Signelil, A Tale from the Cornish, and Other Ballads

The swains they were drinking and making carouse.
The Dames ne’er could so gallant a prisoner keep in.

The swains they drank deep and they made themselves gay,
And so did Sir Verner in prison that lay.

Dame Ingeborg woke, and she lifts up her eyes:
“O, which of my maidens doth sing in that guise?”

“O, none of your maidens can sing in such guise,
’Tis Sir Verner who’s singing, in durance he lies.”

Dame Ingeborg straightway two servants addressed:
“To come to my presence Sir Verner request.”

In through the portal Sir Verner he strode,
And up to receive him Dame Ingeborg stood.

To the cushion Dame Ingeborg points with a smile:
“Go thither, Sir Verner, and rest thee awhile.

“Now hark thou, Sir Verner, what I to thee say:
I beg thou wilt sing me a pretty love lay.”

“A love lay I’ve never learnt up to this hour,
But I’ll sing to oblige thee the best in my power.”

Sir Verner began, and he sang such a lay,
That soon in deep slumber Dame Ingeborg lay.

The Dames and the maids fell to sleep and to doze,
Dame Ingeborg sank to a peaceful repose.

Sir Verner he glanced then so cautiously round,
The keys great and small in a nook he has found.

To the door hied Sir Verner as fast as he might,
He forgot to bid Dame Ingeborg a good-night.

When out of the castle himself he perceived,
His voice in a ditty again he upheaved.

Sir Verner he waved up his hat with delight:
“Dame Ingeborg bid ye a very good night!

“And hear thou, Sir Warden, who stand’st on thy watch,
Of my ditty the burden I pray thee to catch.

“She’d this e’en not have taken a bushel of gold,
Now no penny for me shall she ever behold.”

So fast to the door went Sir Verner the knight,
He forgot to bid Damsel or Lady good-night.

THE HEDDEBY SPECTRE [1 - An earlier, and utterly different, version of this ballad was printed in Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 37–39. Borrow afterwards described this earlier version as “a paraphrase.”]

At evening fall I chanced to ride,
My courser to a tree I tied.
So wide thereof the story goes.

Against a stump my head I laid,
And then to slumber I essay’d.
So wide thereof the story goes.

As soon as sleep had closed my eye,
The murdered man to me drew nigh.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“And if thy race to mine belongs,
I call thee to avenge my wrongs.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“And them to Heddeby shalt ride,
For there my kith and kin reside.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“My father dwells there, and my mother,
There dwell my sister and my brother.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“There Kirsten dwells, my lovely wife,
And it was she who took my life.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“Her sleeping husband stifled she,
With aid of cursed beldames three.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“Then in a truss of hay concealed,
They brought me forth to this wide field.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“The page I loved the best of all,
Now rides upon my courser tall.
So wide thereof the story goes.

“Eats daily with my silver knife,
And sleeps with Kirsten fair, my wife.
So wide thereof the story goes.