No. 243: James Harris (The Daemon Lover) The House Carpenter
[A Warning for Married Women (Child version A, the earliest extant version) was entered in a Stationers' Register to Francis Grove on Feb. 21, 1657 by Laurence Price, a prolific broadside ballad writer. Whether Price's work is based on an earlier ballad is unknown.
In the United States the ballad, known usually as The House Carpenter, is one of the most popular and frequently collected English and Scottish ballads. Davis collected fifty-two texts from Virginia and published 29 texts and 7 melodies in the 1929 book, Traditional Ballads of Virginia.
[Listen: The House Carpenter- "Tom" Ashley- 1930]
Can't You Remember When Your Heart Was Mine? by the Carolina Tar Heels in 1928 was the first old-time country recording of "The House Carpenter" although the first verse was taken from a different song. The Greers recorded it in 1929 but it was never issued. For the Greers music see Brown Collection and also the I. G. Greer Collection at Appalachian State University. Tom Ashley's version was recorded in 1930 and again with Tex Isley in 1966. Bradley Kincaid recorded the ballad in 1933.
The two recordings with nearly identical texts by Ashley are transcribed in this collection - see: The House Carpenter- Ashley. Ashley's tune is modal with banjo accompaniment and is similar to the Appalachian versions that Cecil Sharp collected in 1916. Ashley's verses 3 and 7 are taken from versions of Young Hunting.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Footnotes are added at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-H
5. End-notes
6. Appendix
7. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 243. James Harris (The Daemon Lover)
A. Roud No. 14: James Harris (The Daemon Lover) (523 Listings)
B. The Ancestry of "The House-Carpenter"
C. Demon Lover in New England?- John Minear
D. Marriage and Retribution in 'James Harris'
E. "James Harris" in Britain Since Child
2. Sheet Music: 243. James Harris (The Daemon Lover)(including Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-H)
Child's Narrative: 243. James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
A. A Warning for Married Women, being an example of Mrs. Jane Reynolds (a West-country woman), born near Plymouth, who, having plighted her troth to a Seaman, was afterwards married to a Carpenter, and at last carried away by a Spirit, the manner how shall presently be recited. To a West-country tune called 'The Fair Maid of Bristol,' 'Bateman,' or 'John True.' Pepys Ballads, IV, 101.
B. 'The Distressed Ship - Carpenter,' The Rambler's Garland, 1785 (?), British Museum, 11621, c. 4 (57).
C. 'James Herries,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 214.
D. 'The Carpenter's Wife,' Kinloch Manuscripts, I, 297.
E. 'The Daemon Lover,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 97.
F. 'The Daemon Lover,' Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 427, 1812.
G. 'The Daemon Lover,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 93.
H. 'The Banks of Italy,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 138, two stanzas.
The Pepys copy was printed for Thackeray and Passenger. Others are: Crawford, No 1114, Printed for A. Melbourne], W. O[nley], and T. Thackeray; Ewing, 377, for Coles, Vere, and Gilbertson; the Same, 378, by and for W. O[nley]. No 71 in Thackeray's List, printed 1685. A later copy in the Douce ballads, II, fol. 249 b, Bodleian Library, printed by Thomas Norris at the Looking-Glass on London Bridge. Another, without publisher's name, in the Roxburghe collection, I, 502; Ballad Society, III, 200.
'The Daemon Lover' was first published in Scott's Minstrelsy, 5th edition, 1812 (F). William Laidlaw, who furnished the copy, inserted four stanzas of his own (6, 12, 17, 18, here omitted).[1] Motherwell, in 1827, had not been able to get more than nine stanzas (G), but afterwards secured a version of twice as many (B). Kinloch says of D, "My reciter, and others to whom I applied, assured me that they had never heard any more of it than what is given here." Buchan, I, 313, referring to Motherwell's fragment (G), is "happy to say ... there is still a perfect copy of this curious and scarce legend in existence, which is now for the first time given to the public" (C).
