Ballads of Romance and Chivalry: Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First SeriesSidgwick, Frank
General
Ballads of Romance and Chivalry: Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series
Sidgwick, Frank
Ballads, English -- Texts
35.
And he has rewarded Wise William
Wi’ the best half of his land;
And sae has he the turtle dow
Wi’ the truth o’ his right hand.
[Annotations:
3.1: ‘kaivles,’ lots.
13.4: ‘gallows-pin,’ the projecting beam of the gallows.
16.1: ‘birled,’ plied.
16.4: ‘wallwood,’ wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase.
25.2: A stock ballad-phrase.
33.1: A ballad conventionality.]
FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL
‘Ouvre ta port’, Germin’, c’est moi qu’est ton mari.’
‘Donnez-moi des indic’s de la première nuit,
Et par là je croirai que vous et’s mon mari.’
--_Germaine._
+The Text+ is Fraser Tytler’s, taken down from the recitation of Mrs.
Brown in 1800, who had previously (1783) recited a similar version to
Jamieson. The later recitation, which was used by Scott, with others,
seems to contain certain improvisations of Mrs. Brown’s which do not
appear in the earlier form.
+The Story.+--A mother, who feigns to be her own son and demands tokens
of the girl outside the gate, turns her son’s love away, and is cursed
by him. Similar ballads exist in France, Germany, and Greece.
There is an early eighteenth-century MS. (Elizabeth Cochrane’s
_Song-Book_) of this ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel
of Rochroyal dreams of her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift
steed, and rides forth till she meets a company. They ask her who she
is, and are told that she is ‘Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,’ seeking her
true-love Gregory. They direct her to ‘yon castle’; and thenceforth the
tale proceeds much as in the other versions.
‘Lochryan,’ says Scott, ‘lies in Galloway; Roch--or Rough--royal, I have
not found, but there is a Rough castle in Stirlingshire’ (Child).
FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL
1.
‘O wha will shoe my fu’ fair foot?
And wha will glove my hand?
And wha will lace my middle jimp,
Wi’ the new-made London band?
2.
‘And wha will kaim my yellow hair,
Wi’ the new-made silver kaim?
And wha will father my young son,
Till Love Gregor come hame?’
3.
‘Your father will shoe your fu’ fair foot,
Your mother will glove your hand;
Your sister will lace your middle jimp
Wi’ the new-made London band.
4.
‘Your brother will kaim your yellow hair,
Wi’ the new-made silver kaim;
And the king of heaven will father your bairn,
Till Love Gregor come haim.’
5.
‘But I will get a bonny boat,
And I will sail the sea,
For I maun gang to Love Gregor,
Since he canno come hame to me.’
6.
O she has gotten a bonny boat,
And sail’d the sa’t sea fame;
She lang’d to see her ain true-love,
Since he could no come hame.
7.
‘O row your boat, my mariners,
And bring me to the land,
For yonder I see my love’s castle,
Closs by the sa’t sea strand.’
8.
She has ta’en her young son in her arms,
And to the door she’s gone,
And lang she’s knock’d and sair she ca’d,
But answer got she none.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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