Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales from Burns to Buchan (Penguin Classics) (7 page)
Read Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales from Burns to Buchan (Penguin Classics) Online
Authors: Gordon Jarvie
But she managed it, and, as they rode homewards in the grey morning light, she sat and cracked her nuts and ate them as fast as she could, for her adventures had made her marvellously hungry.
When she and her strange patient had once more reached the castle, she just waited to see him go back to bed, and begin to toss and tumble as he had done before; then she ran to her stepsister’s room, and, finding her asleep, with her poor misshapen head lying peacefully on the pillow, she gave it three sharp little strokes with the fairy wand, and, lo and behold! the sheep’s head vanished, and the Princess’s own pretty one took its place.
In the morning the King and the old housekeeper came to enquire what kind of night the Prince had had. Katherine answered that he had had a very good night; for she was very anxious to stay with him longer, and now that she had found out that the elfin maidens who dwelt in the green knowe had thrown a spell over him, she was resolved to find out also how that spell could be broken.
And fortune favoured her; for the King was so pleased to think that such a suitable nurse had been found for the Prince, and he was also so charmed with the looks of her stepsister, who came out of her chamber as bright and bonnie as in the old days, declaring that her migraine was all gone, and that she was now able to do any work that the housekeeper might find for her, that he begged Katherine to stay with his son a little longer, adding that, if she would do so, he would give her a bag of gold sovereigns.
So Katherine agreed readily; and that night she watched by the Prince as she had done the night before. And at twelve o’clock he rose and dressed himself, and rode to the fairy knowe, just as she had expected him to do, for she was now quite certain that the poor young man was bewitched, and not suffering from a fever, as everyone thought he was.
And you may be sure that she accompanied him, riding behind him all unnoticed, and filling her pockets with nuts as she rode.
When they reached the fairy knowe, he spoke the same words that he had spoken the night before. ‘Open, open, green hill, and let the young Prince, and his horse, and his hound enter.’ And when the green hill opened, Katherine added softly, ‘And his lady behind him.’ So they all passed in together.
Once again, Katherine seated herself on a stone, and looked around her. The same revels were going on as yesternight, and the Prince was soon in the thick of them, dancing and laughing madly. The girl watched him narrowly, wondering if she would ever be able to find out what would restore him to his right mind; and, as she was watching him, the same little bairn who had played with the magic wand came up to her again. Only this time he was playing with a little bird.
And as he played, one of the dancers passed by, and, turning to her partner, said lightly, ‘Three bites of that birdie would lift the Prince’s sickness, and make him as well as he ever was.’ Then she joined in the dance again, leaving Katherine sitting upright on her stone quivering with excitement.
If only she could get that bird the Prince might be cured! Very carefully she began to shake some nuts out of her pocket, and roll them across the floor towards the child.
He picked them up eagerly, letting go the bird as he did so; and, in an instant, Katherine caught it, and hid it under her apron.
In no long time after that the cock crew, and the Prince and she set out on their homeward ride. But this morning, instead of cracking nuts, she killed and plucked the bird; then she put it on a spit in front of the fire and began to roast it.
And soon it began to frizzle, and get brown, and smell deliciously, and the Prince, in his bed in the corner, opened his eyes and murmured faintly, ‘How I wish I had a bite of that birdie.’
When she heard the words Katherine’s heart jumped for joy, and as soon as the bird was roasted she cut a little piece from its breast and popped it into the Prince’s mouth.
When he had eaten it his strength seemed to come back somewhat, for he rose on his elbow and looked at his nurse. ‘Oh! if I had but another bite of that birdie!’ he said. And his voice was certainly stronger.
So Katherine gave him another piece, and when he had eaten that he sat right up in bed.
‘Oh! if I had but a third bite o’ that birdie!’ he cried. And now the colour was coming right back into his face, and his eyes were shining.
This time Katherine brought him the whole of the rest of the bird; and he ate it up greedily, picking the bones quite clean with his fingers; and when it was finished, he sprang out of bed and dressed himself, and sat down by the fire.