An Americanized version of this ballad was printed not very long ago at Philadelphia, under the title of 'The House-Carpenter.' I have been able to secure only two stanzas, which were cited in Graham's Illustrated Magazine, September, 1858:
'I might have married the king's daughter dear;'
'You might have married her,' cried she,
'For I am married to a house-carpenter,
And a fine young man is he.'
'Oh dry up your tears, my own true love,
And cease your weeping,' cried he,
'For soon you'll see your own happy home,
On the banks of old Tennessee.'
B-H have for their basis the broadside A: the substance of the story is repeated, with traditional modifications. Two or three stanzas of A are of the popular description, but it does not seem necessary to posit a tradition behind A. The correspondences of the several versions are as follows:
A 181,2, C 2.
A 183,4, 19, B 1, D 1, E 1, 21,2, F 1.
A 20, C 3, D 2, E 23,4 F 2.
A 21, B 41,2, 33,4, C 61, 123,4, D 3.
A 22, B 2, C 43,4, 51,2, E 3, F 4.
A 23, C 7.
A 24, B 5, C 8, E 51,2, F 6.
A 25, B 6, C 9, F 7, G H.
A 26, B 8, C 10, F 93,4.
A 28, B 11.
A 30, B 12.
B 31,2, E 41,2, F 51,2.
B 7, C 13, E 64, G 2, H 1.
B 9, 10, C 14, 17, D 5, E 12, 13, G 5.
B 12, C 23.
B 13, C 24.
C 3, D 2, E 2, F 2.
C 11, E 7, F 8, H 2.
C 16, D 6, E 16, F 12, G 6.
C 21, D 8.
D 1, E 1, F 1.
D 7, E 10, F 10, G 8.
E 11, F 11, G 7.
E 14, F 13.
E 15, F 14.
E 18, F 15.
F 92, G 43,4.
It will be observed that each of the versions B-F adds something which is taken up by a successor or successors. The arrangement of E and F, of E especially, is objectionable.
A. Jane Reynolds and James Harris, a seaman, had exchanged vows of marriage. The young man was pressed as a sailor, and after three years was reported as dead; the young woman married a ship-carpenter, and they lived together happily for four years, and had children. One night when the carpenter was absent from home, a spirit rapped at the window and announced himself as James Harris, come after an absence of seven years[2] to claim the woman for his wife. She explained the state of things, but upon obtaining assurance that her long-lost lover had the means to support her seven ships upon the sea consented to go with him, for he was really much like unto a man. 'The woman-kind' was seen no more after that; the carpenter hanged himself.
The carpenter is preserved in B-E, and even his name in C. He swoons in B, and runs distracted in C, when he learns what has become of his wife; the other versions take no notice of him after the elopement. B-F all begin with the return of the long-absent lover. The ship (as it is to have in A 26) has silken sails and gold masts, or the like, C 10, F 93,4 (cf. B 8, G 1); but there are no visible mariners, F 91,2, G 43,4. The pair have been only a short time afloat when the woman begins to weep for son, husband, or both, B 9, 10, C 14, D 5, E 12, 13, G 5. The seaman (as it will be convenient to call him) tells her to hold her tongue, he will show her how the lilies grow on the banks of Italy, C 16, D 6 (cf. E 16, 17), F 12, and, in a different connection, G 6. The seaman's countenance grows grim, and the sea gurly, D 7, B 10, F 10, G 8. He will let her see the fishes swim, where the lilies grow, in the bottom of the sea, C 21, D 8 (cf. E 16, 17). She discerns that the seaman has a cloven foot, B 11, F 11, G 7. She asks, What is yon bright hill? It is the hill of heaven, where she will never be. What is yon dark hill? It is the hill of hell, where they two shall be: E 14, 15, F 13, 14. The seaman reaches his hand to the topmast, strikes the sails, and the ship drowns, C 22; takes the woman up to the topmast and sinks the ship in a flash of fire, E 18; strikes the topmast with his hand, the foremast with his knee, and sinks the ship, F 15. In E 9 he throws the woman into the main, and five-and-twenty hundred ships are wrecked; in G 9 the little ship runs round about and never is seen more.
