Page:Old English ballads by Francis Barton Gummere (1894).djvu/466

362 362 NOTES. lis. A well-known precaution from Proserpine's day to this. 12. As Professor Child remarks, this is * honest bread and wine ' which the fairy has considerately brought with her. 15 2. lillie leven = a lawn covered with lilies and flowers, — * the primrose path of dalliance,' or rather the route described by Macbeth*s porter. 17. Another well-known precaution : see Child, p. 322, note, who quotes Falstaff {Merry Wives ^ v, 5): *They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die.' Of course, if a colloquy was unavoidable, Latin was the only refuge. 18 1. even cloth = smooth, fine texture ? THE WEE WEE MAN. Printed by Herd in his Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs ; Child, II, 330. — For the older poem, and added prophecies, connected with the ballad but not the source of it, see Child, pp. 329 f., 333 f. 2 2. Another version has : ST. STEPHEN -AND HEROD. Often printed from a MS. said to be of the time of Henry VI. For the legend and related literature, see Professor Child's intro- duction, I, 233 ff. The ballad * was sung as a carol for St. Stephen's day,' — 26 December. 1 2. befalle, subjunctive for indicative: *as befits,' — *as is cus- tomary with. . . .' 2 1. The Christmas dish of old England, brought into hall with pomp of procession and a carol and Latin refrain : Reddens laudes Domino. . .' Two English carols for the occasion are printed by Ritson, Ancient Songs (1790), p. 125 ff. 4 2. Bedleni = Bethlehem. 7 1. or thu gynnyst to brede= 'beginnest to entertain capricious fancies, like a woman.' — Child. 12 2. The eve of St. Stephen's is, of course, Christmas night. Digitized by LjOOQIC
 * And sma' and limber was his thie.'
 * Caput apri defero,