He pu'd a tree out o' the wud, The biggest that was there; And he howkit a cave monie fathoms deep, And put May Marg'ret there. 30
"Now rest ye there, ye saucie may; My wuds are free for thee; And gif I tak ye to mysell, The better ye'll like me."
Na rest, na rest May Marg'ret took, 35 Sleep she got never nane; Her back lay on the cauld, cauld floor, Her head upon a stane.
"O tak me out," May Marg'ret cried, "O tak me hame to thee; 40 And I sall be your bounden page Until the day I dee."
He took her out o' the dungeon deep, And awa wi' him she's gane; But sad was the day an earl's dochter 45 Gaed hame wi' Hynde Etin.
It fell out ance upon a day, Hynde Etin's to the hunting gane; And he has tane wi' him his eldest son, For to carry his game. 50
"O I wad ask you something, father, An ye wadna angry be;"-- "Ask on, ask on, my eldest son, Ask onie thing at me."
"My mother's cheeks are aft times weet, 55 Alas! they are seldom dry;"-- "Na wonder, na wonder, my eldest son, Tho' she should brast and die.
"For your mother was an earl's dochter, Of noble birth and fame; 60 And now she's wife o' Hynde Etin, Wha ne'er got christendame.
"But we'll shoot the laverock in the lift, The buntlin on the tree; And ye'll tak them hame to your mother, 65 And see if she'll comforted be."
"I wad ask ye something, mother, An' ye wadna angry be;"-- "Ask on, ask on, my eldest son, Ask onie thing at me." 70
"Your cheeks they are aft times weet, Alas! they're seldom dry;"-- "Na wonder, na wonder, my eldest son, Tho' I should brast and die.
"For I was ance an earl's dochter, 75 Of noble birth and fame; And now I am the wife of Hynde Etin, Wha ne'er got christendame."
SIR OLUF AND THE ELF-KING'S DAUGHTER. (See p. 192.)
This is a translation by Jamieson (_Popular Ballads and Songs_, i. 219), of the Danish _Elveskud_ (Abrahamson, i. 237). Lewis has given a version of the same in the _Tales of Wonder_, (No. 10.) The corresponding Swedish ballad, _The Elf-Woman and Sir Olof_ (Afzelius, iii. 165) is translated by Keightley, _Fairy Mythology_, p. 84. This ballad occurs also in Norse, Faroish, and Icelandic.
Of the same class are _Elfer Hill_, (from the Danish, Jamieson, i. 225; from the Swedish, Keightley, 86; through the German, _Tales of Wonder_, No. 6:) _Sir Olof in the Elve-Dance_, (Keightley, 82; _Literature and Romance of Northern Europe_, by William and Mary Howitt, i. 269:) _The Merman and Marstig's Daughter_, (from the Danish, Jamieson, i. 210; _Tales of Wonder_, No. 11:) the Breton tale of _Lord Nann and the Korrigan_, (Keightley, 433:) three Slavic ballads referred to by Grundtvig, (_Elveskud_, ii. 111:) _Sir Peter of Stauffenbergh and the Mermaid_, (from the German, Jamieson, _Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_, 257,) and the well-known _Fischer_ of Goethe.