In A the revenant is characterized as a spirit; in B, which is even tamer than A, he is called the mariner, and is drowned with the woman; in C he expressly says to the woman, I brought you away to punish you for breaking your vows to me. This explicitness may be prosaic, but it seems to me regrettable that the conception was not maintained. To explain the eery personality and proceedings of the ship-master, E-G, with a sort of vulgar rationalism, turn him into the devil, and as he is still represented in E, F (G being defective at the beginning) as returning to seek the fulfilment of old vows, he there figures as a "daemon lover." D (probably by the fortunate accident of being a fragment) leaves us to put our own construction upon the weird seaman; and, though it retains the homely ship-carpenter, is on the whole the most satisfactory of all the versions.[3]
Scott's ballad is translated by Talvj, Versuch, etc., p. 558; by Gerhard, p. 84; and by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, No 14, p. 61 (after Aytoun, who repeats Scott, omitting one of Laidlaw's stanzas). Knortz, Lieder und Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 192, translates Allingham's ballad.
Footnotes:
1. Carruthers, Abbotsford Notanda, appended to R. Chambers's Life of Scott, 1871, p. 122. In the last edition of Sharpe's Ballad Book (1880), p. 158, we find this note by Scott: "I remember something of another ballad of diablerie. A man sells himself to the fause thief for a term of years, and the devil comes to claim his forfeit. He implores for mercy, or at least reprieve, and, if granted, promises this: 'And I will show how the lilies grow On the banks of Italy.' Satan, being no horticulturist, pays no attention to this proffer." Scott's memory seems to have gone quite astray here.
2. Why the ghost should wait four years, and what is meant in st. 18 hy his travelling seven years, it is not easy to understand. The author would probably take up the impregnable position that he was simply relating the facts as they occurred.
3. We must not be critical about copies which have been patched by tradition, but F 3 is singularly out of place for a "daemon lover."
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
There are several copies of the broadside version (A); that in the Pepys collection was printed for Thackeray and Passenger, and the ballad is No, 71 in Thackeray's list, printed 1685. 'The Dseraon Lover' was first published in Scott's Minstrelsy, 5th edition, 1812 (F). William Laidlaw, who furnished the copy, inserted four stanzas of his own (here omitted). D (probably by the fortunate accident of being a fragment) leaves us to put our own construction upon the weird seaman; and though it retains the homely ship-carpenter, is on the whole the most satisfactory of all the versions.
Child's Ballad Texts
'A Warning for Married Women &etc.'- Version A; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Pepys Ballads, IV, 101; from a copy in Percy's papers.
1 There dwelt a fair maid in the West,
Of worthy birth and fame,
Neer unto Plimouth, stately town,
Jane Reynolds was her name.
2 This damsel dearly was belovd
By many a proper youth,
And what of her is to be said
In known for very truth.
3 Among the rest a seaman brave
Unto her a wooing came;
A comely proper youth he was,
James Harris calld by name.
4 The maid and young man was agreed,
As time did them allow,
And to each other secretly
They made a solemn vow,
5 That they would ever faithfull be
Whilst Heaven afforded life;
He was to be her husband kind,
And she his faithfull wife.
6 A day appointed was also
When they was to be married;
But before these things were brought to pass
Matters were strangely carried.
7 All you that faithfull lovers be
Give ear and hearken well,
And what of them became at last
I will directly tell.
8 The young man he was prest to sea,
And forc d was to go;
His sweet-heart she must stay behind,
Whether she would or no.
9 And after he was from her gone
She three years for him staid,
Expecting of his comeing home,
And kept herself a maid.
10 At last news came that he was dead
Within a forraign land,
And how that he was buried
She well did understand,
11 For whose sweet sake the maiden she
Lamented many a day,
And never was she known at all
The wanton for to play.
12 A carpenter that livd hard by,
When he heard of the same,
Like as the other had done before,
To her a wooing came.
