Clerk Colvill, a ballad with a few variants. In this one, the man is not an innocent victim, the following is from an introduction in a 1904 edition of Child's Ballads:All the English versions are deplorably imperfect. Clerk Colvill is not, as his representative is or may be in other ballads, the guiltless and guileless object of the love or envy of a water-sprite or elf. It is clear that before his marriage with his gay lady he had been in the habit of resorting to this mermaid, and equally clear, from the impatient answer which he renders his dame, that he means to visit her again. His death is the natural penalty of his desertion of the water-nymph; for no point is better established than the fatal consequences of inconstancy in such connections. His history, were it fully told, would closely resemble that of the Knight of Staufenberg, as narrated in a German poem of about the year 1310. Clerk Colvill and the mermaid are represented by Sir Oluf and an elf in Scandinavian ballads to the number of about seventy. The oldest of these is derived from a Danish manuscript of 1550, two centuries and a half later than the Staufenberg poem, but two earlier than Clerk Colvill, the oldest ballad outside of the Scandinavian series (see Grundtvig, No. 47). The Breton ‘Seigneur Nann’ is closely akin to the Scandinavian versions, and the ballad has spread, apparently from Brittany, over all France (‘Jean Renaud’).
1. CLERK COLVILL and his lusty dame
Were walking in the garden green;
The belt around her stately waist
Cost Clerk Colvill of pounds fifteen.
2. “O promise me now, Clerk Colvill,
Or it will cost ye muckle strife,
Ride never by the wells of Slane,
If ye wad live and brook your life.”
3. “Now speak nae mair, my lusty dame,
Now speak nae mair of that to me;
Did I neer see a fair woman,
But I wad sin with her body?”
4. He’s taen leave o his gay lady,
Nought minding what his lady said,
And he’s rode by the wells of Slane,
Where washing was a bonny maid.
5. “Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid,
That wash sae clean your sark of silk;”
“And weel fa you, fair gentleman,
Your body whiter than the milk.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
6. Then loud, loud cry’d the Clerk Colvill,
“O my head it pains me sair;”
“Then take, then take,” the maiden said,
“And frae my sark you’ll cut a gare.”
7. Then she’s gied him a little bane-knife,
And frae her sark he cut a share;
She’s ty’d it round his whey-white face,
But ay his head it aked mair.
8. Then louder cry’d the Clerk Colvill,
“O sairer, sairer akes my head;”
“And sairer, sairer ever will,”
The maiden crys, “Till you be dead.”
9. Out then he drew his shining blade,
Thinking to stick her where she stood,
But she was vanishd to a fish,
And swam far off, a fair mermaid.
10. “O mother, mother, braid my hair;
My lusty lady, make my bed;
O brother, take my sword and spear,
For I have seen the false mermaid.”
or Sirens: Symbols of Seduction (paperback) is
one of the other best books I found besides the Sea Enchantress the Tale of the Mermaid and Her Kin
book I discussed previously. The most confusing thing about this book is the many editions of which I am not sure if there are multiple editions with different text or simple title and format changes or what. I bought the black hardcover edition and it is excellent. I don't know for sure if it is different from the only edition in print at the moment, Seduction and the Secret Power of Women: The Lure of Sirens and Mermaids.
An exploration of humanity’s age-old fascination with Sirens
• Explains the Sirens’ half-human, half-animal bodies as a metaphor for the psychological challenge that their myth has always embodied
• Fully illustrated in color with works by Rubens, Bosch, Munch, Magritte, and others
Their celestial voices drove mast-lashed Ulysses nearly out of his mind with libidinous promises as they beckoned him ever-closer to paradise--or a rocky death. With womanly torsos and animal lower halves, usually birds or fish, Sirens have long been symbols of the lure of desire--the feminine, as seducer--beckoning men to mystery beyond their ken, or to disaster. This book is both a celebration of Sirens and an examination of the psychology of dichotomy--the diametrically opposed drives and inherent conflicts underlying this female archetype.Since antiquity, Sirens and their mermaid sisters have maintained an ongoing affair of the heart with humanity’s greatest writers and artists. Sirens play important roles in the classical writings of Homer and Euripides, as well as in the modern works of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, and many others. Matching these writings with vibrant work from such artists as Peter Paul Rubens, Hieronymous Bosch, Edvard Munch, and René Magritte, Meri Lao has created a feast for the eye. Exploring our 3,000-year-old relationship with Sirens, Lao reveals the secret of the power in their song: it is the sound of the subversive, luring us from the orderly conscious world down to the depth of the world of dreams, and the harder we try to ignore that singing, the more we desperately want to hear it.
And with Lily's yet-to-be-titled Snow White film by Relativity coming out less than three months before K.Stew's Snow White and The Huntsman, the battle for the best interpretation of the fairy tale is about to get heated.This will be an interesting study in contrasts, won't it?
Kris has seriously upped her work-out regimen as of late, prepping for the role by taking tons of horseback riding lessons and yoga classes.
According to IMDb, Kris' Snow White and the Hunstman is described as: "In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), ordered to take Snow White (Stewart) into the woods to be killed, winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron)."
Looks like Lily's character couldn't be more opposite.
"She's very much that fairy-tale princess we've all read about in books," Lily told E.W. of her Snow White role, adding that she is "a joyful person who lights up a room and maintains grace at all times."
•The images were dark, gritty, and definitely not traditional. Claflin and Hemsworth looked like rugged soldiers in their costumes, Theron still had her blond hair but looked fierce with a high collar, clutching a scary-looking dagger. There was one picture of the dwarves, who are played by regular-sized actors like Nick Frost and Ray Winstone and made to look dwarf-szied (and there were eight — Sanders slipped that one dies in the film). The final reveal was Kristen Stewart as Snow White, and does she ever look hardcore: she's in full armor with a shield and disheveled hair. This is definitely no bedtime story.
•Stewart said she liked the idea of playing Snow White because the character "doesn't let her heart cloud her mind and get in the way" of doing what she needs to do, and called her "the people's leader." Plus, it sounds like she's pumped to take on the apparently action-heavy flick — she cited "sword stuff" and "really cool weapons" as other reasons she was excited about the movie.
Kristen Stewart's take on Snow White will not end right after she completes filming "Snow White and the Huntsman". Joe Roth has recently said that he plans to make the folktale action-adventure movie into a trilogy with the upcoming June 1, 2012 release as the first installment.
"It's meant to be the first in a series of films," the producer told Entertainment Weekly. "This story will end, but there will be questions remaining for these three characters," he further revealed, referring to the title characters as well as the evil queen.
Speaking about the characters, Roth said that Stewart's Snow White will be different from the sweetly-singing princess seen before. "She starts out not a damsel in distress, but innocent, and after 11 years of imprisonment by the Evil Queen, she escapes and learns the ways of a warrior in the woods," the 62-year-old filmmaker explained.
