 Section 1 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr and Mrs William Platt This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Zhu Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr and Mrs William Platt In liquid murmurs Yarrow sings her reminiscent tune Of bygone autumn, bygone springs, and many a leafy dune No more the morning beacons gleam upon the silent hills The far back years are years of dream Now peace the valley fills No more the reavers down the vale on raid and foray ride No more is heard the widow's wail or those who fighting died When morning dams with all its joys Then from the meadows rise A hundred throbbing hearts to voice their anthems to the skies When noontide sleeps where bracken's wave Their shadows yet grow long No sound awakes the echoes save the Yarrow's pensive song And when the eve with calm delight betokens night is nigh Beneath the first star's tender light is heard the owlets cry While Yarrow's liquid cadence swells by meadow, moor, and hill Morn or noon, or eve their dwells, a mournful memory still W. Cuthbertson Section 1 Introduction 1. The Character of the Borders The district called the border is one of the most interesting in Great Britain It consists of that part of England that is nearest Scotland And that part of Scotland that is nearest England Mainly the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Berwickshire, Roxbrookshire, and Dumfrieshire The country is very picturesque and highly romantic It abounds in great rolling breezy hills With swift streamlets or burns running down their sides to swell the rushing rivers No part of our island has more beautiful valleys than those of the border This bold, rough district, well adapted to defence, and situated also Just where the island of Great Britain is almost at its narrowest Became, after many a struggle, the boundary between England and Scotland The character of the country was suited to the rearing of hardy moorland sheep and cattle Its inhabitants, therefore, were a tough, open-air race of men Strong, strapping fellows, fearless riders, always ready for an adventure Especially if it meant a fight In those days of border strife there was hardly such a thing as international justice To say, the people of one nation were not very particular as to what they did to people of another nation Therefore, these bold, hardy, border men, Englishmen and Scots alike Were fond of creeping across the boundary to steal the cattle of their neighbours Men devoted to such raids were called Freebooters or Moss Troopers The name Moss being given in the North Country to boggy tracts that lie about the hillsides So it happened that the border was in a perpetual state of petty warfare Conducted, it is true, with a certain amount of goodwill and a rough approach to chivalry And with the concurrence of the powerful border nobles of both nations Who often played an important part therein At times, these raids developed into important war-like expeditions When a fierce noble or even a king had some reckless game to play Hence, among the ballads which give us so vivid an account of border strife We find descriptions not only of the minor doings of picturesque sheep-stealers But also of pitched battles such as Chevy Chase and Homminaldon Hill The Union of England and Scotland in 1603 naturally put an end to all the former excuses for raiding And therefore terminated the true Freebooter period After this, despite one or two belated attempts such as Eliot's Big Raid in 1611 Sheep-stealing ceased to be looked upon as an honourable calling and became mere thieving The men who would have raided one another's farms in 1602 became friendly neighbours After the border commission of 1605 There had been little malice in their former freebooting Both sides were of one race and they had the pleasure of finding That their lands went up greatly in value in consequence of the border peace Today, the border presents scenes of peaceful cattle farming But romance is still in the air, hangs about the fine breezy moorlands and beautiful dales And is seen clearly in the faces of the healthy border folk A holiday at any border farm would prove a most enjoyable one There are wonderful Roman remains, for here it was that the Romans built their wall There are castles of the border barons, the views are wide and grand The river valleys are unmatched for beauty and delightful wild flowers are plentiful Chief among which are fox-gloves, the giant wild canterbury bells, the handsome north country wild geranium Several interesting kinds of wild orchids and a variety of others too numerous to mention Last but not least, it is often possible in the evenings to see the farmer's sons engaged in friendly wrestling in the meadows When we can realise that these great manly fellows are of the same vigorous race that kept the borders lively a few centuries ago End of Section 1, Section 2 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr and Mrs William Platt This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Introduction to A Brief History of the Border Before dealing in detail with the stirring stories of border history and legend to retell which is the purpose of this book We will first enquire what is it that settles exactly the position of the border line between two countries To find the answer we must think what happens when a country is invaded If the invaders are stronger than the people whom they attack they go on thrusting back their foes Till these reach some strong position where by the aid of mountain, river or marsh They are able at any rate for a time to hold their own Thus a border line is always determined by some natural feature of the country which gives the defenders an advantage The attackers will not always operate from the same locality and the defenders will not always fall back in the same direction The two sides also will vary in power from time to time For these reasons a border line especially in the old fighting days was often altered When the Romans invaded Britain they gradually conquered the southern part of it But they could not subdue the wilder north One of their boundary lines was drawn from the Solway to the Tyne Then they fought their way further north and their next definite boundary was a line running from the fourth to the Clyde Along each of these boundaries they built a great wall and to this day parts of these Roman walls remain But it is worth noting that neither of these wall border lines stands upon the present border One being all in England and the other all in Scotland When the Romans left Britain called back to defend their own native land from invasion They followed a brief period for which we have no definite record of events in this island This is the period of King Arthur and none can say how much is true in the Arthurian legends But history begins to become clear again about the time that the Angles came in their ships across the North Sea bent on conquest They landed on all the natural harbours of the east coast driving the Britons back and taking the land for themselves The fact that they landed on the east and drove the Britons westward leads us to think that sooner or later a boundary would have been formed dividing the island into the east side for the Angles and the west side for the Britons Now that is exactly what did happen The border lines were nowhere like the present ones The northern kingdom of the Angles reached to the fourth where these people founded Edinburgh, Edwinsburg On the west the Britons had sway in Cornwall, Cornwallis, Wales, Cumbria which stretched from the Mersey to the Solway and Strathclyde from the Solway to the Clyde North of the fourth was the country of the Picts While the Scots were a race recently come from Ireland and they only owned what we now call our Gilesha and the islands lying near to it Not one inch of the present border was at that day in the border line Of the various races that lay round about where the border now is the Northumbrians seemed at first to be the strongest The capital of their kingdom was Bambra, a place still famous for its castle Though today it is not important enough to have a railway station But it still looks very picturesque on the wild coast with the Farn Islands, the first seat of Northumbrian Christianity in the near distance Ambition had much to do with the downfall of Northumbria The famous King Edbert would not rest content till he had scaled Dumbarton, the capital of Strathclyde This was to his career what the march to Moscow was to Napoleon's For though Edbert got safely to Dumbarton, 756, his army was cut to pieces in getting back again The Northumbrians seemed to have lost some of their northern lands for they moved their capital further south to the old Roman city of Corbridge which stood on the tine just where the delightful country town of that name stands today In 844, a king of the Scots named Kenneth Macalpin became, we don't quite know how King of the Picts also, joining two strong races under one ruler and thus was powerful enough to give great trouble to the weakened kingdom of Northumbria He several times led his army through Lothian, the district belonging to the Angles between the Fourth and the Tweed, but was never quite able to conquer it It is important to remember that up to that date Lothian had never belonged to Scotland The appearance of the Danes added to the confusion of those restless days For some few years it was doubtful whether Scott, Dane or Angle would get the best of it in Northumbria But at last the genius of Athelstan, of Wessex, revived the power of the Angles over the whole of that large part of the island which they had settled right up to the fourth itself Edinburgh was still English in 957 and the borderline was still very far from the present one but there was no longer a King of Northumbria, only an Earl, who was subject to the will of the West Saxon Kings This fact of the dominance of