13 But when that he had gained her love
They married were with speed,
And four years space, being man and wife,
They loveingly agreed.
14 Three pritty children in this time
This loving couple had,
Which made their father's heart rejoyce,
And mother wondrous glad.
15 But as occasion servd, one time
The good man took his way
Some three days journey from his home,
Intending not to stay.
16 But, whilst that he was gone away,
A spirit in the night
Came to the window of his wife,
And did her sorely fright.
17 Which spirit spake like to a man,
And unto her did say,
'My dear and onely love,' quoth he,
'Prepare and come away.
18 'James Harris is my name,' quoth he,
'Whom thou didst love so dear,
And I have traveld for thy sake
At least this seven year.
19 'And now I am returnd again,
To take thee to my wife,
And thou with me shalt go to sea,
To end all further strife.'
20 'O tempt me not, sweet James,' quoth she,
'With thee away to go;
If I should leave my children small,
Alas! what would they do?
21 'My husband is a carpenter,
A carpenter of great fame;
I would not for five hundred pounds
That he should know the same.'
22 'I might have had a king's daughter,
And she would have married me;
But I forsook her golden crown,
And for the love of thee.
23 'Therefore, if thou'lt thy husband forsake,
And thy children three also,
I will forgive the[e] what is past,
If thou wilt with me go.'
24 'If I forsake my husband and
My little children three,
What means hast thou to bring me to,
If I should go with thee?'
25 'I have seven ships upon the sea;
When they are come to land,
Both marriners and marchandize
Shall be at thy command.
26 'The ship wherein my love shall sail
Is glorious to behold;
The sails shall be of finest silk,
And the mast of shining gold.'
27 When he had told her these fair tales,
To love him she began,
Because he was in human shape,
Much like unto a man.
28 And so together away they went
From off the English shore,
And since that time the woman-kind
Was never seen no more.
29 But when her husband he come home
And found his wife was gone,
And left her three sweet pretty babes
Within the house alone,
30 He beat his breast, he tore his hair,
The tears fell from his eyes,
And in the open streets he run
With heavy doleful cries.
31 And in this sad distracted case
He hangd himself for woe
Upon a tree near to the place;
The truth of all is so.
32 The children now are fatherless,
And left without a guide,
But yet no doubt the heavenly powers
Will for them well provide.
-----------
'The Distressed Ship - Carpenter'- Version B; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
The Rambler's Garland, British Museum, 11621, c. 4 (57). 1785(?)
1 'Well met, well met, my own true love,
Long time I have been seeking thee;
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.
2 'I might have had a king's daughter,
And fain she would have married me;
But I've forsaken all her crowns of gold,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.'
3 'If you might have had a king's daughter,
I think you much to blame;
I would not for five hundred pounds
That my husband should hear the same.
4 'For my husband is a carpenter,
And a young ship-carpenter is he,
And by him I have a little son,
Or else, love, I'd go along with thee.
5 'But if I should leave my husband dear,
Likewise my little son also,
What have you to maintain me withal,
If I along with you should go?'
6 'I have seven ships upon the seas,
And one of them brought me to land,
And seventeen mariners to wait on thee,
For to be, love, at your command.
7 'A pair of slippers thou shalt have,
They shall be mad of beaten gold,
Nay and be lin'd with velvet soft,
For to keep thy feet from cold.
8 'A gilded boat thou then shall have,
The oars shall gilded be also,
And mariners to row the[e] along,
For to keep thee from thy overthrow.'
9 They had not been long upon the sea
Before that she began to weep:
'What, weep you for my gold?' he said,
'Or do you weep for my fee?
10 'Or do you weep for some other young man
That you love much better than me?'
'No, I do weep for my little son,
That should have come along with me.'
11 She had not been upon the seas
Passing days three or four
But the mariner and she were drowned,
And never were heard of more.
12 When tidings to old England came
The ship-carpenter's wife was drownd,
He wrung his hands and tore his hair,
And grievously fell in a swoon.
13 'Oh cursed be those mariners!
