The Serpent Knight, translated by George Borrow

Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas Wise pamphlet by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org.

THE SERPENT KNIGHT
and
OTHER BALLADS

p. 5Table of Contents

p. 7 THE SERPENT KNIGHT

“Proud Signelil, if thou me wilt wed,
I’ll give thee store of gold so red.”

“Forbid the heavenly God so great
That I should become the Lindworm’s mate.”

p. 8With his tail of serpent up strook he,
From beneath her dress the blood ran free.

“Welcome our sister, whither dost hie?
Keep’st thou the Lindworm company?”

She fell on her knee, and her prayer she made,
“Now son of Mary deign to aid.”

His snake’s appearance off he shook,
And the form of a stately knight he took.

p. 9“Thanks for thy trouble, proud Signelil,
Now live and die with thee I will.”

Now is proud Signild free from fright,
In a prince’s arm she sleeps each night.

p. 10SIR OLAF

Sir Olaf rides on his courser tall,
Guests to bid to his bridal hall.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

In fours and fives the elfins dance,
The elf-king’s daughter I see advance.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Sir Olaf, cease so fierce to ride,
And dance with me for a little tide.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“I may not dance, I may not stay,
To-morrow is my bridal day.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Sir Olaf, if thou wilt dance with me,
Two buckskin boots I’ll give to thee.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

p. 11“I dare not dance, I dare not stay,
To-morrow is my bridal day.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Sir Olaf, if thou wilt dance with me,
A silken shirt I’ll give to thee.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“A silken shirt so fair and fine,
Which my mother bleach’d in the pale moon-shine.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“I dare not dance, I must away,
To-morrow is my bridal day.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Sir Olaf, if thou wilt dance with me,
A helm of gold I’ll give to thee.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“A helm of gold is a bonny thing,
But I dare not tread the elfin ring.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

p. 12“And if thou wilt not dance with me,
Disease and death shall follow thee.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

She struck him on the shoulder bone,
Fiercer pain he ne’er had known.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

Upon his steed she lifts the knight,
“Now hie thee home to thy heart’s delight.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

And when he came to his home so late,
His mother stood at the castle gate.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Now tell to me, my dearest son,
Why look’st so pale and woe-begone?”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“O well may he look pale, I ween,
Who has felt the stroke of the Elfin Queen.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

p. 13“Sir Olaf, list, my joy and pride,
What shall I say to thy youthful bride?”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Thou’lt tell my bride the wood I rove,
My courser and my hounds to prove.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

The next, next morn at break of day
The bride arrives with her friends so gay.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

They skinkéd mead, they skinkéd wine:
“Where is Sir Olaf, bridegroom mine?”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

“Sir Olaf’s gone the woods to rove,
His courser and his hounds to prove.”
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

She lifted up the mantle red,
There lay Sir Olaf stark and dead.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

p. 14The next, next day at early morn,
Corses three from the gate are borne.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

Olaf the knight, and his youthful bride,
And his mother dear, who of care had died.
Gaily they dance in the greenwood.

p. 15THE TREACHEROUS MERMAN

“Now rede me, mother,” the merman cried,
“How Marsk Stig’s daughter may be my bride.”

To a young knight chang’d she then her son,
And to Mary’s church at speed he’s gone.

To the church’s ring his steed he bound,
And three times backward the church pac’d round.

The priest was standing with open book:
“O who is yon knight of stately look?”

p. 16Then laughed the maiden within her sleeve:
“If he were my husband I should not grieve.”

He step’d over benches one and two:
“O Marsk Stig’s daughter I doat on you.”

She gave him her hand with an air so free:
“Here take thy troth, I will go with thee.”

And when they came to the salt sea strand,
The little boats turn’d away from the land.

“Now Marsk Stig’s daughter hold my steed,
To cross the water a boat we need.”

And when in the midst of the sound they were,
Dissolv’d the boat into water fair.

Now will I caution each maiden bright,
To dance not away with an unknown knight.

Note.—The above Ballad is a later, and greatly improved, version of one which appeared under the title The Merman only, in the Romantic Ballads of 1826. The introduction of the incident of the changing by magic of the horse into a boat, furnishes a reason for the catastrophe which was lacking in the earlier version.

p. 18THE KNIGHT IN THE DEER’S SHAPE
or
THE DECEIVER DECEIVED

It was the Knight Sir Peter,
He dwelleth down by Oe;
Nothing, nothing, will he do
But sail about and row.

Sail about and row about
Is all that he will do,
So many a maiden he allures
And proves to them untrue.

To servants two addressed him,
Sir Peter of the isle:
“With wily speeches win me
The Damsel Usalile.”

p. 19The gallant swains then riding
To Usalile’s home,
A message sent inquiring
If they to her might come.

In then came the gallants,
Before the board they stood—
O, they were nimble at the tongue,
Could speak in wily mode!

“Thy brothers seven from Skaane
Thee lovingly do greet,
On board this ship to meet them
Their sister they entreat.”

