74, I, xxxi, II, 79; U, a short fragment, Danske Viser, V, x, xi.
Swedish. 'Den Bergtagna,' A, B, Afzelius, I, 1, No 1, II, 201. C, 'Bergkonungen, Afzelius, II, 22, No 35. D, E, 'Herr Elver, Bergakonungen,' Arwidsson, II, 277, No 141 B, II, 275, No 141 A. F, 'Jungfrun och Bergakonungen,' Arwidsson, II, 280, No 142. G, 'Agneta och Bergamannen,' Wigström, Folkdiktning, p. 13. H, 'Jungfrun och Bergamannen,' the same, p. 21. I, K, L, in Cavallius and Stephens' manuscript collection (K, L, fragments), given by Grundtvig, IV, 803. M, F. L. Borgströms Folkvisor, No 11, described by Grundtvig, IV, 802. N, Werner's Westergötlands Fornminnen, p. 93 f, two stanzas.
Norwegian. A, B,[1] C, 'Liti Kersti, som vart inkvervd,' Landstad, p. 431, No 42, p. 442, No 44, p. 446, No 45. D, Margit Hjuxe, som vart inkvervd,' the same, p. 451, No 46. E, F, 'Målfri,' 'Antonetta,' Grundtvig, IV, 801 f, the last evidently derived from Denmark. G–P, nine versions communicated to Grundtvig by Professor Sophus Bugge, and partially described in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, III, 808–10. Lindeman gives the first stanza of A with airs No 214, No 262 of his Fjeldmelodier, and perhaps had different copies. Nos 323, 320 may also have been versions of this ballad. C, rewritten, occurs in J. M. Moe og Ivar Mortensen's Norske Fornkvæde og Folkevisur, p. 16. Mixed forms, in which the ballad proper is blended with another, Landstad, No 43 = Swedish, Arwidsson, No 145; eight, communicated by Bugge, Grundtvig, III, 810–13; two others, IV, 483 f.[2]
Färöe. A, B, Grundtvig, IV, 803 f.
Icelandic. 'Rika álfs kvæði,' Íslenzk fornkvæði, No 4.
Danish A, one of the three sixteenth-century versions, tells how a knight, expressing a strong desire to obtain a king's daughter, is overheard by a dwarf, who says this shall never be. The dwarf pretends to bargain with the knight for his services in forwarding the knight's object, but consults meanwhile with his mother how he may get the lady for himself.[3] The mother tells him that the princess will go to even-song, and the dwarf writes runes on the way she must go by, which compel her to come to the hill. The dwarf holds out his hand and asks, How came ye to this strange land? to which the lady answers mournfully, I wot never how. The dwarf says, You have pledged yourself to a knight, and he has betrayed you with runes: this eve you shall be the dwarf's guest. She stayed there the night, and was taken back to her mother in the morning. Eight years went by; her hand was sought by five kings, nine counts, but no one of them could get a good answer. One day her mother asked, Why are thy cheeks so faded? Why can no one get thee? She then revealed that she had been beguiled by the dwarf, and had seven sons and a daughter in the hill, none of whom she ever saw. She thought she was alone, but the dwarf-king was listening. He strikes her with an elf-rod, and bids her hie to the hill after him. Late in the evening the poor thing dons her cloak, knocks at her father's door, and says good-night to the friends that never will see her again, then sadly turns to the hill. Her seven sons advance to meet her, and ask why she told of their father. Her tears run sore; she gives no answer; she is dead ere midnight.
With A agrees another of the three old Danish copies, B, and three modern ones, D, M, N, have something of the opening scene which characterizes A. So also Swedish C, I, and the Icelandic ballad. In Swedish C, Proud Margaret, who is daughter of a king of seven kingdoms, will have none of her suitors (this
- ↑ B, Landstad 44 (which has only this in common with the Scottish ballad, that a hill-man carries a maid to his cave), has much resemblance at the beginning to 'Kvindemorderen,' Grundtvig, No 183, our No 4. See Grundtvig's note ** at III, 810. This is only what might be looked for, since both ballads deal with abductions.
- ↑ It is not necessary, for purposes of the English ballad, to notice these mixed forms.
- ↑ In 'Nøkkens Svig,' C, Grundtvig, No 39, the merman consults with his mother, and then, as also in other copies of the ballad, transforms himself into a knight. See the translation by Prior, III, 269; Jamieson, Popular Ballads, I, 210; Lewis, Tales of Wonder, I, 60.
