Note. In this ballad the superstition shown is that of the sympathetic jewel which warns its owner of danger through changing color.

10. O lang, lang may the ladies
stand,

Wi thair gold kems in their
hair,

Waiting for thair ain deir lords,
For they'll se thame na mair. 4o

11. Haf owre, haf owre to Aberdour,

It's fiftie fadom deip,.

And thair lies guid Sir Patrick
Spence,

Wi the Scots lords at his feit.

Note. This is called one of the finest of the ballads.

SOME BALLADS FOR OPTIONAL READING 1

Note.-Report in writing on at least five or six ballads from this list, giving for each, so far as you are able to determine, its classification, the chief passion depicted, superstitions shown, or any other interesting things about them that you may find. Which ballad did you like best? Why?

"Edward"

"Lord Randal"

"Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" "Kemp Owyne"

"Barbara Allen's Cruelty" "The Two Corbies"

"The Douglas Tragedy" "The Twa Brothers"

"The Wee, Wee Man"

"Clerk Colvin"
"Young Beichan”
"The Gay Goshawk"

"Young Waters"

"The Bonny Earl of Murray"

"The Bailiff's Daughter of Isling

ton"

"Thomas Rymer"

"Robin Hood and Allen-a-Dale"
"Robin Hood Rescues the Widow's
Three Sons"

"Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne"
"The Death of Robin Hood"
"Edom o'Gordon"
"Katharine Jeffray"

"Willie Drowned in Yarrow"
"Helen of Kirkonnell"

"The Battle of Otterbourne"
"Chevy Chase"

"Kinmont Willie"

"The Nutbrown Mayde"

Imitation Ballads. From the foregoing discussion of the ballad, it will be seen that the so-called modern ballads are not really such, but only imitations, written by literary men. These are not struck out of the hearts of the uneducated peasan... They do not give the genuine beliefs and interpretation of the life of these people, but are composed by educated men, who strive to give them the ballad sound. Although these imitation ballads are fine, spirited poems, they really bear a closer relation to the metrical tale than they do to the true folk-ballad. Compare the following modern ballads with

1 These may be found in collections of ballads, or, often, in the general collections of English poetry.

those that have been handed down by word of mouth, from a distant past. What do they lack which the genuine ballad possessed?

THE BALLAD OF THE OYSTERMAN 1

Oliver Wendell Holmes 2

It was a tall young oysterman lived by the river-side,
His ship was just upon the bank, his boat was on the tide;
The daughter of a fisherman, that was so straight and slim,
Lived over on the other bank, right opposite to him.

It was the pensive oysterman that saw a lovely maid,
Upon a moonlight evening, a-sitting in the shade;

He saw her wave her handkerchief, as much as if to say,
"I'm wide awake, young oysterman, and all the folks away."

Then up arose the oysterman, and to himself said he,

"I guess I'll leave the skiff at home, for fear that folks should see;
I read it in the story-book, that, for to kiss his dear,
Leander swam the Hellespont, and I will swim this here."

And he has leaped into the waves, and crossed the shining stream,
And he has clambered up the bank, all in the moonlight gleam;
O there were kisses sweet as dew, and words as soft as rain,-
But they have heard her father's step, and in he leaps again!

Out spoke the ancient fisherman,-"O what was that, my daughter ?”
"'Twas nothing but a pebble, sir, I threw into the water."
"And what is that, pray tell me, love, that paddles off so fast?"
"It's nothing but a porpoise, sir, that's been a-swimming past."

Out spoke the ancient fisherman, "Now bring me my harpoon!
I'll get into my fishing-boat, and fix the fellow soon."
Down fell that pretty innocent, as falls a snow-white lamb,
Her hair drooped round her pallid cheeks like seaweed on a clam.

Alas for those two loving ones! she waked not from her swound,
And he was taken with the cramp, and in the waves was drowned;
But Fate has metamorphosed them, in pity of their woe,
And now they keep an oyster shop for mermaids down below.

25

1 Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

2 Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894.

1 From "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." 2 island. 3 vestry. 4 inclosure. 5 pinnacle.