“O if with me for parlance
My brothers are inclined,
Here at her table sitting
Their sister they will find.

“No lovely maid on shipboard
Is ever wont to go,
But sharp reproofs pursue her,
And taunting words, I trow.”

p. 20Away then ride the gallants
And to their lord repair:
“We cannot win the damsel
By means of speeches fair.”

“O I will have the damsel,
And she shall yet be won;
I vow me to deceive her
By force of magic Rune.”

Then o’er his broider’d trousers,
And jacket flower’d fair,
The skin of a hart he donneth
The maiden to ensnare.

Now sported the wild little hart
The damsel’s house before,
Glitter’d like the ruddy gold
Each hair the creature bore.

Open stood the castle gate,
The hart therein has stray’d;
And lo with little puppies
The merry maiden play’d.

p. 21Up and down he sported,
To the green wood he sped;
Behind the Damsel hasting
In a leash the puppies led.

He sported up, he sported down,
Towards the mead he hied;
The Damsel speeding after
With hand to lure him tried.

The Damsel speeding after
With hand to lure him strove:
“That yonder lovely hart were tame
O would to God above!

“O would to God in heaven,
That yonder hart were mine!
Nothing should he ever drink
Except the rosy wine.

“Nothing should he ever drink
Except the rosy wine,
And nowhere should he slumber
Save in these arms of mine.”

p. 22The knight he off has shaken
The deer shape from his frame;
In verity fair damsel,
The hart he now is tame!

Long stood she, the Damsel,
So deep reflected she:
“O for some cunning artifice
To rid me quick of thee!”

“Sir Peter, if what now I know
I had but known before,
The children I shall bear thee
They ne’er should have been poor.

“Within my father’s castle
A little girl I strayed,
When in the earth a treasure
Of ruddy gold they laid.

“Down by the strand ’tis buried,
Beneath a mighty stone.”
Thither to fetch the treasure
In haste Sir Peter’s gone.

p. 23He has broken up the flinty rock,
So deep a hole he’s made—
But none shall ever gold dig up
Where gold was never laid!

One shall never gold dig up
Where gold was never laid;
Never came together more
The knight and lovely maid.

p. 24THE STALWART MONK

Above the wood a cloister towers,
Gilt window it displays;
There lie before it Kempions twelve,
The cloister they will raze.

There lie before it Kempions twelve,
The cloister down will tear;
The oxen and the cows they slew
The monks should have for fare.

The monk he out of the window looked,
Then shook both beam and wall:
“And be the Kemps no more than twelve,
I’ll easily tame them all.”

The monk he called to his serving lad:
“My club go fetch me in,
For I will out to the forest straight
And make them cease their din.”

p. 25It took fifteen to bring the club,
And they strain’d all their might;
The monk took it up with fingers two
And swung it round so light.

He takes the club upon his back
And into the wood he’s gone,
And there met him the Kempions twelve
Would fain set him upon.

They drew a circle on the ground,
And each one troll’d a song;
I tell to ye for verity
He silenced them all ere long.

First slew he four, then slew he five,
At length he all has slain;
It was the monk of the shaven crown
Would gladly fight again.

It was the monk of the shaven crown
Would seek for another fray,
So out of the wood across the wold
He blythely took his way.

p. 26So blythely out of the good green wood
He sped across the hill,
And there met him a hoary Trold
Whose name was Sivord Gill.

“If thou art the monk of the shaven crown
Who scath’d the warrior band,
Thou either from me shalt shamefully flee
Or manfully ’gainst me stand.”

“I am the monk of the shaven crown
Who slew the warrior band,
And never from thee will I shamefully flee
But like a man will stand.”

The first blow gave the Trold, it fell
Upon the monk’s shoulder down,
’Midst of his shoulder broke the skin,
Bebloodied was his gown.

The next blow gave the monk, it struck
The Trold to the verdant sward:
“Now shame befall thee, shaven Monk,
The blows of thy club are hard.

p. 27“Now hold thy hand, thou shaven Monk,
And do not strike me more,
And I will give thee silver and gold,
And of coin a plenteous store.”

The Monk he ran, the Trold he crept,
Still equal was their height;
Then shewed he him a little house
With doors of gold so bright.

Then shewed he him a little house
With golden doors fifteen;
There got the Monk of silver and gold
All he could wish I ween.

Seven lasts of silver, seven of gold,
To the cloisters he caus’d convey;
He bade them find a monk could wield
A club in as brave a way.

’Twas drawing fast to an evening hour
And the sun went down to rest,
Still fifteen Roman miles the monk
To the cloister had at least.

p. 28’Twas tending fast to the evening tide
And the sun to the earth did haste,
Yet he seized the first dish at the supper board
Ere the Abbot could get a taste.

Full fifteen monks he knock’d down when
No pottage he espied,
And up he hung fifteen because
The herrings were not fried.

Then out and spoke the little boy
Who waited at the meal:
“Each time the monk to the cloister comes
He thus with us will deal.”