the West Saxons, whose capital was far to the south at Winchester must have added to the weakness of the Northumbrian border By the year 963 the Scots had conquered Edinburgh and it was now never again to return to English rule Before very long the whole of Lothian had passed under Scottish control but it was not yet held to be part of Scotland Nor must it be thought that this conquest of Lothian fixed the borderline in its present position For the King of the Scots was at that time ruler over Cumberland which had never yet been English and was all that was left of the old British kingdom of Cumbria Frontier wars with varying successors between Scots, Angle and Dane mark the stormy history of this time The power of Canute held back the scotch attempts upon Northumberland but during a lull in the wars the grandson of the Scottish King married the sister of Earl Siward and received as her dowry twelve towns in the valley of the Tyne an astonishingly imprudent arrangement At the time of the Battle of Hastings the earldom of Northumberland was so far distant from Winchester as to be somewhat out of the control of the King of England The power of the Scottish Kings threatened it They held twelve towns in Tyndale and Cumberland was a part of Scotland The Northumbrians refused to accept William the Conqueror as their King and had they been able to make good their refusal they must sooner or later have been conquered by the Scots and the borderline between England and Scotland would then most probably have been formed by the Tees the mountain boundary of Westmoreland and Morecombe Bay But William was not a king to be played with He reduced Northumberland to subjection and carried his army into Scotland as far as the River Tay where he forced the King of Scotland to admit that he, William, was his overlord Notwithstanding this humiliation, when King William returned to Winchester the Scots several times went back to their favourite amusement of raiding unhappy Northumberland One of these invasions took place in the reign of William Rufus, 1093, who went north in person He doubtless recognised the fact that owing to the Scots possessing Cumberland they were in the strong position of being able to attack Northumberland on two sides He took Cumberland by force of arms and thus for the first time it became a part of England The word Cumberland means the land of the Cumbrians or Welsh a Saxon form of the Welsh word Cymru Rufus rebuilt the strong fortress of Carlisle to defend his new border at its weakest corner For the most part this border is excellently protected by the natural rampart of the wild Cheviot hills and is in every way as good a border as could be devised It runs in a fairly straight line from south-west to north-east across a narrow part of the island But although this borderline proved to be a permanent one it must not be thought that it remained undisputed The times were rough and hardy fighting folk lived on the border They had many grounds for quarrel and took advantage of them all For one thing the exact boundary of North Cumberland was never quite defined till 1552 Up to which year there was a tract of land between the rivers Esk and Sark which was claimed by both countries and therefore called the debatable land Then the Scots maintained that they were overlords of Northumberland while the English kings cherished the notion that they were overlords of the whole island of Britain and the wild spirits on both sides were always ready to fight Out of this fighting spirit sprung the stirring history of the border which forms the theme of the deathless ballads, the stories of which it is now our purpose to retell End of Section 2 Section 3 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr and Mrs William Platt This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Recording by Zhu Introduction 3. What the border names tell us Many a name holds a meaning wrapped up within itself like a nut in its shell For instance, Edinburgh is a Saxon name, Edwin's Burg and the word tells us that this noble city, though now the capital of Scotland was originally founded by and belonged to a Saxon king of Northumbria The Highlanders, in their own Gaelic language, called it Donadin This has the same significance as Edinburgh but like most Gaelic names it is arranged in the reverse order to that in which an English name is generally put together Don means Burg Eddin is Edwin This is the same Don that we have in Dundee which means the Burg on the Tay and might be translated as Tabra Dumbarton means the Burg of the Britons and teaches us another notable lesson namely how far north in the old times the British influence extended For British in this case means Welsh Nowadays we associate the Welsh with Wales only Formerly there must have been a numerous colony of Welsh in Scotland as the name Dumbarton testifies as also many Scottish family names The great name of Wallace itself for instance suggests such an origin for Wallace is merely a corrupt form of the word Welsh and proves that the great national hero was of Welsh extraction Then Cumberland, Cymru land, means the land of the Welsh or Cymru as they call themselves The county of Cumberland did not really belong to the English until the time of William Rufus The first syllable of Carlisle denotes a Celtic fortified town and must be compared with the first syllable of Canaven The presence of the Roman wall is shown in many names in Northumberland such as Wall's End, Wall Town, Wall Ridge, Head and on the Wall Wall Houses and Thill Wall For a very interesting instance of what a name tells us we may leave the border for a moment and consider why the northernmost part of Scotland is called Sutherland It must have been so named by people living in the Orkney and Shetland Isles of a different race from the Scotch that is North settlers in those islands With regard to surnames how many stop to think that Olyphant is merely a form of elephant and was originally an allusion to a big burly ancestor Grant, which is the same as grand must also have been once applied to one who was a giant in size The phrases somehow got their name from the French word for a strawberry The odd looking scrimger means simply a scrimger or skirmisher Turnbull recalls one who turned the bull at a bull baiting The well-known Gladstains or Gladstone has nothing to do with glad but is from Gleed, an old word for the kite and commemorates some stone where these birds frequented The clue is from the killing of a buck in a clue or ravine The Christian names of the borderers are full of life and local colour and differ much from those of southern England Bartram is the northern form of Bertram Nigel of Neil Jelen of Julian Ringen of Ninian It was the general custom to abbreviate Christian names or use them in the diminutive form as is constantly the practice in these border ballads Hobby stands for Holbert, a fine old name which must not be confused with Albert Dandy or Dandrie is Andrew Echie is Hector Lamy is Lambert Lenny is Leonard Adam becomes in the familiar form Echie Christian becomes Christie Gilbert becomes Gibby Another peculiarity of the ballads is the regular recurrence of such phrases as The lads jock The lads wot Ringen's wot, etc. These expressions mean John the son of the lad Walter the son of the lad Walter the son of Ringen Or Ninian End of section 3 of Stories of the Scottish Border Recording by Zhu Section 4 of Stories of the Scottish Border This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt Chapter 1 Bambra and its Coast The little town of Bambra has two striking features The great castle upon its stern rock and the wild coastline at its feet where dash the storms of the North Sea Today it is not important enough to have a railway station of its own yet once it was the capital of the great Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria Its original name was Bebambra so called after Queen Beba Of its Saxon fortress hardly a trace remains The present building being partly the old Norman castle with repairs and additions of a later date The ancient pile has a strength dignity and grandeur which accords well a truly noble situation The North Saxons in choosing such a spot for their capital showed a very evident desire to keep in touch with the sea Over the sea they had come and over the sea would come both friends and enemies Many a meeting of both friend and foe has taken place at Bambra Perhaps the fiercest of the enemies was Ragnar of the hairy britches a famous Viking who plundered ravaged and burnt without mercy These Vikings, powerful men and fearless sea rovers were a standing terror to Northumbria Men with frames and muscles strong as iron at home both on the sea and on the battlefield Fair-haired blue-eyed men guarded by helmet breastplate and shield armed with heavy weapons because at that date the art of the smith was not equal to making them sharp, light and strong at once So these mighty warriors hewed their way through the field of battle with great strokes and when their foes fled in terror the Vikings took back to their ships all the treasure they could find and away they went across the sea again But with all their fierceness and their poetry wild war poetry most of it and they loved their strong, brave women Ragnar was a thorough Viking he loved fighting and his handsome wife and the battle-songs he made but the Saxons had no cause to love him and when his ship ran aground near Jarrow they bound him and cast him into a pit of snakes and watched him slowly die The Viking had no fear of death He sang as he lay there of his life and his deeds of the great banquets he had given to the wolves and the vultures and the fierce battles he had won spreading the terrors of his name from the Orkneys to the Mediterranean of his beautiful wife and strong sons and of how they would avenge him and of how Woden, the lord of all warriors was calling him to his hall Many a battle has been