And when the King came in the morning, with his old housekeeper at his back, to see how the Prince was, he found him sitting cracking nuts with his nurse, for Katherine had brought home quite a lot in her apron pocket.
The King was so delighted to find his son cured that he gave all the credit to Katherine Crackernuts, as he called her, and he gave orders at once that the Prince should marry her. ‘For,’ said he, ‘a maiden who is such a good nurse is sure to make a good queen.’
The Prince was quite willing to do as his father bade him; and, while they were talking together, his younger brother came in,
leading Princess Velvet-Cheek by the hand, whose acquaintance he had made but yesterday, declaring that he had fallen in love with her, and that he wanted to marry her immediately.
So it all turned out very well, and everybody was quite pleased; and the two weddings took place at once, and, unless they be dead since that time, the young couples are living yet.
Anon.
‘O I forbid you, maidens
a’
That wear
gowd
on your hair,
To come or
gae
by Carterhaugh,
For young Tam Lin is there.
There’s
nane
that
gaes
by Carterhaugh
But they leave him a
wad
,
Either their rings or green mantles
Or else their maidenhead.’
Janet has belted her green
kirtle
A little
aboon
her knee,
And she has braided her yellow hair
A little aboon her
bree
,
And she’s awa to Carterhaugh
As fast as she can
hie
.
When she came to Carterhaugh,
Tam Lin was at the well;
And there she
fand
his steed standing
But away was himsel’.
She hadna
pu’d
a double rose,
A rose but only
twa
,
Till up then started young Tam Lin,
Saying, ‘Lady, don’t pu’ them
a’
.
‘Why pu’s thou the rose, Janet?
And why breaks thou my
wand
?
Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh
Withouten my command?’
‘Carterhaugh it is my ain,
My daddie gave it me.
I’ll come and gang at Carterhaugh
And ask
nae
leave of thee.’
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has
snooded
her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she is to her father’s ha’
As fast as she can hie.
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the ba’,
When out came the fair Janet,
Aince
the flower
amang
them a’.
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were playing at the chess,
And out then came the fair Janet,
As green as
ony
grass.
Out then
spak
an
auld
grey knight,
Lent o’er the castle wa’,
And says, ‘Alas, fair Janet for thee,
But we’ll be blamèd a’!’
‘
Haud
your tongue, ye auld-faced knight,
Some ill death may ye die!
Father my
bairn
on whom I will,
I’ll father
nane
on thee.’
Out then spak her father dear,
And he spak meek and mild:
‘And ever alas, sweet Janet!’ he says,
‘I think thou gaes wi’ child.’
‘If that I gae wi’ child, father,
Myself maun bear the blame.
There’s ne’er a laird aboot your ha’
Shall give my bairn his name.
‘If my love were an earthly knight,
As he’s an elfin grey,
I wadna gie my ain true-love
For nae lord that ye hae.
‘The steed that my true-love rides on
Is lighter than the wind.
Wi’
siller
he is shod before,
Wi’ burning
gowd
behind.’
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she has snooded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she’s awa’ to Carterhaugh
As fast as she can hie.
When she came to Carterhaugh
Tam Lin was at the well,
And there she fand his steed standing,
But away was himsel’.
She hadna pu’d a double rose,
A rose but only twa,
Till up then started young Tam Lin,
Saying, ‘Lady, don’t pu’ them a’.
‘Why pu’s thou the rose, Janet,
Amang the groves sae green,
And a’ to kill the bonnie babe
That we gat us between?’
‘O tell me, tell me, Tam Lin,’ she says,
‘For His sake that died on tree,
If e’er ye was in holy chapel
Or Christendom did see?’
‘Roxburgh was my grandfather,
Took me with him to
bide
,
And
aince
it fell upon a day
That
wae
did me betide.
‘And aince it fell upon a day,
A cauld day and a
snell
,
When we were
frae
the hunting come,
That frae my horse I fell.
