the grey stone, and
invited the king in.

The refrain is a startling instance of phonetic tradition, the words
being repeated by rote long after the sense has been forgotten. It
appears that the two lines are Unst pronunciation of Danish, and that
they mean, respectively, 'Early green's the wood,' and 'Where the hart
goes yearly.'

In this connection, compare Arthur Edmondston's _A View of the Ancient
and Present State of the Zetland Islands_ (1809), vol. i. p. 142: 'The
island of Unst was its [pure Norse] last abode; and not more than thirty
years ago several individuals there could speak it fluently.' See also
Rev. Dr. Barry's _History of the Orkney Islands_ (1805), Appendix
No. X., pp. 484-490, a ballad of thirty-five quatrains in Norse as
spoken in the Orkneys, the subject of which is a contest between a King
of Norway and an Earl of Orkney, who had married the King's daughter, in
her father's absence, and without his consent.

+The Story.+--Doubtless few will recognise in this fragment an offshoot
of the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad, however,
cannot be said to be derived directly from the classical tale: rather it
represents the _debris_ of the mediaeval romance of _Orfeo and Heurodis_,
where the kingdom of Faery (see 4.1) replaces Hades, and the tale is
given a happy ending by the recovery of Eurydice (for whom the Lady
Isabel is here the substitute). The romance exists as _Orfeo and
Heurodis_ in the Auchinleck MS., of the fourteenth century, in the
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; as _Kyng Orfew_ in Ashmole MS. 61, of the
fifteenth century; and as _Sir Orpheo_ in Harleian MS. 3810.

KING ORFEO

1.
Der lived a king inta da aste,
_Scowan uerla gruen_
Der lived a lady in da wast.
_Whar giorten han gruen oarlac_

2.
Dis king he has a huntin' gaen,
He's left his Lady Isabel alane.

3.
'Oh I wis ye'd never gaen away,
For at your hame is doel an' wae.

4.
'For da king o' Ferrie we his daert,
Has pierced your lady to da hert.'

*** *** ***

5.
And aifter dem da king has gaen,
But whan he cam it was a grey stane.

6.
Dan he took oot his pipes ta play,
Bit sair his hert wi' doel an' wae.

7.
And first he played da notes o' noy,
An' dan he played da notes o' joy.

8.
An' dan he played da goed gabber reel,
Dat meicht ha' made a sick hert hale.

*** *** ***

9.
'Noo come ye in inta wir ha