C
Buchan’s MSS, II, 126.
1
Lord William has gane oer the sea
For to seek after lear;
Lord Lundie had but ae daughter,
And he’d wed nane but her.
2
Upon a book they both did read,
And in ae bed did ly:
‘But if my father get word of this,
I’ll soon be taen away.’
3
‘Your father’s gotten word of this,
Soon married then ye’ll be;
Set trysts, set trysts wi me, Janet,
Set trysts, set trysts wi me.
4
‘Set trysts, set trysts wi me, Janet,
When your wedding-day’s to be;
‘On Saturday, the first that comes,
Must be my wedding-day.’
5
‘Bad news, bad news is come, Janet,
Bad news is come to me;
Your father’s gotten word of this,
Soon married then ye’ll be.’
6
‘O will ye marry the young prince, daughter,
The queen of England to be?
Or will ye marry Lord William,
And die immediately?’
7
‘O I will marry the young prince, father,
Because it is your will;
But I wish it was my burial-day,
For my grave I could gang till.’
8
When they gaed in into the kirk,
And ae seat they sat in,
The minister took up the book,
The marriage to begin.
9
‘Lay down the book, O dear, kind sir,
And wait a little wee;
I have a lady to welcome yet,
She’s been a good friend to me.’
10
Out then spake the minister,
An angry man was he;
‘You might have had your ladies welcomd
Before ye came to me.’
11
She looked oer her left shoulder,
And tears did blind her ee;
But she looked oer her right shoulder,
And a blythe sight saw she,
For in there came him Lord William,
And his valiant company.
12
And in there came him Lord William,
His armour shining clear,
And in it came him Lord William,
And many glittering spear.
13
‘Stand by, stand by, ye bonny bridegroom,
Stand by, stand by,’ said he;
‘Stand by, stand by, ye bonny bridegroom,
Bride, ye maun join wi me.
14
‘Let the young prince clap his coffer of gold
When he gangs to his bed;
Let the young prince clap his coffer of gold,
But I’ll clap my bonny bride.’
15
Out it spake him Lord Lundie,
And an angry man was he;
‘My daughter will marry him Lord William,
It seems, in spite of me.’
A, C.
Motherwell and Dixon have made a few slight changes.
255
WILLIE’S FATAL VISIT
Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 259.
A maid, Meggie, inquires after her lover, Willie, and is told that he will be with her at night. Willie tirls the pin and is admitted. He is given the option of cards, wine, or bed, and chooses the bed, a too familiar commonplace in Buchan’s ballads. Meggie charges the cock not to crow till day, but the cock crows an hour too soon. Willie dons his clothes, and in a dowie den encounters a grievous ghost, which, wan and weary though it be, smiles upon him; smiles, we may suppose, to have caught him. Willie has travelled this road often, and never uttered a prayer for safety; but he will never travel that road again. The ghost tears him to pieces, and hangs a bit ‘on every seat’ of Mary’s kirk, the head right over Meggie’s pew! Meggie rives her yellow hair.
The first half of this piece is a medley of ‘Sweet William’s Ghost,’ ‘Clerk Saunders,’ and ‘The Grey Cock.’ For 13–6, 2, compare No 77, A, E, 2, 3, No 248, 1; for 5–8, No 69, F 3–6, No 70, B 2, 4; for 9, 10, No 248, 6, 7. 13 is caught, or taken, from ‘Clyde’s Water,’ No 216, A 7.
Stanzas 15–17, wherever they came from, are too good for the setting: nothing so spirited, word or deed, could have been looked for from a ghost wan, weary, and smiling.
1
’Twas on an evening fair I went to take the air,
I heard a maid making her moan;
Said, Saw ye my father? Or saw ye my mother?
Or saw ye my brother John?
Or saw ye the lad that I love best,
And his name it is Sweet William?
2
‘I saw not your father, I saw not your mother,
Nor saw I your brother John;
But I saw the lad that ye love best,
And his name it is Sweet William.’
3
‘O was my love riding? or was he running?
Or was he walking alone?
Or says he that he will be here this night?
O dear, but he tarries long!’
4
‘Your love was not riding, nor yet was he running,
But fast was he walking alone;
He says that he will be here this night to thee,
And forbids you to think long.’
5
Then Willie he has gane to his love’s door,
And gently tirled the pin:
‘O sleep ye, wake ye, my bonny Meggie,
Ye’ll rise, lat your true love in.’
6
The lassie being swack ran to the door fu snack,
And gently she lifted the pin,
Then into her arms sae large and sae lang
She embraced her bonny love in.
7
‘O will ye gang to the cards or the dice,
Or to a table o wine?
Or will ye gang to a well-made bed,
Well coverd wi blankets fine?’
8
‘O I winna gang to the cards nor the dice.
Nor yet to a table o wine;
But I’ll rather gang to a well-made bed,
Well coverd wi blankets fine.’
9
‘My braw little cock, sits on the house tap,
Ye’ll craw not till it be day,
And your kame shall be o the gude red gowd,
And your wings o the siller grey.’
10
The cock being fause untrue he was,
And he crew an hour ower seen;
They thought it was the gude day-light,
But it was but the light o the meen.
11
‘Ohon, alas!’ says bonny Meggie then,
‘This night we hae sleeped ower lang!’
‘O what is the matter?’ then Willie replied,
‘The faster then I must gang.’
12
Then Sweet Willie raise, and put on his claise,
And drew till him stockings and sheen,
And took by his side his berry-brown sword,
And ower yon lang hill he’s gane.
13
As he gaed ower yon high, high hill,
And down yon dowie den,
Great and grievous was the ghost he saw,
Would fear ten thousand men.
