The Bonny Birdy

Text.--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. Jamieson, in printing this ballad, enlarged and rewrote much of it, making the burden part of the dialogue throughout.

The Story is much the same as that of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard; but the ballad as a whole is worthy of comparison with the longer English ballad for the sake of its lyrical setting.


THE BONNY BIRDY

    1.
    There was a knight, in a summer's night,
        Was riding o'er the lee, (diddle)
    An' there he saw a bonny birdy,
        Was singing upon a tree. (diddle)

            O wow for day! (diddle)
            An' dear gin it were day! (diddle)
            Gin it were day, an' gin I were away,
            For I ha' na lang time to stay. (diddle)

    2.
    'Make hast, make hast, ye gentle knight,
        What keeps you here so late?
    Gin ye kent what was doing at hame,
        I fear you woud look blate.'

    3.
    'O what needs I toil day an' night,
        My fair body to kill,
    Whan I hae knights at my comman',
        An' ladys at my will?'

    4.
    'Ye lee, ye lee, ye gentle knight,
        Sa loud's I hear you lee;
    Your lady's a knight in her arms twa
        That she lees far better nor thee.'

    5.
    'Ye lee, ye lee, you bonny birdy,
        How you lee upo' my sweet!
    I will tak' out my bonny bow,
        An' in troth I will you sheet.'

    6.
    'But afore ye hae your bow well bent,
        An' a' your arrows yare,
    I will flee till another tree,
        Whare I can better fare.'

    7.
    'O whare was you gotten, and whare was ye clecked?
        My bonny birdy, tell me';
    'O I was clecked in good green wood,
        Intill a holly tree;
    A gentleman my nest herryed
        An' ga' me to his lady.

    8.
    'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk
        He bade her feed me aft,
    An' ga' her a little wee simmer-dale wanny,
        To ding me sindle and saft.

    9.
    'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk
        I wot she fed me nought,
    But wi' a little wee simmer-dale wanny
        She dang me sair an' aft:
    Gin she had deen as ye her bade,
        I wouldna tell how she has wrought.'

    10.
    The knight he rade, and the birdy flew,
        The live-lang simmer's night,
    Till he came till his lady's bow'r-door,
        Then even down he did light:
    The birdy sat on the crap of a tree,
        An' I wot it sang fu' dight.

    11.
    'O wow for day! (diddle)
        An' dear gin it were day! (diddle)
    Gin it were day, and gin I were away,
        For I ha' na lang time to stay.' (diddle)

    12.
    'What needs ye lang for day, (diddle)
        An' wish that you were away? (diddle)
    Is no your hounds i' my cellar.
        Eating white meal and gray?' (diddle)
                            'O wow for day,' etc.

    13.
    'Is nae you[r] steed in my stable,
        Eating good corn an' hay?
    An' is nae your hawk i' my perch-tree,
        Just perching for his prey?
    An' is nae yoursel i' my arms twa?
        Then how can ye lang for day?'

    14.
    'O wow for day! (diddle)
        An' dear gin it were day! (diddle)
    For he that's in bed wi' anither man's wife
        Has never lang time to stay.' (diddle)

    15.
    Then out the knight has drawn his sword,
        An' straiked it o'er a strae,
    An' thro' and thro' the fa'se knight's waste
        He gard cauld iron gae:
    An' I hope ilk ane sal sae be serv'd
        That treats ane honest man sae.

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

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English

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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.


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    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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Clerk Colven

The Text.--This ballad was one of two transcribed from the now lost Tytler-Brown MS., and the transcript is given here. A considerable portion of the story is lost between stanzas 6 and 7.


The Story in its full form is found in a German poem of the twelfth or thirteenth century (Der Ritter von Stauffenberg) as well as in many Scandinavian ballads.

In the German tale, the fairy bound the knight to marry no one; on that condition she would come to him whenever he wished, if he were alone, and would bestow endless gifts upon him: if ever he did marry, he would die within three days. Eventually he was forced to marry, and died as he had been warned.

In seventy Scandinavian ballads, the story remains much the same. The hero's name is Oluf or Ole, or some modification of this, of which 'Colvill,' or...

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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
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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.


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Fair Janet

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The Story is a simple ballad-tale of 'true-love twinned'; but the episode of the dancing forms a link with a number of German and Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing and horse-riding is made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In the Scotch ballad the horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the dancing is not compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities of the Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad.


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...

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