Note 391 — 46 CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN'S COURTSHIP
Reading edition
Halliwell's Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 150; Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes, No 375; Notes and Queries, 3d Ser., IX, 401; 4th Ser., III, 501, 604; Macmillan's Magazine, V, 248, by T. Hughes. The first of these runs:
I have four sisters beyond the sea, Para-mara, dictum, domine And they did send four presents to me. Partum, quartum, paradise, tempum, Para-mara, dictum, domine The first it was a bird without eer a bone, The second was a cherry without eer a stone. The third it was a blanket without eer a thread, The fourth it was a book which no man could read. How can there be a bird without eer a bone? How can there be a cherry without eer a stone? How can there be a blanket without eer a thread? How can there be a book which no man can read? When the bird's in the shell, there is no bone; When the cherry's in the bud, there is no stone. When the blanket's in the fleece, there is no thread; When the book's in the press, no man can read.
The Minnesinger dames went far beyond our laird's daughter in the way of requiring "ferlies" from their lovers. Der Tanhuser and Boppe represent that their ladies would be satisfied with nothing short of their turning the course of rivers; bringing them the salamander, the basilisk, the graal, Paris's apple; giving them a sight of Enoch and Elijah in the body, a hearing of the sirens, etc. Von der Hagen, Minnesinger, II, 91 f, 385 f.