Volume 4 — 220 THE BONNY LASS OF ANGLESEY
Reading edition
A. ‘The Bonny Lass of Anglesey,’ Herd’s MSS, I, 148; Herd’s Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 231.
B. ‘The Bonny Lass o Englessie’s Dance,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 63.
This little ballad might perhaps rightfully have come in earlier, if I had known what to make of it. There is a resemblance, remarkable as far as it goes, to ‘Little Kirstin’s Dance,’ Grundtvig, V, 118, No 263. Here the dance is for a match; the lass asks what she is to have if she wins, and is promised fifteen (five) ploughs and a mill, and her choice of the king’s knights for a husband. In the Danish ballad (A), a king’s son, to induce Little Kirstin to dance before him, promises a succession of gifts, none of which avail until he plights his honor and troth. The remainder of the story is like the conclusion of ‘Gil Brenton,’ No 5: see especially I, 66. (Danish A is translated by Prior, III, 89, No 112.)
Kirstin tires out fifteen knights in Danish A 12, B 10, D 14 (in C 7 eleven); and a Kirstin tires out fifteen partners again in Grundtvig, No 126, F 32, No 245, A 16. In Norwegian versions of No 263, given by Grundtvig in an appendix, numbers are not specified; Kirstin in Norwegian A 6, D 18, tires out all the king’s knights.
Buchan quite frightens one by what he says of his version, II, 314: “It is altogether a political piece, and I do not wish to interfere much with it.”
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A
Herd’s MSS, I, 148.
1
Our king he has a secret to tell,
And ay well keepit it must be:
The English lords are coming down
To dance and win the victory.
2
Our king has cry’d a noble cry,
And ay well keepit it must be:
‘Gar saddle ye, and bring to me
The bonny lass of Anglesey.’
3
Up she starts, as white as the milk,
Between him and his company:
What is the thing I hae to ask,
If I sould win the victory?’
4
‘Fifteen ploughs but and a mill
I gie thee till the day thou die,
And the fairest knight in a’ my court
To chuse thy husband for to be.’
5
She’s taen the fifteen lord[s] by the hand,
Saying, ‘Will ye come dance with me?’
But on the morn at ten o’clock
They gave it oer most shamefully.
6
Up then rais the fifteenth lord—
I wat an angry man was he—
Laid by frae him his belt and sword,
And to the floor gaed manfully.
7
He said, ‘My feet shall be my dead
Before she win the victory;’
But before ’twas ten o’clock at night
He gaed it oer as shamefully.
B
Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 63.
1
Word has gane thro a’ this land,
And O well noticed it maun be!
The English lords are coming down
To dance and gain the victorie.
2
The king has made a noble cry,
And well attended it maun be:
‘Come saddle ye, and bring to me
The bonny lass o Englessie.’
3
She started up, a’ dress’d in white,
Between him and his companie;
Said, What will ye gie, my royal liege,
If I will dance this dance for thee?
4
‘Five good ploughs but and a mill
I’ll give you till the day ye die;
The bravest knight in all my court,
I’ll give, your husband for to be.’
5
She’s taen the first lord by the hand,
Says, ‘Ye’ll rise up and dance wi me;’
But she made a’ these lords fifeteen
To gie it up right shamefullie.
6
Then out it speaks a younger lord,
Says, ‘Fye for shame! how can this be?’
He loosd his brand frae aff his side,
Likewise his buckler frae his knee.
7
He sware his feet should be his dead
Before he lost the victorie;
He danc’d full fast, but tired at last,
And gae it up as shamefullie.
A.
12, 22. we’ll keep it must and be.
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