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From Jamieson's Popular Ballads, i. 59.

The ballad of the Twa Brothers, like many of the domestic tragedies with which it is grouped in this volume, is by no means the peculiar property of the island of Great Britain. It finds an exact counterpart in the Swedish ballad Sven i Rosengård, Svenska F. V., No. 67, Arwidsson, No. 87, A, B, which, together with a Finnish version of the same story, thought to be derived from the Swedish, will be found translated in our Appendix. Edward, in Percy's Reliques, has the same general theme, with the difference that a father is murdered instead of a brother. Motherwell[C] has printed a ballad (Son Davie) closely agreeing with Edward, except that the crime is again fratricide. He has also furnished another version of The Twa Brothers, in which the catastrophe is the consequence of an accident, and this circumstance has led the excellent editor to tax Jamieson with altering one of the most essential features of the ballad, by filling out a defective stanza with four lines that make one brother to have slain the other in a quarrel. Jamieson is, however, justified in giving this more melancholy character to the story, by the tenor of all the kindred pieces, and by the language of his own. It will be observed that both in Edward and Son Davie, the wicked act was not only deliberate, but was even instigated by the mother. The departure from the original is undoubtedly on the part of Motherwell's copy, which has softened down a shocking incident to accommodate a modern and refined sentiment. But Jamieson is artistically, as well as critically right, since the effect of the contrast of the remorse of one party and the generosity of the other is heightened by representing the terrible event as the result of ungoverned passion.

The three Scottish ballads mentioned above, here follow, and Motherwell's Twa Brothers will be found in the Appendix. Mr. Sharpe has inserted a third copy of this in his Ballad Book, p. 56. Another is said to be in The Scot's Magazine, for June, 1822. Placing no confidence in any of Allan Cunningham's souvenirs of Scottish Song, we simply state that one of them, composed upon the theme of the Twa Brothers, is included in the Songs of Scotland, ii. 16.

"The common title of this ballad is, The Twa Brothers, or, The Wood o' Warslin, but the words o' Warslin appearing to the editor, as will be seen in the text, to be a mistake for a-wrestling, he took the liberty of altering it accordingly. After all, perhaps, the title may be right; and the wood may afterwards have obtained its denomination from the tragical event here celebrated. A very few lines inserted by the editor to fill up chasms, [some of which have been omitted,] are inclosed in brackets; the text, in other respects, is given genuine, as it was taken down from the recitation of Mrs. Arrott." Jamieson.

[C] The stanza mentioned by Motherwell, as occurring in Werner's Twenty Fourth of February, (Scene i.) is apparently only a quotation from memory of Herder's translation of Edward. When Motherwell became aware that a similar tradition was common to the Northern nations of Europe, he could no longer have thought it possible that an occurrence in the family history of the Somervilles gave rise to The Twa Brothers.

"O will ye gae to the school, brother?

Or will ye gae to the ba'?

Or will ye gae to the wood a-warslin,

To see whilk o's maun fa'?"

"It's I winna gae to the school, brother;5

Nor will I gae to the ba'?

But I will gae to the wood a-warslin;

And it is you maun fa'."

They warstled up, they warstled down,

The lee-lang simmer's day;10

[And nane was near to part the strife,

That raise atween them tway,

Till out and Willie's drawn his sword,

And did his brother slay.]

"O lift me up upon your back;15

Tak me to yon wall fair;

You'll wash my bluidy wounds o'er and o'er,

And syne they'll bleed nae mair.

"And ye'll tak aff my Hollin sark,

And riv't frae gair to gair;20

Ye'll stap it in my bluidy wounds,

And syne they'll bleed nae mair."

He's liftit his brother upon his back;

Ta'en him to yon wall fair;

He's washed his bluidy wounds o'er and o'er,25

But ay they bled mair and mair.

And he's ta'en aff his Hollin sark,

And riven't frae gair to gair;

He's stappit it in his bluidy wounds;

But ay they bled mair and mair.30

"Ye'll lift me up upon your back,

Tak me to Kirkland fair; Ye'll mak my greaf baith braid and lang, And lay my body there.

"Ye'll lay my arrows at my head,35

My bent bow at my feet;

My sword and buckler at my side,

As I was wont to sleep.

"Whan ye gae hame to your father,

He'll speer for his son John:—40

Say, ye left him into Kirkland fair,

Learning the school alone.

"When ye gae hame to my sister,

She'll speer for her brother John:—

Ye'll say, ye left him in Kirkland fair,45

The green grass growin aboon.

"Whan ye gae hame to my true love,

She'll speer for her lord John:—

Ye'll say, ye left him in Kirkland fair,

But hame ye fear he'll never come."—50

He's gane hame to his father;

He speered for his son John:

"It's I left him into Kirkland fair,

Learning the school alone."

And whan he gaed hame to his sister,55

She speered for her brother John:—

"It's I left him into Kirkland fair,

The green grass growin aboon."

And whan he gaed hame to his true love,

She speer'd for her lord John:60

"It's I left him into Kirkland fair,

And hame I fear he'll never come."

"But whaten bluid's that on your sword, Willie?

Sweet Willie, tell to me."

"O it is the bluid o' my grey hounds;65

They wadna rin for me."

"It's nae the bluid o' your hounds, Willie;

Their bluid was never so red;

But it is the bluid o' my true love,

That ye hae slain indeed."70

That fair may wept, that fair may mourn'd,

That fair may mourn'd and pin'd;

"When every lady looks for her love,

I ne'er need look for mine."

"O whaten a death will ye die, Willie?75

Now, Willie, tell to me."

"Ye'll put me in a bottomless boat,

And I'll gae sail the sea."

"Whan will ye come hame again, Willie?

Now, Willie, tell to me."80

"Whan the sun and moon dances on the green,

And that will never be."

32. "The house of Inchmurry, formerly called Kirkland, was built of old by the abbot of Holyrood-house, for his accommodation when he came to that country, and was formerly the minister's manse." Stat. Ac. of Scotland, vol. xiii. p. 506. J.