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THE TWA BROTHERS. |
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From Jamieson's Popular BaUade, 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 Rosengard, 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. Motherwelll has printed a ballad (Son Davie) closely agreeing with Edward, except
1 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 Taa Bro&iers. |
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