Brown Adam

The Text is given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. It was first printed by Scott, with the omission of the second stanza--perhaps justifiable--and a few minor changes. He notes that he had seen a copy printed on a single sheet.

The Story has a remote parallel in a Danish ballad, extant in manuscripts of the sixteenth century and later, Den afhugne Haand. The tale is told as follows. Lutzelil, knowing the evil ways of Lawi Pederson, rejects his proffered love. Lawi vows she shall repent it, and the maiden is afraid for nine months to go to church, but goes at Easter. Lawi meets her in a wood, and repeats his offer. She begs him to do her no harm, feigns compliance, and makes an assignation in the chamber of her maids. She returns home and tells her father, who watches for Lawi. When he comes and demands admission, she denies the assignation. Lawi breaks down the door, and discovers Lutzelil's father with a drawn sword, with which he cuts off Lawi's hand.

The reason for objecting to the second stanza as here given is not so much the inadequacy of a golden hammer, or the unusual whiteness of the smith's fingers, but the rhyme in the third line.

BROWN ADAM

1.
O wha woud wish the win' to blaw,
Or the green leaves fa' therewith?
Or wha wad wish a leeler love
Than Brown Adam the Smith?

2.
His hammer's o' the beaten gold,
His study's o' the steel,
His fingers white are my delite,
He blows his bellows well.

3.
But they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam
Frae father and frae mither,
An' they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam
Frae sister and frae brither.

4.
And they ha' banish'd Brown Adam
Frae the flow'r o' a' his kin;
An' he's biggit a bow'r i' the good green wood
Betwen his lady an' him.

5.
O it fell once upon a day
Brown Adam he thought lang,
An' he woud to the green wood gang,
To hunt some venison.

6.
He's ta'en his bow his arm o'er,
His bran' intill his han',
And he is to the good green wood,
As fast as he coud gang.

7.
O he's shot up, an' he's shot down,
The bird upo' the briar,
An' he's sent it hame to his lady,
Bade her be of good cheer.

8.
O he's shot up, an' he's shot down,
The bird upo' the thorn,
And sent it hame to his lady,
And hee'd be hame the morn.

9.
Whan he came till his lady's bow'r-door
He stood a little forbye,
And there he heard a fu' fa'se knight
Temptin' his gay lady.

10.
O he's ta'en out a gay gold ring,
Had cost him mony a poun':
'O grant me love for love, lady,
An' this sal be your own.'

11.
'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says,
'I wot sae does he me;
An' I woud na gi' Brown Adam's love
For nae fa'se knight I see.'

12.
Out he has ta'en a purse of gold,
Was a' fu' to the string:
'Grant me but love for love, lady,
An' a' this sal be thine.'

13.
'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says,
'An' I ken sae does he me;
An' I woudna be your light leman
For mair nor ye coud gie.'

14.
Then out has he drawn his lang, lang bran',
An' he's flash'd it in her een:
'Now grant me love for love, lady,
Or thro' you this sal gang!'

15.
'O,' sighing said that gay lady,
'Brown Adam tarrys lang!'
Then up it starts Brown Adam,
Says, 'I'm just at your han'.'

16.
He's gard him leave his bow, his bow,
He's gard him leave his bran';
He's gard him leave a better pledge--
Four fingers o' his right han'.

Frank Sidgwick

Frank Sidgwick was an English writer, publisher, and scholarly editor. He was instrumental in popularizing ballad and folklore studies in the early 20th century. Sidgwick co-founded the publishing company Sidgwick & Jackson, which became known for its contributions to literature and scholarship. Though not primarily known as a poet, his editorial and publishing efforts significantly impacted the literary culture of his time, emphasizing the academic study of traditional songs and verses.

Frank Sidgwick

Kinmont Willie

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Earl Bothwell

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Young Benjie

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

The Cruel Brother

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

English

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Brown Robin

The Text is here given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. Versions, lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs (Love Robbie) and in Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland (Brown Robyn and Mally).