14
As he gaed in by Mary kirk,
And in by Mary stile,
Wan and weary was the ghost
Upon sweet Willie did smile.
15
‘Aft hae ye travelld this road, Willie,
Aft hae ye travelld in sin;
Ye neer said sae muckle for your saul
As My Maker bring me hame!
16
‘Aft hae ye travelld this road, Willie,
Your bonny love to see;
But ye’ll never travel this road again
Till ye leave a token wi me.’
17
Then she has taen him Sweet Willie,
Riven him frae gair to gair,
And on ilka seat o Mary’s kirk
O Willie she hang a share;
Even abeen his love Meggie’s dice,
Hang’s head and yellow hair.
18
His father made moan, his mother made moan,
But Meggie made muckle mair;
His father made moan, his mother made moan,
But Meggie reave her yellow hair.
256
ALISON AND WILLIE
A. ‘My luve she lives in Lincolnshire,’ Harris MS., fol. 18 b; Mrs Harris. b. ‘Alison’ Buchan’s MSS., I, 231.
Alison gaily invites Willie to her wedding; he will not come unless to be the bridegroom, with her for bride. That day you will never see, says Alison; once on your horse, you will have no more mind of me than if I were dead. Willie rides slowly away, and his heart breaks with the pains of love; he dies by the way, and is left to the birds. A letter stops the wedding, and breaks Alison’s heart.
Stanza 7 must be left to those who can interpret Thomas of Erceldoune’s prophecies.
1
‘My luve she lives in Lincolnshire,
I wat she’s neither black nor broun,
But her hair is like the thread o gowd,
Aye an it waur weel kaimëd doun.’
2
She’s pued the black mask owre her face,
An blinkit gaily wi her ee:
‘O will you to my weddin come,
An will you bear me gude companie?’
3
‘I winna to your weddin come,
Nor [will] I bear you gude companie,
Unless you be the bride yoursell,
An me the bridegroom to be.’
4
‘For me to be the bride mysel,
An you the bonnie bridegroom to be—
Cheer up your heart, Sweet Willie,’ she said,
‘For that’s the day you’ll never see.
5
‘Gin you waur on your saiddle set,
An gaily ridin on the way,
You’ll hae nae mair mind o Alison
Than she waur dead an laid in clay.’
6
When he was on his saiddle set,
An slowly ridin on the way,
He had mair mind o Alison
Than he had o the licht o day.
7
He saw a hart draw near a hare,
An aye that hare drew near a toun,
An that same hart did get a hare,
But the gentle knicht got neer a toun.
8
He leant him owre his saiddle-bow,
An his heart did brak in pieces three;
Wi sighen said him Sweet Willie,
‘The pains o luve hae taen hald o me.’
9
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
There cam a white horse an a letter,
That stopped the weddin speidilie.
10
She leant her back on her bed-side,
An her heart did brak in pieces three;
She was buried an bemoaned,
But the birds waur Willie’s companie.
a.
23. Oh. 103. He was.
b.
But wanting: threads.
21. She pu’d: mask aff.
22. blinked blythely.
23. Says, Will ye.
24. Or: gude wanting.
32. Nor will; gude wanting.
34. the bonny bridegroom be.
42. to wanting.
43. Sweet wanting.
52. And merry.
53. Ye’ll mind nae mair o.
54. When.
62. An weary.
71. He spied: draw till.
72. aye the.
73. An wanting.
81. leand his back to his.
83. said that sweet.
84. luve’s taen.
91,2. Their wedding-day it was well set, And a’ their friends invited there.
93. While came.
94. wedding in prepare.
Before 101: She said, If Willie he be dead, A wedded wife I’ll never be.
101. Then leand her back to her bed-stock.
102. Her heart in pieces broke in three.
103. then was.
257
BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
A. ‘Burd Bell,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 211.
B. ‘Burd Isbel and Sir Patrick,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 76.
C. ‘Earl Patrick and Burd Isabel,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 440.
Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 34, I, 42, says that an old woman in Buckie, Enzie, Banff, who died in 1866 at the age of nearly eighty, and whose father was a noted ballad-singer, sang him words which, so far as he could remember, were like those of B.
A. Unmarried Burd Isabel bears a son to Earl Patrick. He has passed his word to make her his wife in case the expected bairn should be a boy, but his mother objects. He now promises to bring her home after the demise of his parents, and in the mean while builds her a gold and silver bower (which for a reason inscrutable is ‘strawn round wi sand’). Father and mother die; Patrick takes no step to fulfil his engagement, and Isabel asks why. Patrick wishes that a hundred evils may enter him, and he ‘fa oure the brim,’ if ever he marries another; nevertheless he weds a duke’s daughter. His bride has a fancy to see his son, and Patrick sends his aunt (or his grand-aunt, or his great-grand-aunt) to fetch the boy. Isabel dares any woman to take the bairn away. Patrick comes in person. Isabel repeats the words she had used to his aunt, and reminds him of the curse which he had conditionally wished himself at their last interview. The perjured man turns to go away, the hundred evils enter him, and he falls ‘oure the brim.’
B has nearly the same story with additional circumstances. Patrick wishes that eleven devils may attend his last day should he wed another woman. When he goes to inquire how Isabel came to refuse the request he had made through his aunt, he takes the opportunity to make over to her child the third part of his land. She has two clerks, her cousins, at her call, who see to the legal formalities pertaining to this transfer; she commits the boy to one of these, and herself goes to an unco land to drive love out of her mind. We hear of nothing worse happening to Earl Patrick for selling his precious soul than his never getting further ben the church than the door.
C is a variety of B, but not half so long. Whether B has added or C omitted, no reader will much concern himself to know.
St. 7 (nearly) occurs in No 92, B 17, II, 313, and something similar in various ballads.