fought on that wild coast since Ragnar died much history has been made thereabouts and many legends have attached themselves to Bambra Like most famous places it had its own special dragon the ladely worm or loathsome serpent of the ancient ballad For seven miles east and seven miles west and seven miles north and south no blade of grass or corn would grow so venomous was her mouth And yet when the gallant knight gave her kisses three she changed at once into a beautiful lady But despite its castles its battles and its legends Bambra slowly declined in importance As the capital of Northumbria it had been one of the chief towns in England But the gallant Northumbria of the Saxons was more open to enemies than any other part of the country Cumbrians were on the west and Scots on the north and this was for all Saxon kingdoms the most exposed to the ravages of the Danes From the capital of a kingdom it became the capital of a county Bambrusher returning two members to Parliament in the reign of Edward I But it grew of less and still less importance till at last it was known only to the student of history It shared this fate with Lindisfarne called Holy Island once the Canterbury of the North on whose rocky shores still stand the ruins of the fine Norman Cathedral which took the place of the old Saxon one Lindisfarne and Bambra neighbours divided only by a narrow belt of sea two names that conjure up vivid pictures of romantic history Yet suddenly early in the 19th century the great deed of a splendid heroine lent new glory to the wild seagirt town Grace Darling was born at Bambra in 1817 in a cottage on the south side of the village street which can still be seen today Her father became keeper of the lighthouse on the Langstone a rocky islet five miles from the coast guarding ships from the dangerous Farn Islands a group of iron-bound rocks where seabirds dwell In the early morning of September, the 7th, 1838 during the raging of a most terrible storm she heard the crash of a ship dashed upon the rocks and anguished cries As soon as dawn enabled them to see the girl and her father made out the dark outline of the wreck and the miserable forms of the mariners crouching on rocks from which the rising tide would sweep them inevitably to death With superb heroism Grace and her father pushed their small boat into the furious waters and after strenuous and dauntless efforts always at the peril of their own lives they saved the whole ship's company nine souls in all So fierce was the storm that it was three days before a boat dared take them from the Langstone to the mainland The roar of approbation which greeted her from the whole country found her as modest as she was brave But for all her courage this noble girl was not strong She died four years later and lies buried at Pambra within sound of the sea and the Langstone is known today as Grace Darling's Island and the tomb of the brave girl rouses sweeter memories than the frowning fortress of Pambra End of Section 4 of Stories of the Scottish Border Chapter 1 Pambra and its Coast Section 5 of Stories of the Scottish Border This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt Chapter 2 Athelstan at Vinheth Famous among the old Norse sea rovers was Egil, son of Scalagrem In the course of his many voyages he visited all the lands between the White Sea and the Bay of Biscay and when at last he settled down in his Iceland home where he lived on till well past the age of eighty he loved to gather his children and grandchildren around him by the fireside during the long Icelandic winter and tell the story of his adventures He was a true Norseman fond of the sea and the fight fond of his wife and children fond of song at which he was highly skilled His songs and his stories of adventure were listened to with eagerness and they were repeated after him and were at last written down probably between one hundred and fifty and two hundred years after his death Books were scarce in those days and stories were treasured and faithfully retold So this story of Egil was probably written out very much in the simple vigorous style in which the old warrior would have told it to his grandchildren as they listened to him with wide open wondering eyes and as the old man had taken part in an early battle between Saxon English and Scots upon the border we have here a fine picture of how fights were fought in the reign of King Athelstan Egil was speaking to Icelandic children who knew little about England So he began by telling them how in the days when Harold Fairhair was king of Norway Alfred the Great was the first supreme king over all England When Alfred died he was succeeded by his son Edward who was followed by Athelstan the victorious In Egil's day Athelstan was young and had but just been made king and many chieftains who had kept quiet before now thought that the time had come when they could do as they pleased again But Athelstan meant to show them that he too could rule England strongly and wisely These were the days of brute force and the king had first to get an army together Besides his own English folk many roving Norsemen came to take his pay and among the number were Egil and his elder brother Thorolff with their men They saw the king himself who received them well Athelstan was a good Christian known as the faithful and he desired that Thorolff and Egil should submit to be marked with the cross that they might take their place by his Christian soldiers without quarrel This they agreed to and the king gave them command over 300 men Now Olof the Red was king in Scotland His father was a Scot but his mother was a Dane of the family of Ragnar with the hairy britches that savage old Viking Northumberland which in those days extended to the Humber and included York as its chief city was half full of Danes and King Olof wished to claim it for his own and added it to Scotland Athelstan had set Earl Afgear and Earl Goodreck to rule Northumberland and defend it from the Scots but Olof of Scotland came south with his mighty host There was a fierce battle Earl Goodreck was slain and Earl Afgear fled When Athelstan heard of the triumph of Olof he began at once to march northward with all the men he could get together But he was yet young and some of the treacherous earls hearing that Olof had so far been victor deserted King Athelstan Chief among these traitors were Earl Hring and Earl Adels who should have been in the very front of the English army but who basically went over to the Scots Thus Olof's host became exceeding great greater by far than the English army Then Athelstan called together his captains and his councillors Egill was there and heard all the grave talk as to what should be done At last a plan was made that all thought good and this is what followed First messengers were sent to King Olof saying that King Athelstan would meet him in fair fight at Vinheath by Vinwood in Northumberland where he would mark out the field of battle He who won the battle should be King over all England The armies should meet a week hence and whichever was first on the ground should wait a week for the other King Olof should bide quiet and not harry the land till the battle was ended North of the Heath was a town There King Olof stayed for there he could best get provisions for his army but some of his men he sent to the Heath to view it The hazel poles were already set up on the large level plain A river was on one side and a wood was on the other And where river and wood were nearest to one another there King Athelstan's tents were pitched Many tents there were but the front line of tents stood high so that the Scots could not see how many were behind Every third tent was empty but many men were sleeping on the grass in the open so that the Scots might think that the English had a large army there Every day more English troops came in and when the time was come that was fixed for the battle English envoys went to the King of the Scots asking if there need be the great fight and a bloodshed that threatened If Olof would go peaceably home Athelstan would give him a shilling of silver for every plough that ploughed in England The Scots took council together and said they must have more than this Then the messengers begged a three days truth to consider this On the third day they came again saying that King Athelstan would give what he offered before and also to the Scottish army a shilling for every free man soldier a silver mark for every lesser officer a gold mark for every captain and five gold marks for every Earl But the Scots asked not only for this but also for Northumberland to be yielded to them Then the English messengers answered that Scottish messengers must ride back with them to take the answer from Athelstan himself Now the truth is this that the Scottish king had taken Athelstan by such surprise that he needed time to get his men together All these messages were but a trick to gain time till the king should come up himself with all the men he could gather When therefore the messengers rode up to King Athelstan he had but just arrived on the scene of battle and when he heard the message he said Tell King Olof this that I will give him leave to return to Scotland safely if only he give back all he has unjustly taken from this land and if he own himself my under-king holding Scotland for me at my behest This proud answer made the Scottish messengers at once see what had been going on so they hastened back to their king to tell him how they had been received and what the meaning of it was When the Scots found that the English had thus outwitted them they took council together in some anger Earl Adels, he who had deserted the English said that he and his brother, Earl Hring would that very night make a surprise attack If it succeeded well and good if not then they could easily withdraw and the main battle could begin in the morning This the king of Scots held to be good advice so the two