Note that in this version, the number of elves is "five score and seven", that is, a hundred and seven, not seven hundred. I suspect a mistranslation somewhere.

From The Lady of the Lake, Second Edition, by Walter Scott (Edinburgh: John Ballantyne and Co., 1810):

NOTES TO CANTO FOURTH.

Note VI.
Alice Brand.—St. XII. p. 158.

This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious Danish ballad, which occurs in the Kiempe Viser, a collection of heroic songs, first published in 1591, and re-printed in 1695, inscribed by Anders Sofrensen, the collector and editor, to Sophia Queen of Denmark. I have been favoured with a literal translation of the original, by my learned friend Mr Robert Jamieson, whose deep knowledge of Scandinavian antiquities will, I hope, one day be displayed in illustration of the history of Scottish Ballad and Song, for which no man possesses more ample materials. The story will remind the readers of the Border Minstrelsy of the tale of The Young Tamlane. But this is only a solitary and not very marked instance of coincidence, whereas several of the other ballads in the same collection, find exact counterparts in the Kiempe Viser. Which may have been the originals will be a question for future antiquarians. Mr Jamieson, to secure the power of literal translation, has adopted the old Scottish idiom, which approaches so near to that of the Danish, as almost to give word for word, as well as line for line, and indeed in many verses the orthography alone is altered. As Wester Haf, mentioned in the first stanza of the ballad, means the West Sea, in opposition to the Baltic, or East Sea, Mr Jamieson inclines to be of opinion, that the scene of the dis-enchantment is laid in one of the Orkney, or Hebride Islands. To each verse in the original is added a burden, having a kind of meaning of its own, but not applicable, at least not uniformly applicable, to the sense of the stanza to which it is subjoined: this is very common both in Danish and Scottish song.

THE ELFIN GRAY.
Translated from the Danish Kæmpe Viser, p. 143, and first published in 1591.

Der ligger en vold i Vester Haf,
Der agter en bondè at biggè:
Hand förer did baadè hög og hund,
Og agter dar om vinteren at liggè.
(De vilde diur og diurene udi skofven.)


1. There liggs a wold in Wester Haf,
There a husbande means to bigg,
And thither he carries baith hawk and hound,
There meaning the winter to ligg.
(The wild deer and daes i'the shaw out.)

2. He taks wi' him baith hound and cock,
The langer he means to stay,
The wild deer in the shaws that are
May sairly rue the day.
(The wild deer, &c.)

3. He's hew'd the beech, and he's fell'd the aik,
Sae has he the poplar gray:
And grim in mood was the growsome elf,
That be sae bald he may.

4. He hew'd him kipples, he hew'd him bawks,
Wi' mickle moil and haste;
Syne speer'd the elf in the knock that bade,
"Wha's hacking here sae fast?"

5. Syne up and spak the weiest elf,
Crean'd as an immert sma:
"It's here is come a Christian man;—
I'll fley him or he ga."

6. It's up syne started the firsten elf,
And glowr'd about sae grim:
"It's we'll awa' to the husbande's house,
And hald a court on him.

7. "Here hews he down baith skugg and shaw,
And wirks us skaith and scorn:
His huswife he sall gie to me;
They's rue the day they were born!"

8. The elfen a' i' the knock that were
Gaed dancing in a string;
They nighed near the husband's house;—
Sae lang their tails did hing.

9. The hound he yowls i' the yard;
The herd toots in his horn;
The earn scraichs, and the cock craws,
As the husbande had gi'en him his corn.*

10. The Elfen were five score and seven,
Sae laidly and sae grim;
And they the husbande's guests maun be,
To eat and drink wi' him.

11. The husbande out o' Villenshaw
At his winnock the Elves can see:
"Help me, now, Jesu, Mary's son;
Thir Elves they mint at me!"

12. In every nook a cross he coost,
In his chalmer maist ava;
The Elfen a' were fley'd thereat,
And flew to the wild-wood shaw.

13. And some flew east, and some flew west,
And some to the norwast flew;
And some they flew to the deep dale down,
There still they are, I trow.**

14. It was then the weiest Elf,
In at the door braids he;
Agast was the husbande, for that Elf
For cross nor sign wad flee.

