There are eighteen versions, some of them fragments, and some more detailed, and in one group the voyage is to Norway, either to take the Scottish king's daughter there or to bring back the king of Norway's daughter. Owing to the discourtesy of certain Norwegians, Sir Patrick leaves abruptly and is wrecked on the return voyage. Dumferline, a town in Fifeshire, on the Firth of Forth. It is early a favourite residence of the Scottish kings. Percy cites a law of James III of Scotland, forbidding ships to be freighted out of the realm with staple goods between October 28 and February 2.
Child suggests that the ill-omen was the sight of the new moon late yestreen.
Loath to wet their cork-heeled shoes. Long before the whole game was over. There are two villages of Aberdour on the east coast of Scotland, one in Aberdeenshire, the other in Fifeshire on the north shore of the Firth of Forth. Either may be meant.