traitor earls and their men moved southward under cover of the darkness but Thorolff the Norseman was used to the ways of war and his sentries were alert and blew a great war-blast on their horns and thus the fight began Thorolff was armed with a massy hull-bird that stood taller than a man Broad was its blade and a thicket socket and it ended in a fore-edged spike He had a strong sword by his side and a big heavy shield on his left arm He had a helmet but no shirt of mail His brother Egil was armed in much the same way The Norseman's standard was born by Thorfid the Strong Next to the Norseman in the First Rangelso was the division led by Earl Alfgear he who had once before fled from the Scots King Athelstan gave him this chance to redeem himself Now in the first onslaught of the Scots took place Earl Adil's came against Earl Alfgear while Earl Hring came against the Norseman And now the battle began The two traitor earls urged on their men They charged with spirit The fight was fierce And soon Alfgear gave ground This made the foe press on the fiercer And before long Alfgear was in full flight He avoided the town where Athelstan was and fled night and day to the coast where he took ship out of the country he had served so ill Adil's did not dare to pursue him far of being himself cut off from his friends so he returned to help his brother Hring against the Norseman Thorolf, like a true general, saw the danger of this and at once told Agil to turn aside with half their force to prevent Adil's from joining his brother The Norseman fought a grand fight but were badly outnumbered and the battle seemed to be going against them Then Thorolf became furious Distainful of life, he cast his shield behind his back grasped his great hullbird with both hands and sprang forward hacking down all who opposed him Straight for Hring's standard he went nothing could stop him He slew the standard bearer cut through the standard pole and with a mighty stroke thrust his hullbird right through the body of Hring, the traitor earl and lifted him up in the air that all might see that he was slain Then Adil's and the rest of the men fled to the wood and thus ended the first part of the fight More was to come on the morrow At dawn, the next day King Athelstan came forward with his main army He had heard of the great deeds of the brothers Thorolf and Agil, most courteously he thanked them and said he would always reckon them as his friends Then, with his captains, he made his plans for the battle Agil he put in command of the front ranks of his men and Thorolf he set aside to face those of the Scots who might charge the English in loose array For this is the way of the Scots, he said They dash to and fro, rush forward and hither and thither and are dangerous except to a commander who is both wary and bold Agil said, I would rather that Thorolf and I were near together but Thorolf answered, as the king commands, so will we do The battle began and soon waged furiously Thorolf and his men pressed forward along the woodside hoping to take the enemy on the flank Now, unknown to him, Adels and his followers were hiding among the trees and of a sudden Adels sprang out and smoked him down Thorfid too, the brave standard bearer, was pressed back but rallied the men who fought desperately The Scots had raised a great shout at the fall of Thorolf and this was heard by Agil, who, when he saw the standard forced back feared that his brother was dead for Thorolf had never drawn back from any foe So with a fierce cry, Agil hacked his way through to that part of the field and when he learnt the truth from his men he never rested till he had slain Adels with his own hand The followers of Adels then fled and Agil and the Norsemen hewed their way through the flank of the Scottish force towards the place where King Olaf's standard was Noting this, King Athelstan, that wary general caused his own standard to be set forward and all his army to attack at once Fierce and furious was the fight and great was the slaughter King Olaf was slain with great numbers of his men and the rest fled in confusion The English victory was complete As soon as Athelstan saw that victory was his he left the pursuit to his captains and hastened to the town to make his arrangements Agil pursued far and fiercely and when at last he came back to the battlefield his first thought was for his dead brother Worn out though he was he would take no rest until he had buried the warrior with full honours with his arms and his raiment and before the sad farewell was said Agil clasped a gold bracelet on both of Thorol's wrists to show his deep love Then they buried the hero deep and put a high can of stones over him Then one last tribute Agil paid to his brother the greatest of them all Among these old Norse warriors there existed a great love of song The great fighters strove also to be great song-makers and Agil was famous above most for this power The Norsemen's poems had not rhymes like ours they had short vigorous lines and in each pair of lines three of the important words had to begin with the same letter while strong chants they were This is the song that Agil sang at the burial of his brother Thorolf Skalagrimson The hull-burg of the hero hewed down the foe before him Then in the brunt of battle was spilt brave Thorolf's blood The grass is green on Vinheth where sleeps my great-sold brother but death in doubled sorrow our doleful hearts must bear When Agil got to the town he found the king and his army making merry over their victory at a huge feast The courteous king saw Agil and bade him come and sit near to him The king watched the burly Norsemen who was tall with broad shoulders a powerful head and mighty strength but now his head was bent forward and he kept his sword across his knees and now and again half drew it and then clashed it back into its scabbard like a man who fights with heavy thoughts He ate little and drank less Then King Athelstan, watchful and courteous took a gold ring from his arm and placing it on his sword-point handed it thus to where Agil sat At this mark of honour the Norsemen's face grew brighter Then the king sent round his own horn for Agil to drink So he drank to the king and sang a verse of wild poetry in his praise on the spur of the moment and with this the king was much pleased Then the king sent also for two chests full of silver and said to Agil These chests carry to thy father It is fitting that King Athelstan make him some gift for the loss of his son and do thou stay with me long and I will give thee honour and dignity Thus the great king in kindness and courtesy did what he could to soothe the grief of the warrior and Agil stayed the winter with Athelstan but when the summer came he wished to go back to his own people but he had much respect for King Athelstan and ere he bade him farewell he made a long poem to his glory From the song of Agil Scala Grimson to the glory of King Athelstan See how the kingly warrior landwarder, battle-wakener smites even to the earth the earls who rise against him Glad is now Northumberland this the king she needed wise and bold of race and blood dauntless in the battlefield Many were the verses of this stirring song and after each came the refrain Scottish hills where reindeer roam own the rule of Athelstan The king gave Agil two heavy gold rings and a handsome cloak that he himself had worn then the Norsemen sailed away for always near to his heart was the welfare of his dead brother's wife and child Yea, for the rest of his long life he loved this child even as he loved his own End of Section 5 Stories of the Scottish Border Chapter 2 Athelstan at Vinheth Section 6 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 3 Monks and Minstrels The wild borderland was the scene of the labours of many of the first great Christian leaders Where the arts of war were so much practised it was needful that the arts of peace should flourish also Great was the influence, even in the wildest times of these able, serious, devoted leaders of early religious thought men like Ninian and Kentigan Christianity first came into Britain in Roman times and some of the Britons were converted After the Romans quitted the country King Arthur was the leader of the Christian Britons and he is said to have fought with the pagan Britons the pagan Picts, the pagan Saxons who had begun their invasions and the disorderly soldiers of various races probably pagans whom the Romans left behind along the wall In due time the fight developed into a struggle between Christian Britons and pagan Saxons and then the Saxons themselves began to accept the new religion Oswald, a Northumbrian prince had in a time of peril hidden in the island of Iona to where the great Irishman Columba had come from Ireland as a missionary When Oswald returned to power he summoned to his kingdom Aden a high-minded Christian teacher whom he made first bishop of Lindisfarne, Holy Island Aden, being a kelp had to do his work through interpreters but he did it well and laid the foundations of Christianity and learning in Northumbria Cuthbert was another famous missionary Rising from shepherd boy to bishop he impressed both king and peasant by the dignified simplicity and sincerity of his life His place of meditation was a sea-girt rock by Lindisfarne, lonely and picturesque and still called after his name A curious fossil with the mark of a cross is plentiful there and goes by the name of St Cuthbert's Beads Other famous teachers were Wilfred of York who founded the churches of Hexham and Rippon Boyzel who founded Melrose and Biscop who founded Gero but perhaps the most celebrated of all was Bede the venerable Bede who lived at Gero and wrote 45 learned books on all subjects including music, astronomy and medicine All the scholars in England flocked to hear his teachings and he was justly called the father of English learning He it was who first introduced into England the art of making