''Ungersven och havsfrun'' (as it is known in Swedish) or ''Herr Bøsmer i elvehjem'' (as it is known in Danish) (''

The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad: A Descriptive Catalogue'' (TSB) is the designation for a cataloguing system for Scandinavian ballads. It is also the title of the underlying reference book: ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieva ...

'' A 49, ''Drink causes forgetfulness and makes man stay with mermaid'') is a supernatural

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

type. Known witnesses are edited in '' Sveriges Medeltida Ballader'' (no. 21) in ten Swedish variants (of which one is in

Finland Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish ( sv, finlandssvenska; fi, suomenruotsi) is a general term for the variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population, commonly a ...

), from the mid-1700s onwards; five of the Swedish variants are recorded with melodies. It appears in '' Danmarks gamle folkeviser'' (no. 45), among the earliest manuscripts to contain it being

Karen Brahes Folio Karen Brahes Folio (Odense, Landsarkivet for Fyn, Karen Brahe E I,1, also known as Karen Brahes Foliohåndskrift) is a manuscript collection of Danish ballads dating from c. 1583. The manuscript contains the following names, presumed to be of its o ...

Content

In most variants, a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

comes to a young knight and while he is asleep she asks him to come to her home in the river (or sea). The next day he goes out riding, falls into the river, and so arrives at the mermaid's side. In most variants he receives a drink which either makes him forget his family and fiancée and stay with the mermaid. In some Norwegian versions, instead of a mermaid the supernatural woman is an

elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

in a mountain. In some Swedish versions, the drink is poisonous and the knight dies. In others he escapes by playing his harp:''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad: A Descriptive Catalogue'', ed. by Bengt R. Jonsson, Svale Solheim and Eva Danielson, Skrifter utgivna av svenskt visarkiv, 5 (Stockholm: Svenskt visarkiv, 1978), pp. 38-39. in Swedish variant G (from Brita Cajsa Carlsdotter from

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

, collected by L. Chr. Wiede in the 1840s) the young man saves himself by playing beautifully on his golden harp, rather like in the ballad '' Harpans kraft''.

Recordings

* The group Folk och rackare recorded a version based on '' Sveriges Medeltida Ballader'' 21B: ''Herr Olof och havsfrun'', on the record ''Folk och rackare'', 1976.

References

{{reflist

Songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

Scandinavian folklore Danish folklore Danish folk music Finnish folk music Nordic folk music Year of song unknown