English and Scottish Ballads
Chapter 78 : _Fine flowers i' the valley_, 70 "That I may stop and breathe awhile,"_W

_Fine flowers i' the valley_, 70 "That I may stop and breathe awhile,"

_Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

"O lead me over into yon stair,"

_Fine flowers i' the valley_, "For there I'll lie and bleed nae mair," 75 _Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

"O what will you leave to your father dear?"

_Fine flowers i' the valley_; "The siller-shod steed that brought me here,"

_Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_. 80

"What will you leave to your mother dear?"

_Fine flowers i' the valley_; "My velvet pall, and my pearlin' gear,"

_Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

"What will you leave to your sister Ann?" 85 _Fine flowers i' the valley_; "My silken gown that stands its lane,"

_Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

"What will you leave to your sister Grace?"

_Fine flowers i' the valley_; 90 "My bluidy s.h.i.+rt to wash and dress,"

_Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

"What will you leave to your brother John?"

_Fine flowers i' the valley_; "The gates o' h.e.l.l to let him in," 95 _Wi' the red, green, and the yellow_.

LADY ANNE.

From _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, iii. 18.

"This ballad was communicated to me by Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Hoddom, who mentions having copied it from an old magazine. Although it has probably received some modern corrections, the general turn seems to be ancient, and corresponds with that of a fragment which I have often heard sung in my childhood."

The version to which Sir Walter Scott refers, and part of which he proceeds to quote, had been printed in Johnson's _Museum_. It is placed immediately after the present, with other copies of the ballad from Motherwell and Kinloch.

In Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_ there are two more, which are repeated with slight variations in the XVII. Vol. of the Percy Society, p. 46, p. 50. Both will be found in the Appendix. The copy in Buchan's _Gleanings_, p. 90, seems to be taken from Scott.

Smith's _Scottish Minstrel_, iv. 33, affords still another variety.

In German, _Die Kindesmorderin_, Erk's _Liederhort_, No. 41, five copies; Erlach, iv. 148; Hoffmann, _Schlesische V. L._, No. 31, 32; _Wunderhorn_, ii. 202; Zuccalmaglio, No. 97; Meinert, No. 81; Simrock, p. 87. (But some of these are repet.i.tions.) Wendish, Haupt and Schmaler, I. No. 292, and with considerable differences, I. No.

290, II. 197. This last reference is taken from Grundtvig, ii. 531.

Fair Lady Anne sate in her bower, Down by the greenwood side, And the flowers did spring, and the birds did sing, 'Twas the pleasant May-day tide.

But fair Lady Anne on Sir William call'd, 5 With the tear grit in her ee, "O though thou be fause, may Heaven thee guard, In the wars ayont the sea!"--

Out of the wood came three bonnie boys, Upon the simmer's morn, 10 And they did sing and play at the ba', As naked as they were born.

"O seven lang years wad I sit here, Amang the frost and snaw, A' to hae but ane o' these bonnie boys, 15 A playing at the ba'."--

Then up and spake the eldest boy, "Now listen, thou fair ladie, And ponder well the rede that I tell, Then make ye a choice of the three. 20

"'Tis I am Peter, and this is Paul, And that ane, sae fair to see, But a twelve-month sinsyne to paradise came, To join with our companie."--

"O I will hae the snaw-white boy, 25 The bonniest of the three."-- "And if I were thine, and in thy propine, O what wad ye do to me?"--

"'Tis I wad clead thee in silk and gowd, And nourice thee on my knee."-- 30 "O mither! mither! when I was thine, Sic kindness I couldna see.

"Beneath the turf, where now I stand, The fause nurse buried me; The cruel penknife sticks still in my heart, 35 And I come not back to thee."--

FINE FLOWERS IN THE VALLEY.

From Johnson's _Musical Museum_, p. 331.

The first line of the burden is found also in _The Cruel Brother_, p. 258.

She sat down below a thorn, _Fine flowers in the valley_; And there she has her sweet babe born, _And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

"Smile na sae sweet, my bonnie babe, 5 _Fine flowers in the valley_, And ye smile sae sweet, ye'll smile me dead,"

_And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

She's taen out her little penknife, _Fine flowers in the valley_, 10 And twinn'd the sweet babe o' its life, _And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

She's howket a grave by the light o' the moon, _Fine flowers in the valley_, And there she's buried her sweet babe in, 15 _And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

As she was going to the church, _Fine flowers in the valley_, She saw a sweet babe in the porch, _And the green leaves they grow rarely_. 20

"O sweet babe, and thou were mine, _Fine flowers in the valley_, I wad cleed thee in the silk so fine,"

_And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

"O mother dear, when I was thine, 25 _Fine flowers in the valley_, Ye did na prove to me sae kind,"

_And the green leaves they grow rarely_.

THE CRUEL MOTHER.

From Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. 161.

She leaned her back unto a thorn, _Three, three, and three by three_; And there she has her two babes born, _Three, three, and thirty-three_.

She took frae 'bout her ribbon-belt, 5 And there she bound them hand and foot.