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Clerk Colvill

Child ballad

Summary

Child ballad

The detail of the mermaid washing a sark or silk garment may descend from Scandinavian originals of an elf-woman offering a shirt to the man she is enamored with as a sign of betrothal (see §Similar ballads below).

Similar ballads

Similar ballads exist in the Nordic countries. The ballad is called "Elveskud" (DgF 47) in Danish, "Olav Liljekrans" (NMB 36) in Norwegian, "Herr Olof och älvorna" (SMB 29) in Swedish, "Ólavur Riddararós og álvamoy" (CCF 154) in Faroese and "Kvæði af Ólafi liljurós" (IFkv 1) in Icelandic. In these ballads the role of the mermaid is taken by an elf woman.

Also, the "Johnny Collins" version of the Child ballad "Lady Alice" (No. 85) is in fact identifiable with "Clerk Colvill" which tells the same story.

A maiden "washing marble-white stone" in "Johnny Collins" seems nonsensical, but the mermaid is "washing silk upon a stane" in "Clerk Colvill" which makes all the sense, and the close similarity of these details is offered as compelling evidence for equating the two ballads. This mermaid-laundered clothing is paralleled in the Faroese version by the clean shirt. A piece of garment offered as gift is a form or seduction, or more precisely an invitation to become betrothed, and this is in Scottish tradition preserved in ballads, as well as being attested in the Scandinavian ballad Elveskud (DgF 47), where Sir Olav (Olaf) is offered a shirt in such a manner.

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations

;Bibliography

References

  1. "Clerk Colven / Clerk Colvill (Roud 147; Child 42)".
  2. {{harvp. Parker. 1952 ''apud'' {{harvp. Fischer. 1998
  3. Bayard, Samuel P.. (April–June 1945). "The 'Johnny Collins' Version of Lady Alice". The Journal of American Folklore.
  4. (1869). "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, Etc". Robert Anderson.
  5. (1978). "The types of the Scandinavian medieval ballad". Universitetsforlaget.
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