76 HOW BALLADS SPREAD

the first appearance of this tune in 1540 and the printed Danish
ballad of 1697, and probably nearer to this later date.since Syv did
not admit the piece into his collection (1695)- The Swedish ballad
also uses a melody current in the Low Countries and north

Germany. ^ , ., . , M1

There are a number of other pieces which could be cited as illus-
tratin* the spread of German themes into Scandinavian balladry;
the Count harnessed to the Plough, the Heathen Princess (or Sultan's
Daughter) are among the more obvious. Similar expansion into
Slavic territory can be studied in The Shroud (German Der Vor-
wirt), which is found in Lusatia and Czechoslovakia also. It is a
macabre ballad: a dead husband rises from his grave to reproach
his widow for her lightheartedness. The Slavic ballads have been
collected only in the nineteenth century, and so it is scarcely pos-
sible to give a date for the borrowing; but the fact is confirmed by
the resemblance of some of the tunes. The basis seems to be a
formula 2aBB. Der Vorwirthas 522iABB, with a different initial
interval and an inserted lA; the Czech Rubashas 4BBA, 46621,
and DaaBBAB as three of its five tunes; and the Lusatian Kitel has
43E2BB, in which 43E is equivalent to 2. There has been con-
siderable modification, but the resemblance still dimly appears, and
a full transcription would show that some parts of the melodies
are still fairly close.

These are cases in which ballads have crossed a frontier, consti-
tuted in Denmark rather by ballad tradition than by language, and
in the Slavic countries by language rather than tradition. In their
commerce with Scotland and England the Scandinavian ballads
have had to cross the sea, though they are welcomed on arrival as
pieces in our own manner. We do not dispose of studies so ade-
quate in this respect as those which have been available for us in
establishing Germany's relations with her neighbours. The texts
declare their intimate relationship, but have been much changed,
and the melodies are hard to identify. Ribbolt and Guldborg' is a good
example. It is essentially a story of taboo. By naming Rlbbolt's
name, Guldborg leads to his death in battle against her seven
brothers. The plot is encountered in the Eddie Helgakvzfla II,
and the superiority of the Danish version justifies the belief that
the Vise' arose in Denmark. It has covered all the North; Swedish
Hillebrand or Redevold, Norse Rikeball and Veneros, Icelandic
Ribbalds kvtefti. In Scotland it is called Earl Brand (doubtless a