rs, and then restored him to this world lest he should be chosen
for the tribute paid to hell. So much is told in the first fytte, which
corresponds roughly to our ballad. The rest of the poem consists of
prophecies taught to him by the Queen.

The poem contains references to a still earlier story, which probably
narrated only the episode of Thomas's adventure in Elfland, and to which
the prophecies of Thomas Rymour of Ercildoun were added at a later date.
The story of Thomas and the Queen of Elfland is only another version of
a legend of Ogier le Danois and Morgan the Fay.

Our ballad is almost certainly derived directly from the poem, and the
version here given is not marred by the repugnant ending of Scott's
ballad, where Thomas objects to the gift of a tongue that can never lie.
But Scott's version retains Huntlie bank and the Eildon tree, both
mentioned in the old poem, and both exactly located during last century
at the foot of the Eildon Hills, above Melrose (see an interesting
account in Murray, _op. cit._, Introduction, pp. l-lii and footnotes).

THOMAS RYMER

1.
True Thomas lay o'er yond grassy bank,
And he beheld a ladie gay,
A ladie that was brisk and bold,
Come riding o'er the fernie brae.

2.
Her skirt was of the grass-green silk,
Her mantel of the velvet fine,
At ilka tett of her horse's mane
Hung fifty silver bells and nine.

3.
True Thomas he took off his hat,
And bowed him low down till his knee:
'All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven!
For your peer on earth I never did see.'

4.
'O no, O no, True Thomas,' she says,
'That name does not belong to me;
I am but the queen of fair Elfland,
And I'm come here for to visit thee.

5.
'But ye maun go wi' me now, Thomas,
True Thomas, ye maun go wi' me,
For ye maun serve me seven years,
Thro' weel or wae, as may chance to be.'

6.
She turned about her milk-white steed,
And took True Thomas up behind,
And aye whene'er her bridle rang,
The steed flew swifter than the wind.

7.
For forty days and forty nights
He wade thro' red blude to the knee,
And he saw neither sun nor moon,
But heard the roaring of the sea.

8.
O they rade on, and further on,
Until they came to a garden green:
'Light down, light down, ye ladie free,
Some of that fruit let me pull to thee.'

9.
'O no, O no, True Thomas,' she says,
'That fruit m