15. The huswife she was a canny wife,
She set the Elf at the board;
She set before him baith ale and meat,
Wi' mony a well-waled word.

16. "Hear thou, Gudeman o' Villenshaw,
What now I say to thee;
Wha bade thee bigg within our bounds,
Without the leave o' me?

17. "But, an thou in our bounds will bigg,
And bide, as well as may be,
Then thou thy dearest huswife maun
To me for a lemman gie."

18. Up spak the luckless husbande then,
As God the grace him gae:
"Eline she is to me sae dear,
Her thou may na-gate hae."

19. Till the Elf he answer'd as he couth;
"Lat but my huswife be,
And tak whate'er o' gude or gean
Is mine, awa wi' thee."

20. "Then I'll thy Eline tak and thee
Aneath my feet to tread;
And hide thy goud and white monie
Aneath my dwalling-stead."

21. The husbande and his househald a'
In sary rede they join:
"Far better that she be now forfairn,
Nor that we a' should tyne."

22. Up, will of rede, the husbande stood,
Wi' heart fu sad and sair;
And he has gien his huswife Eline
Wi' the young Elf to fare.

23. Then blyth grew he, and sprang about;
He took her in his arm:
The rud it left her comely cheek;
Her heart was clem'd wi harm.

24. A waefu' woman than she was ane,
And the moody tears loot fa':
"God rew on me, unseely wife,
How hard a wierd I fa!

25. "My fay I plight to the fairest wight
That man on mold mat see;
Maun I now mell wi' a laidly El,
His light lemman to be?"

26. He minted ance—he minted twice,
Wae wax'd her heart that syth:
Syne the laidliest fiend he grew that e'er
To mortal ee did kyth.

27. When he the thirden time can mint,
To Mary's son she pray d,
And the laidly elf was clean awa,
And a fair knight in his stead.

28. This fell under a linden green,
That again his shape he found;
O' wae and care was the word nae mair,
A' were sae glad that stound.

29. "O dearest Eline, hear thou this,
And thou my wife sall be,
And a' the goud in merry England
Sae freely I'll gie thee.

30. "Whan I was but a little wee bairn,
My mither died me frae;
My stepmither sent me awa frae her;
I turn'd till an Elfin Gray.

31. "To thy husband I a gift will gie,
Wi' mickle state and gear,
As mends for Eline his huswife;—
Thou's be my heartis dear."

32. "Thou nobil knyght, we thank now God
That has freed us frae skaith;
Sae wed thou thee a maiden free,
And joy attend ye baith!

33. "Sin I to thee na maik can be,
My dochter may be thine;
And thy gude will right to fulfill,
Lat this be our propine."

34. "I thank thee, Eline, thou wise woman;
My praise thy worth sall hae;
And thy love gin I fail to win,
Thou here at hame sall stay."

35. The husbande biggit now on his öe,
And nae ane wrought him wrang;
His dochter wore crown in Engeland,
And happy liv'd and lang.

36. Now Eline the husbande's huswife has
Cour'd a' her grief and harms;
She's mither to a noble queen
That sleeps in a kingis arms.


* This singular quatrain stands thus in the original:

"Hunden hand glör i gaarden;
Hiorden tudè i sit horn;
Œrnen skriger, og hanen galer,
Som bonden hafdè gifvet sit korn."

** In the Danish:

"Sommè flöyè oster, og somme flöyè vester,
Noglè flöyè nör paa;
Noglè flöyè ned i dybenè dalè,
Jeg troer de erè der endnu."

GLOSSARY.

St. 1. Wold, a wood; a woody fastness.

Husbande, from the Dan. has, with, and bonde, a villain, or bondsman, who was a cultivator of the ground, and could not quit the estate to which he was attached, without the permission of his lord. This is the sense of the word, in the old Scottish records. In the Scottish "Burghe Laws," translated from the Rej. Majest. (Auchinleck MS. in the Adv. Lib.) it is used indiscriminately with the Dan. and Swed. bondè.

Bigg, build.

Ligg, lie.