The Queen o the Fairies she caught me
In yon green hill to dwell.
‘And pleasant is the fairy land,
But an eerie tale to tell –
Aye, at the end o seven years
We pay a
tiend
to hell.
I’m feared, being fair and fu’ of flesh,
The tiend may be mysel’.
‘But
the night
is Halloween, lady,
The morn
is Hallowday.
Then win me, win me, if you will,
For weel I
ken
ye may.
‘Just at the
mirk
and midnight hour,
The fairy folk will ride.
And they that wad their true-love win
At Miles Cross they
maun bide
.’
‘But how shall I
ken
thee, Tam Lin,
Or how my true-love know,
Amang sae mony
unco
knights,
The like I never saw?’
‘O first let pass the black, lady,
And
syne
let pass the brown,
But quickly run to the milk-white steed
And pu’ his rider down.
‘For I’ll ride on the milk-white steed
And ay nearest the town,
Because I was an earthly knight
They gie me that
renoun
.
‘My right hand will be gloved, lady,
My left hand will be bare,
Cocked up shall my bonnet be
And
kaim’d
down shall my hair,
And
thae’s
the tokens I gie to thee,
Without doubt I’ll be there.
‘They’ll turn me in your arms, lady,
Into an
esk
and adder;
But hold me fast, and fear me not,
I am your bairn’s father.
‘They’ll turn me into a bear
sae
grim,
And then a lion bold;
But hold me fast, and fear me not,
As ye shall love your child.
‘Again they’ll turn me in your arms
To a red-
het
gaud
of
airn
;
But hold me fast, and fear me not,
and I’ll do you nae harm.
‘At last they’ll turn me in your arms
Into the burning lead.
Then throw me into well water,
O throw me in wi’ speed!
‘And then I’ll be your ain true love,
I’ll turn a naked knight,
Then cover me wi’ your green mantle,
And cover me out o sight.’
Gloomy, gloomy was the night,
And eerie was the way,
As fair Janet in her green mantle
To Miles Cross she did gae.
About the middle o the night
She heard the bridles ring.
This lady was as glad at that
As any earthly thing.
First she let the black pass by,
And syne she let the brown;
But quickly she ran to the milk-white steed
And pu’d the rider down.
Sae weel she minded what he’d said,
And young Tam Lin did win,
Syne covered him wi’ her green mantle,
As blythe’s a bird in spring.
Out then spak the Queen o Fairies,
Out of a bush o broom:
‘Them that’s gotten the young Tam Lin
Has gotten a stately groom.’
Out then spak the Queen o Fairies
And an angry queen was she:
‘Shame betide her ill-fared face,
And an ill death may she dee!
For she’s
taen
awa the bonniest knight
In a’ my companie.
‘But had I
kend
, Tam Lin,’ she says,
‘What now this night I see,
I wad hae taen out thy twa grey
een
And put in twa een o
tree
.’
Anon.
True Thomas lay on Huntlie bank,
A
ferlie
he spied wi his ee;
And there he saw a lady bright,
Come riding down by the Eildon Tree.
Her skirt was o the grass-green silk,
Her mantle o the velvet fine;
At
ilka tett
o her horse’s mane
Hung fifty
siller
bells and nine.
True Thomas, he pull’d aff his cap
And
lowted
low down to his knee,
‘All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven,
For thy peer on earth I never did see!’
‘O no, O no, Thomas,’ she said,
‘That name does not belang to me,
I am but the Queen of fair Elfland,
That am hither come to visit thee.
‘
Harp and carp
, Thomas,’ she said,
‘Harp and carp along wi me;
And if you dare to kiss my lips,
Sure of your body I will be.’
‘Betide me weel, betide me woe,
That
weird
shall never
daunton
me.’
Syne
he has kiss’d her rosy lips
All underneath the Eildon Tree.
‘Now ye
maun
go wi me,’ she said,
‘True Thomas, ye maun go wi me.
And ye maun serve me seven years,
Thro’ weel or woe as may chance to be.’