glass His last work was to translate the Gospel of St John into Northumbrian English This was in the year 735 Being too ill to hold a pen he dictated to his favourite pupil Right quickly, he said for he felt that he was dying It is finished, answered the lad and the old man's heart was satisfied In a faint, brave voice he chanted the Gloria and so died singing In those days there was of course no such thing as printing Every manuscript was written and rewritten carefully by hand and treasured as a sacred possession in the seats of learning So proud were they of their manuscripts that they beautified them with illustrations in colour Many of these manuscripts have of course been destroyed For instance the Danes in 875 burnt the priceless library of Bishop Acker at Hexham destroying in one day the treasured collection of a lifetime But many remained to show the love of learning which existed even then Bishop Edfrid, who lived in the little rocky island of Lindisfarne made a copy of the Gospels which is looked upon with wonder even today Strings of beautiful birds and quaint animals are drawn upon his pages evangelists with mantles of purple and tunics of blue, pink or green With the writing clear and beautiful the decorations showing the greatest care and devotion this manuscript of 1200 years ago has been the delight of thousands and comes down to us to witness to the loving care of the scholars of old in the days before printing was known Great as was their love of beautiful manuscripts they had an equally noble passion for grand buildings A superb monument of simple dignity and religious grandeur is the Norman Cathedral at Durham commenced by Bishop Carileff in 1093 and finished by Bishop Flambard in 1128 Occupying a wonderful position at the top of a wooded hill around which flows the beautiful River Weir Durham Cathedral is in itself one of the noblest buildings in the world While the church in those troubleous times kept thus the storehouse of learning for serious scholars other methods kept the people informed of the more stirring events of their day In the old days when no newspapers existed to tell people the news when books were scarce and history was not taught to every lad as a part of his training the ballad writer and the wandering minstrel played a very important part Ballads, sometimes really fine pieces of poetry sometimes a mere halting troop of lame lines were made upon every occasion of local or general interest they were sung to simple and often beautiful tunes or chants the best of the minstrels were welcomed to the halls of the nobles and even to the king himself the poorest of them sang on the village green the ballads were learnt and repeated by the folk of the countryside some were in later times printed on loose sheets but at first they were handed on from mouth to mouth alterations and errors often crept in mistakes due to a sameness of sound for instance in the old ballad of Mary Ambry a soldier is referred to as Sir John Major probably meaning Sergeant Major in one of the versions of the battle of Chevy Chase Henry Percy was said to have been killed there whereas he really lived on to be slain at Shrewsbury but despite such occasional blunders the ballads on the whole throw a vivid light on the manners and customs of the old days as well as being usually stirring and sometimes strikingly noble and pathetic pieces of poetry they deal as a rule rather with the side currents than with the mainstream of history but they express themselves with such homely force and directness that they bring home to us with wonderful clearness the character of the vigorous manly men with whose doings they are chiefly concerned during the last 150 years many able men have laboured to collect old ballads writing them down from the mouths of the country folk and printing them in books with notes of explanation one of the earliest thus to collect ballads seriously was Bishop Percy the best known is Sir Walter Scott of whose interest in the subject Lockhart his biographer writes very pleasantly preface to many of the stirring tales in this present book aligns from the old border ballads from which they are taken it is to be hoped that readers will be tempted sooner or later to read the rest of these fine ballads for themselves end of section six of stories of the Scottish border section seven of stories of the Scottish border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter four Sir Patrick Spens the king sits in Dunfermline town drinking the blood red wine oh where shall I get a well-skilled skipper to sail this new ship of mine almost every collection of Scottish songs contains this picturesque old ballad which refers to a very remote time in Scottish history probably the end of the 13th century King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1285 he had the bitter grief of seeing all his children die before him his daughter Margaret had been married to Eric King of Norway and she left a daughter also called Margaret and known as the maid of Norway this maid was now heiress to the Scottish throne and it is natural to suppose that the lonely king should wish her to return to Scotland and should send a richly appointed ship to fetch her back and although there is no strictly historical record of such an expedition the truth of the ballad is made more probable by the fact that it opens in the final town of Dunfermline Dunfermline was a favourite residence of Alexander who was killed in its neighbourhood by a fall from his horse and was buried in the abbey there the ruins of which beautiful structure still remain in this ballad the king is feasting at Dunfermline town and calls for a skilful mariner to sail his new ship an old knight at the king's right hand answers that the best sailor who ever sailed the sea is Sir Patrick's Benz so the king writes the letter sealing it with his own hand and sends it to Sir Patrick commanding him to sail away to Norway over the white sea foam and bring home the maid now every good sailor dreaded the rough northern seas in winter so though the brave Sir Patrick laughed aloud when he began to read he wept blinding tears before he had ended who has done this deed? he cried who has told the king of me and urged him to send us out at this time of year to sail on the stormy sea yet wind, wet, hail or sleet we must set out, what is we who must fetch home the maid so they set sail on a Monday morning and reached Norway on a Wednesday history tells us that Eric of Norway was very unwilling to part with his daughter this probably accounts for the fact that the old ballad tells us that the Scotsman had only been there a fortnight when the lords of Norway began to say that Sir Patrick and his men were spending the gold of their king and queen ye lie! cried Sir Patrick loudly I hear ye lie for I brought with me over the sea enough red gold and white money to supply the wants of my men make ready make ready my merry men we will sail at daybreak alak quoth the men a deadly storm is brewing yesterday evening the new moon was seen carrying the old moon in her arms we shall certainly come to harm if we go to sea barely had they sailed three leagues when the sky darkened the wind blew loudly and the sea grew boisterous soon they were in the midst of a terrible storm the anger of the sea was far more dreadful than the anger of the lords of Norway the anchors broke away the top masts snapped and the waves came over the broken ship tearing her sides asunder oh where shall I get a good sailor to take the helm while I climb the tall top mast to see if I can aspire land that I fear ye never will cried a sailor as he took the helm and scarcely had Sir Patrick gone a step when a plank started in the ship's side and the water came pouring in fetch a web of silken cloth and fetch a web of twine cried Sir Patrick and cast them down to our ship's side for it was the custom in those days when a leak could not be reached from inside the vessel to cast down some closely woven stuff in the hope that the suction of the water would drag it across the leak and stop thus the fatal inrush of water alas all their efforts failed then the ballad writer says somewhat grimly of the dandies among the Scottish lords that whereas at first they grumble to see the water spoil their fine cork-heeled shoes when the storm had done its fatal work the sea was above their hats and many was the feather-bed that fluttered on the foam and many was the good Lord's son that Nevermare came home the ladies rang their fingers white the maidens tore their hair all for the sake of their true loves for them they'll see Nevermare O lang-lang may the ladies sit with their fans into their hand before they see Sir Patrick Spence come sailing to the strand and lang-lang may the maidens sit with their good combs in their hair or waiting for their own dear loves for them they'll see Nevermare O forty miles off Aberdeen to his fifty fathoms deep and there lies good Sir Patrick Spence with the Scots lords at his feet End of Section 7 Section 8 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr. Mrs. William Platt This LibriVox recording is in the public domain The story of Old Maitland is said to be taken from a very old ballad and known chiefly to the people who lived in the neighbourhood of Ettrick Forest The old folks there would while away the long winter evenings by singing of the deeds of their ancestors and the ballad of Old Maitland as thus jaunted is written down by the mother of James Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd The castle of Thelstain stood on the river Leda and still in its restored form deserves its name of the Darksome House It may have often withstood the English during the Balliol Wars and hatred of the English and of Edward I is expressed with extreme virulence throughout the poem Here is the story There lived in the South Country a king named Edward who wore the crown unworthily for fifty years