, 1861-09-05
[PrOm the Westminster Review for January, 1851
Ancient Danish Ballads.

UtuNu IecHVuto VI huCltuL Tlukilsu
One hundred and seventy-iour years previously to
this first appearance Of the Percy Ballads" (A.D.
1861 on analogous collection Of old Danish songs
had been issued by Vcdel LAD. 1891. In form
ing this collection, Vedel, we are told, had "no
idea Of the antiquarian interest attached to the
songs Of his country" He appears to have been
actuated by no other motive than the desire to
contribute to the innocent entertainment Of his
readers. rive are compelled here to omit lengthy
explanatory remarks by the compiler, our space
not admitting Of their insertion.
The following ballad, intended to celebrate wo-
mans ready invention and persistent power Of
response under the trying fire Of crOssexamination
viii scarcely be suspected Of emanating from the
female Muse:
THE READY REPLY.
"But, sister, DEAR" brother said
ado you then never mean to wed?
"Oh, wait! at this my tender age,
would not yet my hand engage"
yet, might trust the public voice,
You have already made the choice"
$50 people talk, and talk they may;
Believe not all that gOssips say"
"And who was then the handsome knight,
Rode from your door with mornings light? 2"
"NO knight, no high-bOrn cavalier,
My stable-bOy and his horse were here"
"1hen near your bed two pair Of shoes
Now whose were they? pray tell me whose?"
No mans shoe, brother, think not So
Twas but my slippers lay below"
"And then that little cherub head
Was lately sleeping upon your bed?"
No cherub that, or baby small;
What lay there sleeping wns my doll"
How heard l, then, in passing by,
Within your door IN infant cry?'
so cry not infants; twas my maid,
Because Of wardrobe key mislaid."
"And pray what might the cradle mean,
So silly hid behind the screen!"
No cradle be not rash to blame,
You've seen perhaps my broidery frame;
And if you, brother, more will know,
With answers shall not be slow.
When woman fail to make reply,
Then look to see the ocean dry"
The frail heroine Of this ballad probably Jared
better than some Of her delinquent sisters for the
rough mortimer had evidently no sympathy with
the sentimental liccntiousness of the southern
Courts Of Love. These ierOciOus moralists made
short work with interesting lovers. They burned
their offending wives at the iaggot, and hanged
their paramours. In the CIlse Of unmarried per-
sons, but possibly only when betrOthal, regarded
as the equivalent OF marriage, rendered the offence
tantamOunt to violation Of matrimonial fidelity,
the parti,s were subjected to the same punishment
as cOnjugal transgrCssOrs. Thus, in one Of the
ballads in this collection, SeCselille informs Medel-
void Of her mothers determination to send her to
the iaggOt and him to the gallows. So in the
ballad Of Sir Buris and Christine, King Waldmar
calls for five heavy scourges with which he lashes
his sister to death. Death, in fact, seems to have
been the recognized punishment of women who
loved deeply, but not well, in other parts Of Eu-
rope besides Denmark. In q Swedish ballad,
called Pehr Waterman" son puts his own
mother on tie fire; in Scotch one, entitled
" Lady Maisry," brother bis own sister; and in
a Spanish romance mother threatens her daugh-
ter with the stake il "maid she is no more"
Rapidly glancing at few Of the most charac-
tTistic usages Of this somewhat indeterminate
and mythical period, we come first to the peculiar
Institution Of all ages and all cOuntries-the matri
monial. As TO what constituted a marriage in
those days. il is thought that the priests blessing
uttered at the bedside was the most essential part
Of the ceremony. We find more than one instance
Of change Of bridegroom at the last hour.
Young ladies were often awarded to their future
husbands without the slightest reference to their
feelings or wishes. The ring was not the token Of
marriage, but betrothal. The Morgengave," or
Morning-giit, (recOgnized in England in Anglo
Saxon times) was present which the bride was
entitled to demand" and which could not be re-
fused by the husband, the day after her wedding.
1t often consisted Of landed estate and was tan
tam0unt to marriage settlement. Notwithstand-
ing the lerOciOuS love Of virtue among the old
Danes, there was nothing discreditable in living
with mistress at was, in fact" says DR.. Prior,
" o morganatic marriage; compromise with the
law that fOrbad the union Of those who were not
Of equal rank" Second marriages in Denmark,
as well as in other countries were not viewed very
hvorably; stepmothers, at least, were in univer-
Ia Ill
are represented as ncOnsOabe for the loss Of their
mothers; representation which our translator,
who thinks it inconceivable that they should have
felt much affection for mothers who were ready to
give them to any husband, without consulting
their feelings, or to burn them for very venial
transgressi0ns, prOnOunces q stereOtypcd common
place. II is certainly beyond everything as God
Almighty should ha' made women so;" but We
are not sure that he hasn't. Doubtless, however,
with all their rigid notions Of parental justice and
the practice Of our scandinavian an
cestresses was not unfrequently better than their
theory. We can adluce ut least one most pa
thetic instance Of the strength and reality Of the
maternal instinct even in the Spartan danes Of
Denmark. In the touching ballad Of the Buried
Mother" Swain Dyring marries q lovely maiden.
Seven years she shares his home with him, and
every year presents him with one Of the sweetest
children eyes ever saw. At the end Of the seven
years she dies, and the fathless Swain las faithle
swains will do) wins another maiden's hand. The
new bride steps, grim and harsh, from her gilded
vain. She repels the weeping children locks up
the bread and beer; takes away their light and
FIRE gives them straw to lie upon; and behaves,
in fact, as an injusta nOverca" ought to behave
Cold and starving, the motherless children lament
over their sid fortunes.
They cried ode evening till the sound
Their mother heard beneath the ground.
She heard as in her grave she lay,
"But go 7 must their pain to stay"
At Gods high thtote she bent her knee,