21.

The husbande and his househald a

In sary rede they join:

"Far better that she be now forfairn, Nor that we a' should tyne."

22.

Up, will of rede, the husbande stood
Wi' heart fu' sad and sair;
And he has gien his huswife Eline
Wi' the young Elfe to fare.

23.

Then blyth grew he, and sprang about; He took her in his arm :

The rud it left her comely cheek;

Her heart was clem'd wi' harm.

26.

He minted ance-he minted twice,
Wae wax'd her heart that syth :
Syne the laidliest fiend he grew that e'er

To mortal ee did kyth.

27.

When he the thirden time can mint,

To Mary's son she pray'd,
And the laidly Elf was clean awa,

And a fair knight in his stead.

28.

This fell under a linden green,

That again his shape he found;

O' wae and care was the word nae mair, A' were sae glad that stound.

29.

"O dearest Eline, hear thou this, And thou my wife sal be,

And a' the goud in merry England

Sae freely I'll gie thee!

30.

"Whan I was a little wee bairn,
My mither died me fra;

My stepmither sent me awa fra her
I turn'd till an Elfin Gray.

31.

"To thy husband I a gift will gie,
Wi' mickle state and gear,

As mends for Eline his huswife ;-
Thou's be my heartis dear."

32.

"Thou nobil knyght, we thank now God
That has freed us frae skaith;
Sae wed thou thee a maiden free,
And joy attend ye baith!

33.

"Syne I to thee na maik can be, My dochter may be thine; And thy gud will right to fulfill,

Lat this be our propine."

34.

"I thank thee, Eline, thou wise woman;

My praise thy worth sall hae;

And thy love gin I fail to win,

Thou here at hame sall stay."

35.

The husbande biggit now on his öe,
And nae ane wrought him wrang;
His dochter wore crown in Engeland,
And happy liv'd and lang.

12

36.

Now Eline the husbande's huswife has

Cour'd a' her grief and harms;

She's mither to a noble queen

That sleeps in a kingis arms.

VOL. VI.

F

GLOSSARY.

St. 1. Wold, a wood woody 3. Aik. oak.

fastness. Husbande, from the Dan. hos, with, and bonde, a villain, or bondsman, who was a cultivator of the ground, and could not quit the estate to which he was attached, without the permission of his lord. This is the sense of the word, in the old Scottish records. In the Scottish "Burghe Laws," translated from the Reg. Majest. (Auchinleck MS. in the Adv. Lib.) it is used indiscriminately with the Dan. and Swed. bondè. Bigg, build.

Ligg, lie.

Daes, does.

2. Shaw, wood. Sairly, sorely.

Grousome, terrible.
Bald, bold.

Kipples, (couples,) beams join
ed at the top, for support
ing a roof, in building.
Bawks, balks; cross beams.
Moil, laborious industry.
Speer'd, asked.
Knock, hillock.
5. Weiest, smallest.
Crean'd, shrunk, diminished &
from the Gaëlic, crian, very
small.

Immert, emmit; ant.
Christian, used in the Danish
ballads, &c. in contradis
tinction to demoniac, as it is
in England, in contradistinc-
tion to brute; in which sense,
a person of the lower class in
England, would call a Jew
or a Turk, a Christian.