This king had a nephew strong in blood and bone who bore the same hateful name One day the young man came before the king and kneeling low he said A boon, a boon, I crave of thee, my good uncle oft have I wished to take part in our long wars in fair Scotland Grant me fifteen hundred chosen strong men to ride there with me Certainly Varshalt have them and more and I myself though old and grey will see thy host arrayed for battle King Edward sent hither and thither and assembled fifteen hundred men on Tyneside and three times as many at North Berwick all bound for battle burning the mers and teviet dale and up and down the Lamomore Hills till they came to the darksome house called by some Leedertown Who holds this house? cried young Edward or who gives it over to me He was answered as proudly by a grey-haired knight I hold my house of Scotland's king who pays me in meat and fee and I will hold it as long as it will stand together thereupon the English brought up their sows to the wall with many a heavy sound but the soldiers on the wall cussed down blazing pitch and tar barrels to consume the formidable machine they also threw down stones and beams and darts from their spring-golds and slew many of the English 15 days they besieged the castle of Old Mateland but left him at the end of that time unhurt within his stone stronghold they loaded 15 ships with as much spoil as they could carry away from the district around and claimed that now they had conquered Scotland with Buckler, Bow and Brand so they sailed away to France to meet the old King Edward who was burning every inch of the land and the King Edward who was burning every castle, tower and town that he met with they came at last to the town of Billopgrace where Old Mateland's three sons were at school Edward had quartered the arms of Scotland with his own Sears Thou would I see said the eldest son to the youngest if that be true that Yonder's standard says then we are all three fatherless conquered up and down never will we bow to the conqueror let us go my two brothers and try our chance in an adventure there upon they saddled two black horses under grey and rode before day dawn to King Edward's army arrived there they hovered round and Mateland begged to be allowed to carry the King's standard where was Thou born and bred and in what country demanded the knight who bore the banner I was born in the north of England answered Mateland my father was a knight and my mother a lady and I myself am a squire of high renown and may well carry the banner of a King never had the son of an Englishman such an eye or brow answered the knight what more like old Mateland than any man I have ever seen yet God grant that such a gloomy brow I never see again he slew and wounded many of our men at the mention of his father's name Mateland's anger burst out and lifting up a gilded dagger that hung low by his knee he struck fiercely at the standard bearer and catching hold of the corner at the standard rode swiftly away with it crying to his brothers is it not time to flee I by my sooth they both shouted we will bear you company so they rode off at hot speed the pursuers following the youngest Mateland turning round in the path drew his brand and killed fifteen of the foremost and the rest fell back into the sides of his faithful grey until both the sides ran blood thou must carry me away or my life lies in pledge he cried about daybreak the brothers arrived at their uncle's castle who seeing the three Scottish lads with pursuers riding hard at their heels ordered the portcullis to be drawn up and the drawbridge let down for that they should lodge with him that night of all England when the three came inside the gate they leapt down from their horses and taking three long spears in their hands they fought till it was full daylight killing and wounding many of the Englishmen round the drawbridge some of the dead were carted away in wagons and stones were heaped upon the rest as they lay in the gutter King Edward proclaimed at his pavilion door three lads of France disguised and with false words had come and stolen away the standard and had slain his men in their lawful attempt to regain it it ill befits a crowned king to lie said the youngest mateland and he shall be reproved for it before I taste meat or drink straightway he went before King Edward and kneeling low begged leave to speak a word with him man thou shalt have leave to speak even though thou should speak all day answered the king he said spoke the youngest mateland that three young lads of France had stolen away the standard with a false tale and slain many men we are not lads of France and never have pretended to be we are three lads of fair Scotland and the sons of old mateland nor are there men in all your host dare fighters three to three now by my sooth said the young Edward who stood by ye shall be well fitted for Percy shall fight with the eldest and Egbert Lunn with thee and William of Lancaster with the other and the surviving brother shall fight with me remember Percy how oft the scot has cowered before thee I will give thee a rig of land for every drop of mateland blood so they set to and the eldest mateland clanked Percy over the head and wounded him so deeply that the best blood of his body ran down his hair I have slain one shouted mateland to his brothers slay ye the other two and that will be good company and if the two shall slay ye both ye shall get no help from me but Egbert Lunn was like a baited bear and had seen many battles and when mateland saw that his youngest brother was having the worst of it he could not restrain himself longer and shouting I am no king my word shall not stand he struck Egbert over the head and slew him now I have slain two slay ye one for good company cried neither shall you get any help from me even if the one shall slay ye both so the two brothers slew the third and hung him over the drawbridge for all the hosts to see then they rode and ran but still got not away but hovered round boasting we be three lads of fair Scotland that feign would see some fighting when young Egbert heard this he cried rothfully I'll take ye on lad and bind him and bring him bound to thee now God forbid that ever thou shouldst try that said the king we have lost three worthy leaders wouldst thou be the fourth never again would I be happy if thou were to hang on yonder drawbridge but Egbert struck fiercely at Maitland cleaving his stout helmet and biting right near his brain when Maitland saw his own blood flowing he threw away his weapon and springing angrily at young Egbert's throat he swung him thrice about and flung him on the ground holding him there though he was of great strength now let him come up cried king Egbert let him come to me and for thy deed three earldoms nay replied Maitland never shall it be said in France or in Scotland that Edward once lay under me and got up again and with that he pierced him through the heart and hung him over the drawbridge with the other three now take from me my bed of feathers said the king make me a bed of straw would that I had not lived to see the day that makes my heart so sad end of section eight section nine of stories of the Scottish border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt this Librivox recording is in the public domain chapter six the mystery of the earldoms before their eyes the wizard lay as if he had not been dead a day his hoary beard and silver rolled he seemed some seventy winters old high and majestic was his look at which the fellest friends had shook as all unruffled was his face they trusted his soul had gotten grace Scott lay of the last minstrel just above Melrose the ruined abbey of which is one of the beauties of Scotland their risers a striking mass of three hills known as the triple eildons they rise very high above the surrounding land and are steep enough to need a very hard scramble to mount to the very summit but once at the top the view is wonderful indeed on a fine day tweed can be seen winding in and out most picturesquely till it loses itself in the low distant haze of the North Sea thirty miles away but even grander is the view of the entire line of the Cheviots like a huge wall fifty miles long seen to immense advantage from eildon which towers over the rich valleys of tweed and teviot that lie between one of the legends of the triple eildons is that King Arthur lies sleeping beneath them some day to awaken tradition says that he fought a great battle near here by gala water in the veil of woe however that may be it is certain that at the foot of eildon lie many famous dead in Melrose abbey lies the heart of Robert Bruce and also the body of the strong king Alexander II he who first subdued and made obedient the wild tribes of Argyle here too is buried the brave Douglas who died so gallantly on the field of Otterburn and also of another brave Douglas who got his death wound at Poitiers Sir Walter Scott who did more than any other man to spread the world the knowledge of Scotland Scottish history Scottish romance and Scottish character lies buried on the southern side of Eildon in the rival abbey of Dribara but Melrose can claim a man who in his day was an object of the deepest wonder and terror Michael Scott the famous wizard of the 13th century he who brought the learning of Aristotle to expound to Western Europe he whom Dante described as learned in every deep spell of the magic arts perhaps he was only a scientist born before his time yet even today old folk in the country remember that it was he who is said to have cleft the head of Eildon Hill into three one of the many strange tales told of Michael Scott is this they say that the lord of Morpeth in Northumberland promised the great wizard a rich reward if he would only make the sea roll up the valley of the pretty River Wandsbeck till it reached Morpeth so that vessels could sail up to the town miles and the wizard declaring the matter a most