Our Goodman

The Text is from Herd's MSS., as given by Professor Child to form a regular sequence. The ballad also exists in an English broadside form.


The Story of the ballad has a close counterpart in Flemish Belgium, and in southern France. The German variants, however, have a curious history. The English broadside ballad was translated into German by F. W. Meyer in 1789, and in this form gained such popularity that it was circulated not only as a broadside, but actually in oral tradition,--with the usual result of alteration. Its vogue was not confined to Germany, but spread to Hungary and Scandinavia, a Swedish broadside appearing within ten years of Meyer's translation.


OUR GOODMAN

    1.
    Hame came our goodman,
        And hame came he,
    And then he saw a saddle-horse,
        Where nae horse should be.

    2.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came this horse here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
    Recitative.
                'A horse?' quo' she.
                'Ay, a horse,' quo' he.

    3.
    'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
        Ill mat ye see!
    'Tis naething but a broad sow,
        My minnie sent to me.'
                'A broad sow?' quo' he.
                'Ay, a sow,' quo' shee.

    4.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But a saddle on a sow's back
        I never saw nane.'

    5.
    Hame came our goodman,
        And hame came he;
    He spy'd a pair of jack-boots,
        Where nae boots should be.

    6.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came these boots here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
                'Boots?' quo' she.
                'Ay, boots,' quo' he.

    7.
    'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
        And ill mat ye see!
    It's but a pair of water-stoups,
        My minnie sent to me.'
                'Water-stoups?' quo' he.
                'Ay, water-stoups,' quo' she.

    8.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But siller spurs on water-stoups
        I saw never nane.'

    9.
    Hame came our goodman,
        And hame came he,
    And he saw a sword,
        Whare a sword should na be.

    10.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came this sword here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
                'A sword?' quo' she.
                'Ay, a sword,' quo' he.

    11.
    'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
        Ill mat ye see!
    It's but a porridge-spurtle,
        My minnie sent to me.'
                'A spurtle?' quo' he.
                'Ay, a spurtle,' quo' she.

    12.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But siller-handed spurtles
        I saw never nane.'

    13.
    Hame came our goodman,
        And hame came he;
    There he spy'd a powder'd wig,
        Where nae wig shoud be.

    14.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came this wig here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
                'A wig?' quo' she.
                'Ay, a wig,' quo' he.

    15.
    'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
        And ill mat you see!
    'Tis naething but a clocken-hen,
        My minnie sent to me.'
                'Clocken hen?' quo' he.
                'Ay, clocken hen,' quo' she.

    16.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But powder on a clocken-hen
        I saw never nane.'

    17.
    Hame came our goodman,
        And hame came he,
    And there he saw a muckle coat,
        Where nae coat shoud be.

    18.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came this coat here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
                'A coat?' quo' she.
                'Ay, a coat,' quo' he.

    19.
    'Shame fa' your cuckold face,
        Ill mat ye see!
    It's but a pair o' blankets,
        My minnie sent to me.'
                'Blankets?' quo' he.
                'Ay, blankets,' quo' she.

    20.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But buttons upon blankets
        I saw never nane.'

    21.
    Ben went our goodman,
        And ben went he,
    And there he spy'd a sturdy man,
        Where nae man shoud be.

    22.
    'What's this now, goodwife?
        What's this I see?
    How came this man here,
        Without the leave o' me?'
                'A man?' quo' she.
                'Ay, a man,' quo' he.

    23.
    'Poor blind body,
        And blinder mat ye be!
    It's a new milking-maid,
        My mither sent to me.'
                'A maid?' quo' he.
                'Ay, a maid,' quo' she.

    24.
    'Far hae I ridden,
        And farer hae I gane,
    But lang-bearded maidens
        I saw never nane.'

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

Allison Gross

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Cospatrick

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Captain Wedderburn

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

The Wee Wee Man

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

English

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Cospatrick

The Text is that of Scott's Minstrelsy (1802). It was 'taken down from the recitation of a lady' (his mother's sister, Miss Christian Rutherford), and collated with a copy in the Tytler-Brown MS. The ballad is also called Gil Brenton, Lord Dingwall, Bangwell, Bengwill, or Brangwill, Bothwell, etc.

The Story is a great favourite, not only in Scandinavian ballads, but also in all northern literature. The magical agency of bed, blankets, sheets, and sword, is elsewhere extended to a chair, a stepping-stone by the bedside (see the Boy and the Mantle, First Series, p. 119), or the Billie Blin (see Young Bekie, First Series, pp. 6, 7, and Willie's Lady, p. 19). The Norwegian tale of Aase and the Prince is known to English readers in Dasent's Annie the Goosegirl<...

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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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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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The Knight And The Shepherd's Daughter
The Text is given here from Kinloch's MSS. He gives also three other versions and various fragments. The tale is also found amongst the Roxburghe Ballads, as The Beautifull Shepherdesse of Arcadia, in two broadsides printed about 1655 and 1680. This is the only English version extant. But earlier than any text of the ballad is a quotation from it in John Fletcher's The Pilgrim, iv. 2 (1621). The Scots versions, about a dozen in number, are far more lively than the broadside. Buchan printed two, of sixty and sixty-three stanzas respectively. Another text is delightfully inconsequent:--

'"Some ca' me Jack, some ca' me John,
Some ca' me Jing-ga-lee,
But when I am in the queen's court
Earl Hitchcock they ca' me."

"Hitchcock, Hitchcock," Jo Janet she said,
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The Twa Sisters O' Binnorie
Texts.--The version here given is compounded from two different sources, almost of necessity. Stanzas 1-19 were given by Scott, compounded from W. Tytler's Brown MS. and the recitation of an old woman. But at stanza 20 Scott's version becomes eccentric, and he prints such verses as:--

'A famous harper passing by
The sweet pale face he chanced to spy ...

The strings he framed of her yellow hair,
Whose notes made sad the listening air.'

Stanzas 20-25, therefore, have been supplied from the Jamieson-Brown MS., which after this point does not descend from the high level of ballad-poetry.

The Story.--This is a very old and a very popular story. An early broadside exists, dated 1656, and the same version is printed in Wit Restor'd, 1658. Of Scandinavian ballads on the ...
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Captain Wedderburn
The Text is from Kinloch's MSS., where it was written down from the recitation of Mary Barr: it is entitled 'The Earl of Rosslyn's Daughter.'

The Story is the converse of A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded, in which the maid wins a husband by riddles; in the present one the captain out-riddles the maid. Similar tales are very popular in many lands, being found in Persia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Lithuania, East Siberia, etc.

Most of the lady's riddles are found in an old English song, and its traditional derivatives. The song, which is given below, is found in Sloane MS. 2593, which contains other carols and ballads (see pp. 123-8)[A]. From this is derived the nursery song beginning--

'I had four brothers over the sea'

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