The Knight And The Shepherd's Daughter

A poem by Frank Sidgwick

The Text is given here from Kinloch's MSS. He gives also three other versions and various fragments. The tale is also found amongst the Roxburghe Ballads, as The Beautifull Shepherdesse of Arcadia, in two broadsides printed about 1655 and 1680. This is the only English version extant. But earlier than any text of the ballad is a quotation from it in John Fletcher's The Pilgrim, iv. 2 (1621). The Scots versions, about a dozen in number, are far more lively than the broadside. Buchan printed two, of sixty and sixty-three stanzas respectively. Another text is delightfully inconsequent:--

'"Some ca' me Jack, some ca' me John,
Some ca' me Jing-ga-lee,
But when I am in the queen's court
Earl Hitchcock they ca' me."

"Hitchcock, Hitchcock," Jo Janet she said,
An' spelled it ower agane,
"Hitchcock it's a Latin word;
Earl Richard is your name."

But when he saw she was book-learned,
Fast to his horse hied he....'

Both this version (from the Gibb MS.) and one of Buchan's introduce the domestic genius known as the 'Billy-Blin,' for whom see Young Bekie, First Series, p. 6, ff.; Willie's Lady, p. 19 of this volume; and Cospatrick, p. 26.


The Story.--The King of France's auld dochter, disguised as a shepherdess, is accosted by Sweet William, brother to the Queen of Scotland, who gives his name as Wilfu' Will, varied by Jack and John. He attempts to escape, but she follows him to court, and claims him in marriage from the king. He tries to avoid discovery by pretending to be a cripple, but she knows him, refuses to be bribed, marries him, and finally reveals herself to him.

The dénouement of the story is reminiscent of The Marriage of Sir Gawain (First Series, pp. 107-118). A Danish ballad, Ebbe Galt, has similar incidents.


THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER

1.
There was a shepherd's dochter
Kept sheep upon yon hill,
And by cam a gay braw gentleman,
And wad hae had his will.

2.
He took her by the milk-white hand,
And laid her on the ground,
And whan he got his will o' her
He lift her up again.

3.
'O syne ye've got your will o' me,
Your will o' me ye've taen,
'Tis all I ask o' you, kind sir,
Is to tell to me your name.'

4.
'Sometimes they call me Jack,' he said,
'Sometimes they call me John,
But whan I am in the king's court,
My name is Wilfu' Will.'

5.
Than he loup on his milk-white steed,
And straught away he rade,
And she did kilt her petticoats,
And after him she gaed.

6.
He never was sae kind as say,
'O lassie, will ye ride?'
Nor ever had she the courage to say,
'O laddie, will ye bide!'

7.
Until they cam to a wan water,
Which was called Clyde,
And then he turned about his horse,
Said, 'Lassie, will ye ride?'

8.
'I learned it in my father's hall,
I learned it for my weel,
That whan I come to deep water,
I can swim as it were an eel.

9.
'I learned it in my mother's bower,
I learned it for my better,
That whan I come to broad water,
I can swim like any otter.'

10.
He plunged his steed into the ford,
And straught way thro' he rade,
And she set in her lilly feet,
And thro' the water wade.

11.
And whan she cam to the king's court,
She tirled on the pin,
And wha sae ready's the king himsel'
To let the fair maid in?

12.
'What is your will wi' me, fair maid?
What is your will wi' me?'
'There is a man into your court
This day has robbed me.'

13.
'O has he taen your gold,' he said,
'Or has he taen your fee?
Or has he stown your maidenhead,
The flower of your bodye?'

14.
'He has na taen my gold, kind sir,
Nor as little has he taen my fee,
But he has taen my maidenhead,
The flower of my bodye.'

15.
'O gif he be a married man,
High hangit shall he be,
But gif he be a bachelor,
His body I'll grant thee.'

16.
'Sometimes they call him Jack,' she said,
'Sometimes they call him John,
But when he's in the king's court,
His name is Sweet William.'

17.
'There's not a William in a' my court,
Never a one but three,
And one of them is the Queen's brother;
I wad laugh gif it war he.'

18.
The king called on his merry men,
By thirty and by three;
Sweet Willie, wha used to be foremost man,
Was the hindmost a' but three.

19.
O he cam cripple, and he cam blind,
Cam twa-fald o'er a tree:
'O be he cripple, or be he blind,
This very same man is he.'

20.
'O whether will ye marry the bonny may,
Or hang on the gallows-tree?'
'O I will rather marry the bonny may,
Afore that I do die.'

21.
But he took out a purse of gold,
Weel locked in a glove:
'O tak ye that, my bonny may,
And seek anither love.'

22.
'O I will hae none o' your gold,' she says,
'Nor as little ony of your fee,
But I will hae your ain body,
The king has granted me.'

23.
O he took out a purse of gold;
A purse of gold and store;
'O tak ye that, fair may,' he said,
'Frae me ye'll ne'er get mair.'

24.
'O haud your tongue, young man,' she says,
'And I pray you let me be;
For I will hae your ain body,
The king has granted me.'

25.
He mounted her on a bonny bay horse,
Himsel' on the silver grey;
He drew his bonnet out o'er his een,
He whipt and rade away.

26.
O whan they cam to yon nettle bush,
The nettles they war spread:
'O an my mither war but here,' she says,
'These nettles she wad sned.'

27.
'O an I had drank the wan water
Whan I did drink the wine,
That e'er a shepherd's dochter
Should hae been a love o' mine!'

28.
'O may be I'm a shepherd's dochter,
And may be I am nane!
But you might hae ridden on your ways,
And hae let me alane.'

29.
O whan they cam unto yon mill
She heard the mill clap:
... ... ...
... ... ...

30.
'Clap on, clap on, thou bonny mill,
Weel may thou, I say,
For mony a time thou's filled my pock
Wi' baith oat-meal and grey.'

31.
'O an I had drank the wan water
Whan I did drink the wine,
That e'er a shepherd's dochter
Should hae been a love o' mine!'

32.
'O may be I'm a shepherd's dochter,
And may be I am nane;
But you might hae ridden on your ways,
And hae let me alane.

33.
'But yet I think a fitter match
Could scarcely gang thegither
Than the King of France's auld dochter
And the Queen of Scotland's brither.'