakd him sae fast, the nearer he did creep,
	     Wi a sma charm she lulld him fast asleep.
	     
	12   Wi his ain sword-belt sae fast as she ban him,
	     Wi his ain dag-durk sae said as she dang him.
	     
	13   'If seven king's-daughters here ye hae slain,
	     Lye ye here, a husband to them a'.'
B

a. Buchan's MSS, II, fol. 80. b. Buchan's B. N. S., II, 201. c. Motherwell's MS., p. 561. d. Harris MS., No. 19. 

	1   There came a bird out o a bush,
	      On water for to dine,
	    An sighing sair, says the king's daughter,
	      `O wae's this heart o mine!'
	    
	2   He's taen a harp into his hand,
	      He's harped them all asleep,
	    Except it was the king's daughter,
	      Who one wink couldna get.
	    
	3   He's luppen on his berry-brown steed,
	      Taen 'er on behind himsell,
	    Then baith rede down to that water
	      That they ca Wearie's Well.
	    
	4   `Wide in, wide in, my lady fair,
	      No harm shall thee befall;
	    Oft times I've watered my steed
	      Wi the waters o Wearie's Well.'
	    
	5   The first step that she stepped in,
	      She stepped to the knee;
	    And sighend says this lady fair,
	      `This water's nae for me.'
	    
	6   `Wide in, wide in, my lady fair,
	      No harm shall thee befall;
	    Oft times I've watered my steed
	      Wi the water o Wearie's Well.'
	    
	7   The next step that she stepped in,
	      She stepped in the middle;
	    `O,' sighend says this lady fair,
	      I've wat my gowden girdle.'
	    
	8   `Wide in, wide in, my lady fair,
	      No harm shall thee befall;
	    Oft times have I watered my steed
	      Wi the water o Wearie's Well.'
	    
	9   The next step that she stepped in, 
	      she stepped to the chin;
	    `O,' sighend the lady fair,
	      `They sud gar two loves twin.'
	    
	10  `Seven king's-daughters I've drownd there,
	      In the water o Wearie's Well,
	    And I'll make you the eight o them,
	      And ring the common bell.'
	    
	11  `Since I am standing here,' she says,
	      `This dowie death to die,
	    One kiss o your comely mouth
	      I'm sure wad comfort me.'
	    
	12  `He louted him oer his saddle bow,
	      To kiss her cheek and chin;
	    She's taen him in her arms twa,
	      An thrown him headlong in.
	    
	13  `Since seven king's daughters ye've drowned there,
	      In the water o Wearie's Well,
	    I'll make you bridegroom to them a',
	      An ring the bell mysell.'
	    
	14  And aye she warsled, and aye she swam,
	      And she swam to dry lan;
	    She thanked God most cheerfully
	      The dangers she oercame.
Note 1: `The Elfin Knight' begins very much like A, but perhaps has borrowed its opening stanzas from this ballad. See The Elfin Knight.

---
HOME § TALES AND STORIES § POEMS § DICTIONARY
BALLADS § ART § WEB RESOURCES § WEB RINGS