simple one prepared his magic spell he then said that if a certain man would run from the sea to the town and on no account look back whatever he heard the desire of the lord would be satisfied the man no sooner started to run than he heard the waters following him but faster he went and faster and faster came the ocean dashing and roaring never overtaking him but always so near his heels as to fill him with ever greater and greater terror before he had finished the third mile he was in such a state of alarm that he could not resist the impulse to see what was happening he turned round and the spell was broken the waters had followed him thus far but would come no further even the best of wizards will fail when his instructions are not obeyed so says the story people are free to believe it or not as they please it is certain that the sea runs nearly three miles up the Wandsbeck valley and there stops but many people think that that is explained by the natural land the story of how Michael Scott came to divide the yield and hill into three runs as follows the wizard had one very active little demon who was always bothering his master to give him something to do first Michael commanded him to put a barrier across the tweed at Kelso thinking to keep him quiet for at least a week it was done in a single night and again the demon demanded work then Michael set him to divide yield and into three this also was done in a night and again the demon came clamouring for employment so in despair the wizard ordered him to make ropes out of sea sand this of course is impossible as the sand will not hold together but if you go down to the shore on the southeast of Scotland on a dark and stormy night you can still hear what sounds like the demon moaning and groaning over his impossible task and there is certainly a barrier across the tweed at Kelso and the yield and hill is certainly divided into three so you may believe as much as you please of this story another tale that is told of the magic powers of this famous man but he was once chosen to go as ambassador from the king of Scotland to the king of France on urgent business instead of going as is usual in such cases with a number of followers he conjured up a demon shaped like a huge black horse and rode away over the sea when half way across the north sea the horse said to his rider what do the old women of Scotland say at bedtime had the magician fallen into the trap and named a prayer the demon would have disappeared and the wizard would have drowned but Michael Scott merely commanded his horse to go on quickly and not to talk very soon he came to Paris tied his horse to the gate of the French king's palace and boldly entered and stated his business the French king sneered at an ambassador who was not followed by train of knights and began at once to refuse all he asked wait a moment your majesty said Michael till you have seen my horse stamp three times at the first stamp the ground so shook that every steeple in Paris rocked making all the bells ring loudly at the second stamp the king heard behind him a loud crash that made him leap three feet in the air looking round he saw that three of the towers of his palace had fallen the horse raised his foot to stamp a third time but the king was so terrified that he shouted hastily that he would grant all that Michael asked him if only he would keep his horse from stamping whether this tale is true or not Michael Scott was certainly one of the ambassadors sent to bring back the maid of Norway to Scotland on the death of King Alexander the Third he wrote many learned books and possessed many others and they say that when he was buried at Melrose many of these same magic books were buried with him to this romantic district of the Ealdons belonged true Thomas the Rimer or Thomas of Ursul Dune as he was variously called who was held in awe by border folks as a prophet the ruins of his tower are still shown by the pretty river Lida just about two miles above the spot where it joins the tweed the Rimer seems to have died a few years before 1300 but despite the passing of six centuries Michael remembered the story of how he gained his prophetic powers is quite worth hearing whether we believe it or not the tale goes that Thomas was on Huntley Bank near the Ealdon Hills when he saw a wonderful lady approaching him she was dressed in grass green silk with a mantle of fine velvet and the noble horse on which she rode pulled the bells in its mane Thomas was so surprised at this remarkable sight that when the lady came near he dropped on his knee and pulled off his cap and cried out reverently that she must be the queen of heaven but she answered that she was the queen of fair Elfland and dared him with a witching glance to kiss her lips the bold and gallant Thomas did not need a second invitation and promptly kissed the fairy when she seized upon him and fled away with him swifter than the wind soon all living land was left behind and they came to a wild place where three roads met one was a narrow path beset with thorns and briars and this the fairy said was the road of righteousness which very few people ever trouble to find another was a broad and attractive road which was the way of sinners while the third a pretty winding road led to Elfland and thither they went together soon there was neither sun nor moon to lighten the way and Thomas and his companion waded through rivers above the knee the sea moaned and roared in the dread darkness and Thomas somehow found that they had waded off through streams of red blood blood that had been shed on earth then they came to a beautiful garden and the Elfland queen gave Thomas an apple to eat saying take this for thy wages true Thomas it will give thee the tongue that can never lie poor Thomas turned pale at the thought of such a gift let my tongue be my own he pleaded how shall I buy or sell in any market flatter a prince or compliment a lady if you give me such a tongue but the Elfland queen would take no denial and Thomas had to do her behest wherefore for the rest of his life Thomas carried with him this gift of truthfulness end of section 9 section 10 of stories of the Scottish border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt this Libravox recording is in the public domain chapter 7 black agnus of Dunbar the fortress of Dunbar was always a very important one to the Scots it commanded the coast road from England across the border to Edinburgh not only one of the best routes in itself but one which had the additional advantage to the English that by following it they could keep in touch with their ships so it is not surprising that many stirring events in history took place at this historic town King Edward I of England won a very important victory at Dunbar during his first invasion of Scotland and to the place which had witnessed the triumph of the father his son Edward II fled for safety after his defeat at Bannockburn taking ship then spack to England in the time of Mary Queen of Scots the fortress was held by Earl Bothwell from here he consented to the surrender of poor Mary and here he rested in safety before his final flight to Scandinavia Oliver Cromwell fought and won at Dunbar his desperate battle with the Scottish Presbyterians the fate of which for some time hung in the balance Cromwell considered the place so valuable the new harbour works made there and a portion of his work forming part of the east pier of the present much larger harbour is still to be seen the last time that Dunbar resounded to the march of an army bent on immediate fight was in 1745 when the boastful English general Sir John Cope landed here to engage the Highland followers of Prince Charles Edward and Prince Cope Prince Charlie was at Edinburgh and Dunbar Castle commanded the road into England Cope asserted that the Highlanders would run away at the mere sight of his army he marched westward but was surprised in the early morning by his enemies when near Preston Pans in less than ten minutes it was the unprepared English who were flying in disorder utterly routed the foregoing is but a brief outline of the stormy history of those grey and ruined battlements overlooking the bleak North Sea at the southernmost point of entrance to the noble Firth of Forth the mention of these stirring incidents however will serve to show what a very important place Dunbar was and that it was necessary to Scottish safety that a strong hand should have charge of its fortress we are now to see how at one of the most critical hours a woman was to hold command and to hold it worthily early in the reign of King Edward III of England Scottish affairs were in some confusion King Robert Bruce had lately died leaving a son King David II then only five years old that great leader and friend of Bruce Randolph Earl of Moray was appointed guardian of Scotland but he too soon died Edward III anxious to interfere in Scottish affairs agreed to help Edward Baliel to make himself king of the Scots so an English army was again in Scotland and one of the places they were keenest to take was the fortress of Dunbar the castle was a very strong one it was built on a chain of great rocks that stretched out to sea and could only be reached from land by one road which was of course strictly guarded the lord of the castle was the Earl of March the word March in those days meant a borderland but he was away with the Scottish army and his wife was in charge of the castle she was the daughter of that brave Earl of Moray guardian of Scotland who has just been mentioned the English army was led by an experienced general the Earl of Salisbury and he probably thought that he would not have much trouble in overcoming black agnes as the dark haired Countess was called he soon discovered that she was of heroic mould however for though he himself led the storming parties she on her side urging on her men in person hurled back his every attack the lady agnes was