And it was getting late at night
And folks to bed should hie,
Then because the Abbot sat too long
He struck him out an eye.

The Abbot hurried off to bed,
No longer dared remain;
I say to ye for verity
He felt both shame and pain.

p. 29’Twas early in the morning tide,
The bells began to ring;
It was the monk of the shaven crown
Would neither read nor sing.

So stately strode he up the choir
Where the monks and nuns they stand,
Not one of them dared read or sing
For fear of his stalwart hand.

So they the Abbot pious and good
To a simple monk debased,
And they the Monk of the shaven crown
As Abbot o’er them placed.

And he the cloister held with might
Till thirty years were flown;
Then died as Abbot in mighty fame,
The Monk of the shaven crown.

p. 30THE CRUEL STEP-DAME

My father up of the country rode,
He thought to wed a lovely rose;
And there he met a laidly wife,
The source was she of all my woes.

The first night they together slept
She seemed to me a mother mild,
But ere a second night was past
She prov’d a step-dame fierce and wild.

I sat beside my father’s board,
I sported there with hound and pup,
And then to blast my blissful lot
My step-dame wild came striding up.

That God should make my lot so blest
My wicked step-dame could not bear;
She changed me to a sword so keen,
And bade me far and wide to fare.

p. 31By day I grac’d the side of the knight,
I hung the hero’s heart so near;
At night I lay beneath his head,
For his good sword he loved so dear.

That God had made my lot so blest
My wicked step-dame could not bear;
She changed me to a little knife,
And bade me far and wide to fare.

By day I was in the Lady’s hand,
The linen white with me she cut;
At night within her bower I slept,
All in her golden casket put.

That God had made my lot so blest,
My wicked step-dame could not bear;
She changed me to a little hind,
And bade me wander far and near.

She changed me to a little hind,
And bade me wander far and near;
My seven maids to wolves she changed,
And fiercely urged them me to tear.

p. 32My seven maidens were so kind,
They all refus’d the hind to tear;
Then vexed was my step-mother wild
That God had made my lot so fair.

The young Sir Henrik serves at court,
He is a knight of handsome mien;
For me he sorrowed day and night,
But would not let his grief be seen.

Sir Henrik roves with bow in hand
The good green wood at morning tide;
Then up there came a little hind,
And fondly she the warrior eyed.

Then up there came a little hind
Before the young knight as he rang’d;
Then off she cast her bestial shape,
And to a lovely damsel changed.

He took her tenderly in his arm,
He called her oft his bosom’s dear:
“Thrice praised be God in heav’n that dwells
That I have found my damsel here.

p. 33“I have not any servant, love,
Nor hast thou any maid, my fair,
So we’ll pull down the linden leaves,
And thus our bridal bed prepare.”

It was then the damsel fair,
Within the bed herself she placed;
It was the brave Sir Henrik then
Sweet sank to sleep by her embraced.

Full sorely wept the damsel fair,
As sleep began his eyes to find;
Assuming then her bestial shape,
She went away—a hapless hind.

p. 34THE CUCKOO

Yonder the cuckoo flutters,
   Cuckoo, Cuckoo! he utters,
And lights the beech upon;
   Many a voice is sweeter,
But do not mock the creature,
   Let each enjoy his own.

He knows no notes of passion,
   A new song cannot fashion;
True to the ancient rule,
   What his good sires respected
By him is not neglected,—
   Is he for that a fool?

p. 35O thou, my human brother,
   Who scorning every other
With self-conceit dost swell,
   We cannot all be gallants,
Not equal are our talents—
   Thou art no nightingale!

London:
Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W.
Edition limited to thirty copies.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Serpent Knight, and Other Ballads

THE SERPENT KNIGHT
and
OTHER BALLADS

p. 5Table of Contents

p. 7 THE SERPENT KNIGHT

p. 10SIR OLAF

p. 15THE TREACHEROUS MERMAN

p. 18THE KNIGHT IN THE DEER’S SHAPE
or
THE DECEIVER DECEIVED

p. 24THE STALWART MONK

p. 30THE CRUEL STEP-DAME

p. 34THE CUCKOO

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

	page
The Serpent King	7
Sir Olaf	10
The Treacherous Merman	15
The Knight in the Deer’s Shape	18
The Stalwart Monk	24
The Cruel Step-dame	30
The Cuckoo	34

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Serpent Knight, and Other Ballads

THE SERPENT KNIGHT and OTHER BALLADS

p. 5Table of Contents

p. 7 THE SERPENT KNIGHT

p. 10SIR OLAF

p. 15THE TREACHEROUS MERMAN

p. 18THE KNIGHT IN THE DEER’S SHAPE or THE DECEIVER DECEIVED

p. 24THE STALWART MONK

p. 30THE CRUEL STEP-DAME

p. 34THE CUCKOO

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

THE SERPENT KNIGHT
and
OTHER BALLADS

p. 18THE KNIGHT IN THE DEER’S SHAPE
or
THE DECEIVER DECEIVED