English and Scottish Ballads Volume I Part 21

"O wyte na me, now, my master dear, I garr'd a' my young hawks sing, 50 And still I cried, Waken, gude master, For now is the hour and time."--

"Then be it sae, my wager gane!

'T will skaith frae meikle ill; For gif I had found her in bonnie broom-fields, 55 O' her heart's blude ye'd drunken your fill."

The stanzas below are from an American version of this ballad called _The Green Broomfield_, printed in a cheap song-book. (Graham's _Ill.u.s.trated Magazine_, Sept. 1858.)

"Then when she went to the green broom field, Where her love was fast asleep, With a gray _goose_-hawk and a green laurel bough, And a green broom under his feet.

"And when he awoke from out his sleep, An angry man was he; He looked to the East, and he looked to the West, And he wept for his sweetheart to see.

"Oh! where was you, my gray _goose_-hawk, The hawk that I loved so dear, That you did not awake me from out my sleep, When my sweetheart was so near!"

KEMPION.

This ballad was first printed in the _Border Minstrelsy_, (vol. iii.

p. 230,) "chiefly from Mrs. Brown's MS. with corrections from a recited fragment." Motherwell furnishes a different version, from recitation, (_Minstrelsy_, p. 374,) which is subjoined to the present, and the well-known ditty of the _Laidley Worm of Spindleston-Heugh_, upon the same theme, will be found in the Appendix to this volume.

"Such transformations as the song narrates," remarks Sir Walter Scott, "are common in the annals of chivalry. In the 25th and 26th cantos of the second book of the _Orlando Inamorato_, the Paladin, Brandimarte, after surmounting many obstacles, penetrates into the recesses of an enchanted palace. Here he finds a fair damsel, seated upon a tomb, who announces to him, that, in order to achieve her deliverance, he must raise the lid of the sepulchre, and kiss whatever being should issue forth. The knight, having pledged his faith, proceeds to open the tomb, out of which a monstrous snake issues forth, with a tremendous hiss. Brandimarte, with much reluctance, fulfils the _bizarre_ conditions of the adventure; and the monster is instantly changed into a beautiful Fairy, who loads her deliverer with benefits."

_Jomfruen i Ormeham_, in Grundtvig's _Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser_, ii.

177, is essentially the same ballad as _Kempion_. The characteristic incident of the story (a maiden who has been transformed by her step-mother into a snake or other monster, being restored to her proper shape by the kiss of a knight) is as common in the popular fiction of the North as Scott a.s.serts it to be in chivalrous romance.

For instances, see Grundtvig, l. l., and under the closely related _Lindormen_, ii. 211.

The name _Kempion_ is itself a monument of the relation of our ballads to the _Kaempeviser_. Pollard of Pollard Hall, who slew "a venomous serpent which did much harm to man and beast," is called in the modern legend a _Champion_ Knight.

"c.u.m heir, c.u.m heir, ye freely feed, And lay your head low on my knee; The heaviest weird I will you read, That ever was read to gay ladye.

"O meikle dolour sall ye dree, 5 And aye the salt seas o'er ye'se swim; And far mair dolour sall ye dree On Estmere crags[L8], when ye them climb.

"I weird ye to a fiery beast, And relieved sall ye never be, 10 Till Kempion, the kingis son, c.u.m to the crag, and thrice kiss thee."--

O meikle dolour did she dree, And aye the salt seas o'er she swam; And far mair dolour did she dree 15 On Estmere crag, when she them clamb.

And aye she cried for Kempion, Gin he would but come to her hand: Now word has gane to Kempion, That sicken a beast was in his land. 20

"Now, by my sooth," said Kempion, "This fiery beast I'll gang and see."-- "And by my sooth," said Segramour, "My ae brother, I'll gang wi' thee."

Then bigged hae they a bonny boat, 25 And they hae set her to the sea; But a mile before they reach'd the sh.o.r.e, Around them she gar'd the red fire flee.

"O Segramour, keep the boat afloat, And let her na the land o'er near; 30 For this wicked beast will sure gae mad, And set fire to a' the land and mair."--

Syne has he bent an arblast bow, And aim'd an arrow at her head; And swore if she didna quit the land, 35 Wi' that same shaft to shoot her dead.

"O out of my stythe I winna rise, (And it is not for the awe o' thee,) Till Kempion, the kingis son, c.u.m to the crag, and thrice kiss me."-- 40

He has louted him o'er the dizzy crag, And gien the monster kisses ane; Awa she gaed, and again she cam.

The fieryest beast that ever was seen.

"O out o' my stythe I winna rise, 45 (And not for a' thy bow nor thee,) Till Kempion, the kingis son, c.u.m to the crag, and thrice kiss me."--

He's louted him o'er the Estmere crags, And he has gi'en her kisses twa: 50 Awa she gaed, and again she cam, The fieryest beast that ever you saw.

"O out of my den I winna rise, Nor flee it for the fear o' thee, Till Kempion, that courteous knight, 55 c.u.m to the crag, and thrice kiss me."--

He's louted him o'er the lofty crag, And he has gi'en her kisses three: Awa she gaed, and again she cam, The loveliest ladye e'er could be! 60

"And by my sooth," says Kempion, "My ain true love, (for this is she,) They surely had a heart o' stane, Could put thee to such misery.

"O was it warwolf in the wood? 65 Or was it mermaid in the sea?

Or was it man or vile woman, My ain true love, that mis-shaped thee?"--

"It wasna warwolf in the wood, Nor was it mermaid in the sea: 70 But it was my wicked step-mother, And wae and weary may she be!"--

"O, a heavier weird shall light her on, Than ever fell on vile woman; Her hair shall grow rough, and her teeth grow lang, 75 And on her four feet shall she gang.

"None shall take pity her upon; In Wormeswood she aye shall won; And relieved shall she never be, Till St. Mungo come over the sea."-- 80 And sighing said that weary wight, "I doubt that day I'll never see!"

8. If by Estmere Crags we are to understand the rocky cliffs of Northumberland, in opposition to Westmoreland, we may bring our scene of action near Bamborough, and thereby almost identify the tale of _Kempion_ with that of the _Laidley Worm of Spindleston_, to which it bears so strong a resemblance.--SCOTT.

But why should we seek to do this?

KEMP OWYNE.

Kemp Owyne, says Motherwell, "was, no doubt, the same Ewein or Owain, ap Urien the king of Reged, who is celebrated by the bards, Taliessin and Llywarch-Hen, as well as in the Welsh historical Triads. In a poem of Gruffyd Llwyd, A.D. 1400, addressed to Owain Glyndwr, is the following allusion to this warrior. 'Thou hast travelled by land and by sea in the conduct of thine affairs, like Owain ap Urien in days of yore, when with activity he encountered the black knight of the water.'[C] His mistress had a ring esteemed one of the thirteen rarities of Britain, which, (like the wondrous ring of Gyges) would render the wearer invisible." _Minstrelsy_, p. lx.x.xiii.

[C] "On sea, on land, thou still didst brave The dangerous cliff and rapid wave; Like _Urien_, who subdued the knight, And the fell dragon put to flight, Yon moss-grown fount beside; The grim, black warrior of the flood, The dragon, gorged with human blood, The waters' scaly pride."

Jones's _Welsh Bards_, i. 41.

The copy of Kemp Owyne printed in Buchan's _Ancient Ballads_, (ii.

78,) is the same as the following.

Her mother died when she was young, Which gave her cause to make great moan; Her father married the warst woman That ever lived in Christendom.

She served her with foot and hand, 5 In every thing that she could dee; Till once, in an unlucky time, She threw her in ower Craigy's sea.