Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

93. Lamkin

P. 331, I, as it stands in "The Old Lady's Collection," No 15.

1	Lamken was as gued a masson as ever did hue ston; He bigged Lord Weary's house, an pament never got non.
2	It fell ance on a day Lord Weary went from home, An Lamkin came to the fause nirice, . . .
	* * *
3	'O still my bairn, nirice, still him we the kniff:' 'He winne still, lady, tho I sud lay doun my life.'
4	'O still my bairn, nirice, still him we the bell:' 'He winne still, lady, till ye come doun yersell.'
5	The first step she came on, it was the stane; The nest step she mett him Lamkin.
6	'O spare my life, Lamkin, an I ell gee ye a peak of goud well laid on; An that dinne pleas ye, I ell heap it we my hand.'
7	'O will I kill the lady, nirice, or will I lat her gang?' O kill her, Lanken, she was never gued to me.'
8	'O wanted ye yer meatt, nirice? or wanted ye yer fiee? Or wanted ye the other bountys lady's are wont to gee?'
9	. . . . . . Kill her, Lanken, she was never gued to me.'
10	'Ye wash a bason, nirice, an ye wash it clean, To cape this lady's blode; she is come of high kine.'
11	'I winne wash a bason, nor wash it clean, To cap this lady's blod, tho she be come of high kine.'
12	Bonny sang yon burd as he satt on the tree, Bat sare grat Lamkin fan he was hanged hie.
13	Bonny sang the burd that satt on the hill, Bat sare grat the nirice fan the caldron began to boill.
14	Lankin was hanged, . . . high, An the faus nirice was burnt in the cadrou was she.

339 ff., 513, IV, 480.

Y

'Lammikin,' Findlay's Manuscripts, I, 173, "from J. Milne, who wrote it down from recitation by John Duncan."

1	Lie in your room, my wife, . . . . . . . . .
2	'You'll fasten doors and windows, you'll fasten them out an in, For if you leave ae window open Lammikin will come in.'
3	They 've fastened doors an windows, they 've fastened them out an in, But they have left ae window open, an Lammikin cam in.
4	'O where are a' the women that dwell here within?' 'They're at the well washin, and they will not come in.'
5	'O where are a' the men that dwell here within?' 'They're at the . . ., and they will not come in.'
6	'O where is the lady that dwells here within?' 'She's up the stair dressin, an she will not come doun.'
7	'It's what will we do to mak her come doun? We'll rock the cradle, nourrice, an mak her come doun.'
8	They [hae] rocked the cradle to mak her come doun, . . . the red bluid out sprung.
9	'O still the bairn, nourrice, O still him wi the bell:' 'He winna still, my lady, till ye come doun yersel.'
10	The first step she steppit, it was upon a stane; The next step she steppit, she keppit Lammikin.
11	'O mercy, mercy, Lammikin, hae mercy upo me! Tho ye hae killed my young son, ye may lat mysel abee.'
12	'O it's will I kill her, nourrice, or will I lat her be?' 'O kill her, kill her, Lammikin, she neer was gude to me.'
13	'O it's wanted ye your meat? or wanted ye your fee?' . . . . . .
14	'I wanted not my meat, I wanted not my fee, But I wanted some bounties that ladies can gie.'

Pp. 320-42, III, 515, IV, 480 f., V, 229 f.

Denham, Tracts, II, 190, refers to a Northumbrian version of the ballad which associated Long Lonkin with Nafferton Castle in the parish of Ovingham. He also gives a story, obtained from an old man in Newcastle, according to which Long Lonkin is no mason but a gentleman, who kills the lady and her one child because the lord of Nafferton had been preferred to him. The husband, abandoning his journey to London on account of a misgiving that all was not right at home, after finding his wife and child dead, hunts down the murderer, who drops from a tree in which he had concealed himself into a pool, thence called Long Lonkin's pool, and is drowned.

Communicated by Mr. W.W. Newell, with the superscription (by the original transcriber, Miss Emma M. Backus) "as sung in Newbern, North Carolina, seventy-five years ago" (1895).

1	John Lankin was a good mason As ever laid a stone; He built Lord Arnold's castle And the lord he paid him none.
2	John Lankin then swore, If the lord did not pay him, He would break into his castle And murder all his kinsmen.
3	Lord Arnold soon did hear Of John Lankin's threat so dour; He did guard all his castle With soldiers every hour.
4	He said to his lady, 'I am going away from home, And what should you do If John Lankin should come?'
5	'I care not for John Lankin, Or any of his kin; I will bar all my doors And I'll pin my windows in.'
6	The doors were all barrd And the windows pinned in, And out of the kitchen-window The nurse she let him in.
7	He killed the good lady With a cowardly cruel blow, And threw her pretty baby To the dank moat below.
8	John Lankin was hung On the gallows so high, And the nurse she was chained In a dungeon to die.

To be Corrected in the Print.

481 a, I, 1¹. Read your hand.

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