Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

12. Lord Randal

P. 152 b, 498 b, III, 499 b. Italian. Three imperfect versions (Sardinian) in Ferraro, C. p. in dialetto logudorese, 1891, pp. 3-5.

156 a, last paragraph, northern ballad. Add: 'Den onde svigermoder,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeviser, I, 332, No 122; Skattegraveren, V, 84, No 635.

157, 499, IV, 449.

'Lairde Rowlande, or Ronalde,' The Sporting Magazine, XXV, 209, January, 1805; communicated by Philodice, as recited by a "peasant's girl" at Randcallas, Perthshire. (Reprinted by Mr. Edward Peacock in The Athenaeum, August 27, 1892, p. 288.)

1   'Ah, where have you been, Lairde Rowlande, my son?
Ah, where have you been, Lairde Rowlande, my son?
I've been in the wild woods; mither, mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi hunting and faine would lie down.'
2   'Oh, you 've been at your true-love's, Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'Oh, you 've been at your true-love's, Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'I've been at my true-love's; mither,' mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi hunting and faine would lie down.'
3   'What got you to dinner?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'What got you to dinner?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
I got eels boild in brue; mither,' mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi hunting and faine would lie down.'
4   'What's become of your warden?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'What's become of your warden?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'He died in the muirlands; mither,' mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi hunting and faine would lie down.'
5   'What's become of your stag-hounds?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'What's become of your stag-hounds?' Lairde Rowlande, my son,'
'They swelled and they died; mither,' mak my bed soon,
For I'm weary wi hunting and faine would lie down.'

'Jacky, my son,' written out by Miss F.J. Adams, a Devonshire lady, and derived by her from her Devonshire nurse, sixty or seventy years ago. (Rev. S. Baring-Gould.)

1   'Where hast thou been to-day, Jacky, my son?
Where hast thou been to-day, my honey man?'
'Oh, I've been a courting, mother, make my bed soon,
For I am sick to the heart, fain would lie down.'
2   'Where shall I make it to? Jacky, my son?
Where shall I make it to? my honey man?'
'Oh, in the churchyard, mother,' make my bed soon,
For I am sick to the heart, fain would lie down.'
3   'What wilt thou leave thy mother? Jacky, my son?
What wilt thou leave thy mother? my honey man?'
'Oh, I'll leave her my money, mother,' make my bed soon,
For I am sick to the heart, fain would lie down.'
4   'What wilt thou leave thy father? Jacky, my son?
What wilt thou leave thy father? my honey man?'
'Oh, I'll leave him my'state, mother,' make my bed soon,
For I am sick to the heart, fain would lie down.'
5   'What wilt thou leave thy sweetheart? Jacky, my son?
What wilt thou leave thy sweetheart? my honey man?'
'A rope for to hang her, mother,' make my bed soon,
For I am sick to the heart, fain would lie down.'

'The Croodin Doo.' Findlay Manuscripts, I, 192.

1   'Whare did ye get your dinner the day,
My wee, wee croodin doo?'
My wee, wee croodin doo?
2   'I got it in my step-mither's ha,
Oh, granny, mak my bed noo.'
Oh, granny, mak my bed noo.
3   'What did ye get to your dinner the day,
My wee, wee croodin doo?'
My wee, wee croodin doo?
4   'I got a wee fishie wi four wee feeties,
Oh, granny, mak my bed noo.'
Oh, granny, mak my bed noo.
5   'Did ony body eat it but yoursel,
My wee, wee' croodin doo?'
My wee, wee' croodin doo?'
6   'I gied the banes to my wee, wee dogie,
Oh, granny, mak my bed noo;
He streekit out his head an died at my feet,
O, granny, een as I do noo.'

Among C.K. Sharpe's papers, and in his handwriting, is a piece in dialogue between Mother and Son headed, Death of Lord Rounal, a Gaelic ballad founded on a tradition of his receiving poison by treachery at the castle of his mistress' father, and dying on his return home. This is the familiar Scottish ballad made over in English and mildly sentimental phraseology. All the Celtic in it is "dark Dungael, the chief of meikle guile," the father.


P. 153 a. German. Two other copies in Böhme's Erk, No 190 b, I, 582.

[154 a; IV, 449 b. Danish. 'Den forgivne Datter,' Grundtvig-Olrik, No 341, Ridderviser, I, 146 ff., two versions: A = Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, No 92, X, 358; B, that communicated to Professor Child by Professor Grundtvig and mentioned in I, 154. Olrik mentions 7 Swedish copies, 5 of them unprinted.]

156 a, III, 499 b, V, 208 b. 'Donna Lombarda.' See Archivio, X, 380. [See also 'Utro Fæstemø vil forgive sin Fæstemand,' in the Grundtvig-Olrik collection, No 345, Ridderviser I, 165 ff., 3 versions A-C (A, B, from Manuscript sources going back in part to the 16th century; C, from oral tradition, printed by Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, No 19, 1, 49, No 56, X, 234). Olrik, in an elaborate introduction, studies the relations of the Danish ballad (which is found also in Norse, Bugge's Manuscript collections, No. 221) to 'Donna Lombarda' and to the history of the sixth century Lombard queen Rosemunda. He opposes the views of Gaston Paris, Journal des Savants, 1889, pp. 616 ff., and holds that 'Donna Lombarda,' 'Utro Fæstemø,' (his No 345), 'Giftblandersken' (his No 344), 'Fru Gundela' (see above I, 156 b), and the Slavic ballads of the sister who poisons her brother at the instigation of her lover, are all derived from the saga of Rosemunda. He even regards 'Old Robin of Portingale,' No 80, II, 240, as related to the 'Utro Fæstemø.' See below, p. 295.]

156 b, 499 a, II, 499 a, III, 499. The ballad of the maid who poisons her brother and is rejected by the man she expects to win in Lithuanian, Bartsch, Dainu Balsai, I, 172 ff., No 123 a, b. More ballads of poisoning, sister poisoning brother at the instance of her lover, girl poisoning her lover, and at col. 306 one resembling Lord Randal, Herrmann, Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, I, cols 292-308 (with an extensive bibliography). Herrmann's collections upon this theme are continued from cols 89-95, 203-11. [Cf. the Danish ballad 'Tule Slet, Ove Knar og Fru Magnild,' Grundtvig-Olrik, No. 350, Ridderviser, I, 186, where, however, the murderess uses a knife.]

157. Compare, for dialogue and repetition, the Catalan ballad 'El Conde Arnau,' Milá, Romancerillo, No 78, p. 67; where, however, the first half of the third line is also regularly repeated in the fourth.

  '¿Tota sola feu la vetlla, muller lleyal?
¿Tota sola feu la vetlla, viudeta igual?'
'No la faig yo tota sola, Comte l'Arnau,
No la faig yo tota sola, valga 'm Deu, val!'

157 b. A is translated by Professor Emilio Teza. 'L'Avvelenatrice, Canzone Boema,' Padova, 1891, p. 12. [Atti e Memorie della R. Accademia di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Padova, Nuova Serie, VII, 234.]

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