quite fearless and treated the siege as if it were a pastime to be enjoyed when the English with machines made for the purpose hurled heavy stones against the walls black agnes would call one of her maidens with a napkin to wipe off the dust that they made the biggest of all the English war machines was called a sow and when it was brought to the walls the Countess cried out in rough jest that it was surrounded by little pigs at the same moment a mass of rock which she had caused to be loosened was hurled by her men onto the English crushing their sow and many soldiers with it at last there seemed a chance for the English near midnight a scott came into their camp saying that he was ready to betray the castle for reward the Earl of Salisbury and some chosen knights rode carefully forward and found the gate open and the portcullis raised as the man had promised but for all that they doubted if black agnes could so far relax her vigilance wherefore instead of the Earl entering first her retainer his caution was soon justified for no sooner had this man passed the gate than the portcullis fell it was a trick to capture the Earl but the Scots were disappointed this time the gallant English lord was loud in admiration of the brave Scottish lady who was thus defying him once when examining the defences with a lieutenant Arrows struck his companion dead the Countess's love Arrows pierced to the heart said Salisbury on his return to the camp despite the courtly banner in which the well-bred baron referred to the lady however he did not relax his efforts to overcome her Salisbury's land forces had now surrounded the castle on the land side while his ships at sea completed the blockade the garrison was threatened with starvation greater and greater became the privations of the heroic defenders the Countess no less brave than ever hoped on though ground for hope grew less and less she could not bring herself to think of defeat and her brave bright face still gave courage and inspiration to all meantime the story of the struggle and difficulties of the defenders was raising up helpers and Sir Alexander Ramsey of Dalhousie got ready a light vessel filled with provisions and manned by forty brave Scots who only waited for a dark night to make the attempt to steal past the English fleet they lay hidden by the Bass Rock a lofty islet at the mouth of the Firth of Forth some seven or eight miles from Dunbar until one starless night they stole very cautiously down the wild coastline of Haddingtonshire sometimes all but bumping into an English vessel in the dark fortune favours the brave and despite dangers and difficulties they got safely at last to the castle whose distant light had been their guide be sure Black Agnes welcomed them this proved to be the turning point of the long siege with fresh hope the garrison made a sudden sally on the English driving back their advance guard and after five months of fierce but fruitless attempts Salisbury was compelled to withdraw his forces and admit defeat nevertheless the English were gallant enough to sing their praises of this Scottish heroine with songs in her honour in one of which Salisbury is made to say came I early came I late I found Black Agnes at the gate End of Section 10 Section 11 of Stories of the Scottish Border by Mr. and Mrs. William Platt this Librivox recording is in the public domain Chapter 8 The Young Tamlain he's tamed her by the milk-white hand among the leaves so green this tale belongs to the romantic side of the border minstrelsy and illustrates some of the common superstitions of olden times concerning elves and fairies the scene is laid in the Selkirk or Ettrick forest a mountainous track covered with the remains of the Caledonian forest about a mile above Selkirk is a plain called Carterhof and here may still be seen those fairy rings of which it was believed that anyone sleeping upon one will wake in a fairy city and here was and perhaps still is an ancient well the ballad opens by telling how all young maids were forbidden to come or go by way of Carterhof the Young Tamlain or Tommelin is there and everyone going by Carterhof is obliged to leave him something in pledge but the Lady Janet the fairest of the Selkirk classes was obstinate and declared that she would come or go to Carterhof as she pleased and ask no leave of him since the land there belonged to her by hereditary right and filtered her green mantle above her knee and braided her yellow hair above her brow and off she went to Carterhof when she got to the well she found the steed of the elfin night Tamlain standing there but he himself was away she had ne' pulled a red red rose a rose but barely three till up and starts a wee wee man at Lady Janet's knee says why poor ye the rose Janet that gars makes ye break the tree or why come ye to Carterhof without and leave of me says Carterhof it is my name my daddy gave it me I'll come and gang to Carterhof and ask no leave of thee but Tamlain took her by the hand and worked upon her his spells which no maiden might resist however proud she might be when she came back to her father's hall she looked pale and won and it seemed that she had some sore sickness she ceased to take any pleasure in combing her yellow hair and everything she ate seemed like to be her death when her ladies played at ball she, once the strongest player was now the faintest one day her father spoke out and said he full well I know that you must have some lover she said if my love were an earthly night as he's an elf in grey I wouldn't give my own true love for no lord that she hay then she prinked herself and preened herself all by the light of the moon alone and went away to Carterhof to speak with Tamlain she said when she got to the well she found the steed standing but Tamlain was away she had barely pulled a double rose when upstarted the elf why pull ye the rose, Janet says he why pull ye the rose within this garden green the truth he'll tell me Tamlain were ye ever in holy chapel or received into the Christian church the truth he'll tell me Tamlain the truth he'll tell me Tamlain received into the Christian church the truth I'll tell thee Janet a night was my father and a lady was my mother like your own parents Randolph Earl Moray was my sire Dunbar Earl March is thine we loved when we were children which yet you may remember when I was a boy just turned nine my uncle sent for me to hunt and walk and ride with him and keep him company there came a wind out of the north a deep sleep came over me and I fell from my horse the queen of the fairies took me off to yon green hill and now I'm a fairy lithe and limba in fairyland we know neither sickness nor pain we quit our body or repair unto them when we please we can inhabit earth or air as we will our shapes and size we can convert to either large or small we sleep in rose buds revel in the stream wanton lightly on the wind or glide on a sunbeam I would never tire Janet to live in Elfland were it not that every seven years a tithe is paid to hell and I am so fair of flesh I fear it will be myself if you dare to win your true love you have no time to lose tonight is halloween and the fairy folk ride if you would win your true love bide at miles cross miles cross is about half a mile from cart half and Janet asked how she should know tamlain among so many unearthly knights the first company that passes by let them go the next company that passes by let them go the third company that passes by I'll be one of those first let pass the black steed Janet then let pass the brown but grip the milk white steed and pull down the rider for I ride on the milk white steed and I nearest the town because I was a christened knight they gave me that renown tamlain went on to explain that his fairy comrades would make every effort to disgust her with her captive they would turn him in her very arms into an adder they would change him into a burning faggot into a red hot iron goat but she must hold him fast in order to remove the enchantment she must dip him in a churn of milk and then in a barrel of water she must still persevere for they would shape him and her arms into a badger eel, dove, swan and last of all into a naked man but cast your green mantle over me I'll be myself again so fair Janet in her green mantle went that gloomy night to Miles Cross the heavens were black the place was inexpressibly dreary a north wind raged but there she stood eagerly wishing to embrace her lover between the hours of twelve and one she heard strange eldrick sounds under the ringing of elfin bridles which gladdened her heart the otten pipes of the fairies grew shrill the hemlock blew clear the fairies cannot bear solemn sounds or sober thoughts they sing like skylarks inspired by love and joy fair Janet stood upon the dreary heath and the sounds waxed louder as the fairy train came riding on will of the wisp shone out as a twinkling light before them and soon she saw the fairy bands passing she let the black steed go by and then the brown but she gripped fast the milk white steed and pulled down the rider then up rose an eldrick cry he's one among us all as Janet grasped him in her arms the fairies changed him into a newt an adder and many other fantastic and terrifying shapes she held him fast in every shape they turned him at last into a naked man in her arms but she wrapped him in her green mantle at last her steadfast courage was rewarded she redeemed the fairies captive and by so doing won his true love then up spoke the queen of fairies she that has borrowed young tamlain has got a stately groom she's taken the bonniest night in all my company but had I known tamlain said the fairy queen had I known that a lady would I would have taken out thy two grey eyes and put in wooden eyes I would have taken out thy heart of flesh tamlain and put in a heart of stone I would have paid my tithe seven times to hell ere I would have let her win you away End of section 11