The Story is a genuine bit of romance. The proud porter is apparently suspicious, believing that the king's daughter would not have made him drunk for any good purpose. In spite of that he cannot see through Brown Robin's disguise, though the king remarks that 'this is a sturdy dame.' The king's daughter, one would think, who conceals Robin's bow in her bosom, must also have been somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch in 8.2.


BROWN ROBIN

    1.
    The king but an' his nobles a' } bis
        Sat birling at...

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Lamkin

The Text is from Jamieson's Popular Ballads. He obtained it from Mrs. Brown. It is by far the best version of a score or so in existence. The name of the hero varies from Lamkin, Lankin, Lonkin, etc., to Rankin and Balcanqual. I have been informed by Andrew McDowall, Esq., of an incomplete version in which Lamkin's name has become 'Bold Hang'em.'

Finlay (Scottish Ballads) remarks:-- 'All reciters agree that Lammikin, or Lambkin, is not the name of the hero, but merely an epithet.'

The Story varies little throughout all the versions, though in some, as in one known to Percy, it lacks much of the detail here given.


LAMKIN

    1.
    It's Lamkin was a mason good
        As ever built wi' stane;
    He built Lord Wearie's castle,
        But payment got he nan...

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Willie's Lady

The Text is from the lost Fraser-Tytler-Brown MS., this ballad luckily having been transcribed before the MS. disappeared. Mrs. Brown recited another and a fuller version to Jamieson.


The Story.--Willie's mother, a witch, displeased at her son's choice, maliciously arrests by witchcraft the birth of Willie's son. Willie's travailing wife sends him again and again to bribe the witch, who refuses cup, steed, and girdle. Here our version makes such abrupt transitions, that it will be well to explain what takes place. The Belly Blind or Billie Blin (see Young Bekie, First Series, pp. 6, 7) advises Willie to make a sham baby of wax, and invite his witch-mother to the christening. Willie does so (in stanzas lost between our 33 and 34); the witch, believing the wax-baby to be flesh and blood, betrays all her craft by aski...

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Tam Lin

    =all' ê toi prôtista leôn genet' êugeneios,
    autar epeita drakôn kai pardalis êde megas sus;
    gigneto d' hugron hudôr kai dendreon hupsipetêlon.=

    Odyssey, IV. 456-8.

The Text here given is from Johnson's Museum, communicated by Burns. Scott's version (1802), The Young Tamlane, contained certain verses, 'obtained from a gentleman residing near Langholm, which are said to be very ancient, though the language is somewhat of a modern cast.' --'Of a grossly modern invention,' says Child, 'and as unlike popular verse as anything can be.' Here is a specimen:--

    'They sing, inspired with love and joy,
        Like skylarks in the air;
    Of solid sense, or thought that's grave,
        You'll find no traces there.'

A copy in the Glenriddell...

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The Gay Goshawk

The Text is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew partly for his ballad in the Minstrelsy. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most of the other Tytler-Brown versions.

The Story.--One point, the maid's feint of death to escape from her father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; a version entitled Belle Isambourg is printed in a collection called Airs de Cour, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a common feature in many European ballads.

It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much less talks. In Buchan's version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is exchanged for a parrot.


THE GAY GOSHAWK

    1.
    'O well's me o' my g...

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The Clerk's Twa Sons O' Owsenford, And The Wife Of Usher's Well

These two ballads must be considered together, as the last six verses (18-23) of The Clerk's Twa Sons, as here given, are a variant of The Wife of Usher's Well.


Texts.--The Clerk's Twa Sons is taken from Kinloch's MSS., in the handwriting of James Chambers, as it was sung to his grandmother by an old woman.

The Wife of Usher's Well is from Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and however incomplete, may well stand alone.


The Story has a fairly close parallel in the well-known German ballad, 'Das Schloss in Oesterreich'; and a ballad found both in Spain and Italy has resemblances to each. But in these two ballads, especially in The Wife of Usher's Well, the interest lies rather in the impressiveness of the verses than in the story.

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