210 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''-d S. N" 63., Mar. 14. '67. 



and a third, in German, wliicb occurs In the first 

 volume of the " Wundei'horn," the most poeticcTl 

 of .ill, and tlie version, no doubt, -which Long- 

 iiillow liad in view, commencing — 



" Der Sultan hatt' ein Doehterlein 

 Die war frilh aufgestanden, 

 Wol iim zu pfliicken Bliimeleia 

 In ihres Vaters Garten." 



I shall attempt a translation of it, adhering as 

 close to the original as possible : 



" The Sultan's little daughter rose, and left her father's 

 towers, 

 And wandered forth at early morn, to view the little 

 flowers. 

 " And as she looked the flowers upon, all glltt'ring in the 

 dew, 

 ' Ah, pretty flowers,' the maiden thought, ' would I 

 3'our master knew ! 



" * He must a mighty master be, a Lord of might and 

 worth, 

 Who makes to grow, in lovely bands, these flowers upon 

 the earth. 



" ' Oh, in my heart I love him deep, and should he hither 

 wend, 

 I'd leave my father's halls, and go his garden -flowers 

 to tend.' 



" There came to her at midnight hour a man in glorious 

 sheen : 

 ' Wake up, wake up, mj' fairest maid, love lights my 

 heart I ween ! ' 



" Quick from her bed the maiden rose, and to her window 

 hies, 

 Saw Jesus there, her dearest love, all glorious in her 

 eyes. •? 



" She op'd to him with joyfulness, and bent her to the 

 earth. 

 And bade him friendly welcome, like one of noble 

 birth. 



" ' From whence comest thou, O fairest youth ? from 

 whence, O j-outh so fair? 

 Within my father's realms is none, that with thee may 

 compare.* 



" ' Thou, fairest maid, hast thought of me, within thy 

 father's bowers, 

 Out of my father's realms I've come ; I'm master of the 

 flowers.' 



" ' Oh Lord, my Lord, how far from hence doth thy 

 father's garden lie.' 

 There I shall go his flowers to tend, for ever and for 

 aye.' 



" ' My garden lies in Eternity, far,.far from hence away; 

 Witli a bridal crown I'll crown thee there, with a rosv 



wreath array.' 



osy 



"From his finger he took a j'ing of gold — a ring so 

 bright to see. 

 To the Sultan's daughter he gave it, and asked her his 

 bride to bo. 



" And when she pledged her love to him, his wounds 



began to flow : 

 '0 love, why is thy heart so red? My love hath 



wrought thee woe ! 

 Wliy is thj' heart so red, and whence these blood-drops 



on thy hands?' 



" ' For thee my heart is red, for thee the blood-drops that 

 you see ; 

 I had thorn when for thy dear sake I died upon tho 

 tree. 



" ' My Father calls, now haste thee bride ! long, long for 

 thee I've sought ! ' 

 In Jesu's love she trusted, and her bridal crown hath 

 bought." 



I have endeavoured to accomplish in this trans- 

 lation accuracy rather than elegance. The Flemish 

 version is far more circumstantial, and is rather 

 lengthy ; but has hardly the poetic worth of the 

 German one. Nossek, 



ENGLISH CDRKANTS AND TOREIGN CURRANTS, A 

 PUZZLE TO THE GREEKS AS WELL AS TO THE 

 ENGLISH. 



(2°" S. iii. 148.) 



If Mr. Riley will look into Dodven s History of 

 Plants, translated in 1578, he will find that seed- 

 less grape of the Levant, which, as growing in 

 England, is supposed to be the Corinthian grape 

 degenerated, described as " the beyond-sea goose- 

 berry." It is certain, however, that the white 

 and red currant (Ribes) grow naturally in many 

 places, not only in England but in Scotland. 

 Aiton, in his Hortus Kewensis, considers this 

 Ribes a native production ; and the black currant 

 is also supposed to be a native product of Britain. 

 The general term currant, " grappe de Corinthe," 

 would seem to point, nevertheless, to the quarter 

 from whence it was originally derived. Johnson 

 accepts this as a " probability : " Pardon asserts it 

 as a fact. The currant tree is said to have been 

 first planted in England in 1533. The hawthorn 

 currant tree (Ribes oxyacanthoides) was introduced 

 from Canada, in 1705. But leaving to better qua- 

 lified correspondents to settle the question of the 

 native place of the Grossularia and Ribes (the 

 latter includes the red, white, and black currants, 

 and the purple gooseberry), allow me to make a 

 note on the astonishment and perplexity which 

 have for ever embarrassed the much-troubled 

 Greeks, touching the use made by the English of 

 the currants bought by them in Zante and Ce- 

 phalonia. It was so two centuries ago, and the 

 Greeks are still labouring under the perplexity. 

 Fynes Moryson, in his gossiping Itinerary, printed 

 in 1617, — a book so amusing that all the dull and 

 solemn dogs barked themselves hoarse at it, — 

 says: 



" Delight for sweetings hath made the use of corands of 

 Corinth so frequent in all places and with all persons in 

 England, as the very Greeks who sell them wonder what 

 we do with such great quantities thereof, and know not 

 how we should spend them except we use them for dying 

 or to feed hogs." 



So at the present moment the Greeks, whose cur- 

 rants are purchased by none but English mer- 

 chants, imagine that Englishmen must necessarily 



