farer hae I gane,
But buttons upon blankets
I saw never nane.'

21.
Ben went our goodman,
And ben went he,
And there he spy'd a sturdy man,
Where nae man shoud be.

22.
'What's this now, goodwife?
What's this I see?
How came this man here,
Without the leave o' me?'
'A man?' quo' she.
'Ay, a man,' quo' he.

23.
'Poor blind body,
And blinder mat ye be!
It's a new milking-maid,
My mither sent to me.'
'A maid?' quo' he.
'Ay, a maid,' quo' she.

24.
'Far hae I ridden,
And farer hae I gane,
But lang-bearded maidens
I saw never nane.'

[Annotations:
3.2: 'mat,' may.
3.3: 'broad,' brood: _i.e._ a sow that has a litter.
3.4: 'minnie,' mother.
11.3: 'porridge-spurtle,' stick for stirring porridge.
15.3: 'clocken-hen,' sitting hen.
21.1: 'Ben,' indoors, or into the inner room.]

THE FRIAR IN THE WELL

+The Text+ is taken from Buchan's MSS., the Scots version being rather
more condensed than the corresponding English broadside. There is a
reference to this ballad in Munday's _Downfall of Robert, Earl of
Huntington_ (1598); but earlier still, Skelton hints at it in _Colyn
Cloute_.

+The Story+ can be paralleled in French, Danish, and Persian ballads and
tales, but is simple enough to have been invented by almost any people.
Compare also the story of _The Wright's Chaste Wife_ by Adam of Cobsam,
E.E.T.S., 1865, ed. F. J. Furnivall.

THE FRIAR IN THE WELL

1.
O hearken and hear, and I will you tell
_Sing, Faldidae, faldidadi_
Of a friar that loved a fair maiden well.
_Sing, Faldi dadi di di_ (_bis_)

2.
The friar he came to this maiden's bedside,
And asking for her maidenhead.

3.
'O I would grant you your desire,
If 't werena for fear o' hell's burning fire.'

4.
'O' hell's burning fire ye need have no doubt;
Altho' you were in, I could whistle you out.'

5.
'O if I grant to you this thing,
Some money you unto me must bring.'

6.
He brought her the money, and did it down tell;
She had a white cloth spread over the well.

7.
Then the fair maid cried out that her master was come;
'O,' said the friar,' then where shall I run?'

8.
'O ye will go in behind yon screen,
And then by my master ye winna be seen.'

9.
Then in behind the screen she him sent,
But he fell into the well by