Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

16. Sheath and Knife

P. 185. Mr. Macmath has found the following ballad in Motherwell's handwriting, on a half-sheet of paper. It is not completely intelligible (why should Lady Ann be left in the death-throe, to bury herself?), but undoubtedly belongs here. The first stanza agrees with D.

E

1   One king's daughter said to anither,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
'We'll gae ride like sister and brither.'
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
2   'We'll ride doun into yonder valley,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
Whare the greene green trees are budding sae gaily.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
3   'Wi hawke and hounde we will hunt sae rarely,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
And we'll come back in the morning early.'
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
4   They rade on like sister and brither,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
And they hunted and hawket in the valley thegether.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
5   'Now, lady, hauld my horse and my hawk,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
For I maun na ride, and I downa walk.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
6   'But set me doun be the rate o this tree,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
For there hae I dreamt that my bed sail be.'
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
7   The ae king's dochter did lift doun the ither,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
And she was licht in her armis like ony fether.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
8   Bonnie Lady Ann sat doun be the tree,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
And a wide grave was houkit whare nane suld be.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
9   The hawk had nae lure, and the horse had nae master,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
And the faithless hounds thro the woods ran faster.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
10   The one king's dochter has ridden awa,
      Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair
But bonnie Lady Ann lay in the deed-thraw.
      And we'll neer gae down to the brume nae mair
   Some words are difficult to read.
2. sae wanting in burden 1.
31. hunt? growis fair in burden 1.
51. Originally Oh hauld my bridle and stirrup.
Ann, or come, is written over Oh.
92. faithless?

The lost knife here in A 8-10, B 5, and in 'Leesome Brand,' No 15, 3641, appears in 'The Squire of Low Degree,' Percy Folio, III, 267, vv. 117-126 (not in the version printed by Ritson and by Hazlitt).

  'Daughter,' he sais, 'ffor whose sake
Is that, sorrow that still thou makes?'
'Ffather,' shee sais, 'as I doe see,
Itt is ffor no man in Christentye;
Ffather,' shee sayes, 'as I doe thriue,
Itt is ffor noe man this day aliue.
Ffor yesterday I lost my kniffe;
Much rather had I haue lost my liffe!'
'My daughter,' he sayes, 'if itt be but a blade,
I can gett another as good made.'
'Ffather,' shee sais, 'there is neuer a smith but one
That [can] smith you such a one.'
(G.L.K.)

To be Corrected in the Print.

186 a, Notes to A b. Add 22. slung at.

This page most recently updated on 18-Apr-2011, 17:02:17.
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