Child Ballads - Narrative

The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie

1. 'My lady ye shall be,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," Thomas Wilkie's Manuscript, p. 74, Abbotsford. Version A
2. John Struthers, The British Minstrel, 1821, I, xxv. Version B
3. 'The Bonnie Lass o the Hie Toun End.' Communicated by Mr. David Louden, of Morham, Haddington, 1873. Version C
4. 'The Flowers of Edinburgh,' Gibb Manuscript, No 14, p. 57. Version D

This ballad, which Motherwell pronounces to be "of some antiquity and of considerable popularity," is of the same pernicious tenor as 'The Broom o Cowdenknows,' with the aggravation of treachery. The dénoûment is similar in 'The Dainty Downby,' Herd's Manuscripts, I, 45, printed in his Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 232, 'The Laird o the Dainty Downby,' Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 145, and in 'The Laird o Keltie,' Kinloch Manuscripts, I, 363, 'The Young Laird o Keltic,' III, 107, Motherwell Manuscript, p. 21, both of one pattern, and that quite trashy.

This page most recently updated on 19-May-2011, 18:37:44.
Return to main index