Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Appendix

20. The Cruel Mother - Appendix

Lady Anne

"This ballad was communicated to me by Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Hoddom, who mentions having copied it from an old magazine. Although it has probably received some modern corrections, the general turn seems to be ancient, and corresponds with that of a fragment [B b], which I have often heard sung in my childhood." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, m, 259, ed. 1803.

Buchan, Gleanings, p. 90, has an additional stanza between 8 and 9 of Scott's, whether from the old magazine or not, it would not be worth the while to ascertain.

Cunningham, Songs of Scotland, I, 339, has rewritten even 'Lady Anne.'

Translated by Schubart, p. 170, and by Gerhard, p. 92.

1  Fair Lady Anne sate in her bower,
      Down by the greenwood side,
And the flowers did spring, and the birds sing,
      'T was the pleasant May-day tide.
2  But fair Lady Anne on Sir William calld,
      With the tear grit in her ee,
'O though thou be fause, may Heaven thee guard,
      In the wars ayont the sea!'
3  Out of the wood came three bonnie boys,
      Upon the simmer's morn,
And they did sing and play at the ba',
      As naked as they were born.
4  'O seven lang years wad I sit here,
      Amang the frost and snaw,
A' to hae but ane o these bonnie boys,
      A playing at the ba.'
5  Then up and spake the eldest boy,
      'Now listen, thou fair ladie,
And ponder well the rede that I tell,
      Then make ye a choice of the three.
6  'T is I am Peter, and this is Paul,
      And that ane, sae fair to see,
But a twelve-month sinsyne to paradise came,
      To join with our companie.'
7  'O I will hae the snaw-white boy,
      The bonniest of the three: '
'And if I were thine, and in thy propine,
      O what wad ye do to me?'
8  'T is I wad clead thee in silk and gowd,
      And nourice thee on my knee: '
'O mither, mither, when I was thine,
      Sic kindness I couldna see.
9  'Beneath the turf, where now I stand,
      The fause nurse buried me;
The cruel pen-knife sticks still in my heart,
      And I come not back to thee.'

"There are many variations of this affecting tale. One of them appears in the Musical Museum, and is there called 'Fine Flowers of the Valley,' of which the present is either the original or a parallel song. I am inclined to think it is the original." Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 267.

This is translated by Talvj, Versuch, p. 571.

1  There sat 'mang the flowers a fair ladie,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
And there she has born a sweet babie.
      Adown by the greenwode side O
2  An strait she rowed its swaddling band,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
An O! nae mother grips took her hand.
      Adown by the greenwode side O
3  O twice it lifted its bonnie wee ee:
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
'Thae looks gae through the saul o me!'
      Adown by the greenwode side O
4  She buried the bonnie babe neath the brier,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
And washed her hands wi mony a tear.
      Adown by the greenwode side O
5  And as she kneelt to her God in prayer,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
The sweet wee babe was smiling there.
      Adown by the greenwode side O
6  'O ay, my God, as I look to thee,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
My babe 's atween my God and me.
      Adown by the greenwode side O
7  'Ay, ay, it lifts its bonnie wee ee:
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
'"Sic kindness get as ye shawed me."'
      Adown by the greenwode side O
8  'An O its smiles wad win me in,
      Sing ohon, ohon, and ohon O
But I 'm borne down by deadly sin.
      Adown by the greenwode side O

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