Daes, does.

2. Shaw, wood.

Sairly, sorely.

3. Aik, oak.

Grousome, terrible.

Bald, bold.

Kipples, (couples,) beams joined at the top, for supporting a roof, in building.

Bawks, balks; cross beams.

Moil, laborious industry.

Speer'd, asked.

Knock, hillock.

5. Weiest, smallest.

Crean'd, shrunk, diminished; from the Gaëlic, crian, very small.

Immert, emmit; ant.

Christian, used in the Danish ballads, &c. in contradistinction to demoniac, as it is in England, in contradistinction to brute, in which sense, a person of the lower class, in England, would call a Jew or a Turk, a Christian.

Fley, frighten.

6. Glowr'd, stared.

Hald, hold.

7. Skugg, shade.

Skaith, harm.

8. Nighed, approached.

9. Yowls, howls.

Toots—in the Dan. tude, is applied both to the howling of a dog, and the sound of a horn.

Scraichs, screams.

10. Laidly, loathly; disgustingly, ugly.

Grim, fierce.

11. Winnock, window.

Mint, aim at.

12. Coost, cast.

Chalmer, chamber.

Maist, most.

Ava, of all.

13. Norwart, northward.

Trow, believe.

14. Braids, strides quickly forward.

Wad, would.

15. Canny, adroit.

Mony, many.

Well-waled, well chosen.

17. An, if.

Bide, abide.

Lemman, mistress.

18. Nagate, nowise.

19. Couth, could; knew how to.

Lat be, let alone.

Gude, goods; property.

20. Aneath, beneath.

Dwalling-stead, dwelling-place.

21. Sary, sorrowful.

Rede, counsel; consultation.

Forfairn, forlorn; lost; gone.

Tyne, (verb neut.) be lost; perish.

22. Will of rede, bewildered in thought; in the Danish original, "vildraadige;" Lat. "inops consilii;" Gr. .... This expression is left among the desiderata, in the Glossary to Ritson's Romances, and has never been explained. It is obsolete in the Danish as well as in English.

Fare, go

23. Rud, red of the cheek.

Clem'd, in the Danish, klemt; (which, in the north of England, is still in use, as the word starved is with us;) brought to a dying state. It is used by our old comedians.

Harm, grief; as in the original, and in the old Teutonic, English, and Scottish poetry.

24. Waefu, woeful.

Moody, strongly and wilfully passionate.

Rew, take ruth; pity.

Unseely, unhappy; unblest.

Wierd, fate.

Fa, (Isel. Dan. and Swed.) take; get; acquire; procure; have for my lot.—This Gothic verb answers, in its direct and secondary significations, exactly to the Latin capio; and Allan Ramsay was right in his definition of it. It is quite a different word from fa', an abbreviation of 'fall, or befall; and is the principal root in fangen, to fang, take, or lay hold of.

25. Fay, faith.

Mold, mould; earth.

Mat, mote; might.

Maun, must.

Mell, mix.

El, an elf. This term, in the Welch, signifies what has in itself the power of motion; a moving principle; an intelligence; a spirit; an angel. In the Hebrew, it bears the same import.

26. Minted, attempted; meant; shewed a mind, or intention to. The original is:

"Hand mindte hende först—og anden gang;—
Hun giordis i htortet sa vee:
End blef hand den lediste diefvel
Mand kunde med oyen see.
Der hand vilde minde den tredie gang," &c.

Syth, tide; time.

Kyth, appear.

28. Stound, hour; time; moment.

29. Merry, (old Teut. meré,) famous; renowned; answering, in its etymological meaning, exactly to the Latin mactus. Hence merry-men, as the address of a chief to his followers; meaning not men of mirth, but of renown. The term is found in its original sense in the Gaël mâr, and the Welsh mawr, great; and in the oldest Teut. Romances, mar, mer, and mere, have sometimes the same signification.

31. Mends, amends; recompence.

33. Maik, match: peer; equal.

Propine, pledge; gift.

35. Öe, an island of the second magnitude; an island of the first magnitude being called a land, and one of the third magnitude a holm.

36. Cour'd, recover'd.