foul fiend is revealed. They are bound on a
drearier voyage than that of True Thomas--to a Hades of ice and
isolation that bespeaks the northern origin of the tale:

'"O whaten a mountain 's yon," she said,
"So dreary wi' frost and snow?"
"O yon 's the mountain of hell," he cried,
"Where you and I must go."

He strack the tapmast wi' his hand,
The foremast wi' his knee;
And he brake the gallant ship in twain
And sank her in the sea.'

Other spells and charms not a few, for the winning of love and the
slaking of revenge, are known to the old balladists. We hear of the
compelling or sundering power of the bright red gold and the cold steel.
Lovers at parting exchange rings, as in _Hynd Horn_, gifted with the
property of revealing death or faithlessness:

'When your ring turns pale and wan,
Then I 'm in love wi' another man.'

Or, as in _Rose the Red and Lily Flower_, it is a magic horn, to be
blown when in danger, and whose notes can be heard at any distance.
These are examples of the 'Life Token' and the 'Faith Token,' known to
the folklore of nearly all peoples who have preserved fragments of their
primitive beliefs. The prophetic power of dreams is revealed in _The
Drowned Lovers_, in _Child Rowland_, in _Annie of Lochryan_, and in a
host of others. The spells used by witchcraft to arrest birth do not
differ greatly in _Willie's Lady_--the 'nine witch-knots,' the 'bush of
woodbine,' the 'kaims o' care,' and the 'master goat'--from those
mentioned in its prototypes in Scandinavian, Greek, and Eastern ballads
and stories; and in more than one it is the sage counsels of 'Billy
Blin''--the Brownie--that give the cue by which the evil charm is
unwound. The Brownie--the Lubber Fiend--owns a department of legend and
ballad scarcely less important than that possessed by his relatives, the
Elfin folk and the Trolds; a shy and clumsy monster, but harmless and
good-natured, and with a turn for hard manual labour that can be turned
to useful account. Good and ill fortune, in the ballads, comes often by
lot:

'We were sisters, sisters seven,
Bowing down, bowing down;
The fairest maidens under heaven;
And aye the birks a' bowing.

And we keest kevils us amang,
Bowing down, bowing down;
To see who would to greenwood gang,
And aye the birks a' bowing.'

The birk held a high place in the secret rites and customs of the Ballad
Age. It