For they do lead a wicked life;
They ruind me, a ship-carpenter,
Be deluding away my wife.'
---------
'James Herries'- Version C; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 214.
1 'O are ye my father? Or are ye my mother?
Or are ye my brother John?
Or are ye James Herries, my first true-love,
Come back to Scotland again?'
2 'I am not your father, I am not your mother,
Nor am I your brother John;
But I'm James Herries, your first true-love,
Come back to Scotland again.'
3 'Awa, awa, ye former lovers,
Had far awa frae me!
For now I am another man's wife
Ye'll neer see joy o me.'
4 'Had I kent that ere I came here,
I neer had come to thee;
For I might hae married the king's daughter,
Sae fain she woud had me.
5 'I despised the crown o gold,
The yellow silk also,
And I am come to my true-love,
But with me she'll not go.'
6 'My husband he is a carpenter,
Makes his bread on dry land,
And I hae born him a young son;
Wi you I will not gang.'
7 'You must forsake your dear husband,
Your little young son also,
Wi me to sail the raging seas,
Where the stormy winds do blow.'
8 'O what hae you to keep me wi,
If I should with you go,
If I'd forsake my dear husband,
My little young son also?'
9 'See ye not yon seven pretty ships?
The eighth brought me to land,
With merchandize and mariners,
And wealth in every hand.'
10 She turnd her round upon the shore
Her love's ships to behold;
Their topmasts and their mainyards
Were coverd oer wi gold.
11 Then she's gane to her little young son,
And kissd him cheek and chin;
Sae has she to her sleeping husband,
And dune the same to him.
12 'O sleep ye, wake ye, my husband?
I wish ye wake in time!
I woudna for ten thousand pounds
This night ye knew my mind.'
13 She's drawn the slippers on her feet,
Were coverd oer wi gold,
Well lined within wi velvet fine,
To had her frae the cold.
14 She hadna sailed upon the sea
A league but barely three
Till she minded on her dear husband,
Her little young son tee.
15 'O gin I were at land again,
At land where I woud be,
The woman neer shoud bear the son
Shoud gar me sail the sea.'
16 'O hold your tongue, my sprightly flower,
Let a' your mourning be;
I'll show you how the liles grow
On the banks o Italy.'
17 She hadna sailed on the sea
A day but barely ane
Till the thoughts o grief came in her mind,
And she langd for to be hame.
18 'O gentle death, come cut my breath,
I may be dead ere morn!
I may be buried in Scottish ground,
Where I was bred and born!'
19 'O hold your tongue, my lily leesome thing,
Let a' your mourning be;
But for a while we'll stay at Rose Isle,
Then see a far countrie.
20 Ye'se neer be buried in Scottish ground,
Nor land ye's nae mair see;
I brought you away to punish you
For the breaking your vows to me.
21 'I said ye shoud see the lilies grow
On the banks o Italy;
But I'll let you see the fishes swim,
In the bottom o the sea.'
22 He reached his hand to the topmast,
Made a' the sails gae down,
And in the twinkling o an ee
Baith ship and crew did drown.
23 The fatal flight o this wretched maid
Did reach her ain countrie;
Her husband then distracted ran,
And this lament made he:
24 'O wae be to the ship, the ship,
And wae be to the sea,
And wae be to the mariners
Took Jeanie Douglas frae me!
25 'O bonny, bonny was my love,
A pleasure to behold;
The very hair o my love's head
Was like the threads o gold.
26 'O bonny was her cheek, her cheek,
And bonny was her chin,
And bonny was the bride she was,
The day she was made mine!'
-------------
'The Carpenter's Wife'- Version D; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Kinloch Manuscripts, I, 297; from the recitation of T. Kinnear, Stonehaven.
1 'O whare hae ye been, my dearest dear,
These seven lang years and more?'
'O I am come to seek my former vows,
That ye promisd me before.'
2 'Awa wi your former vows,' she says,
'Or else ye will breed strife;
Awa wi your former vows,' she says,
'For I'm become a wife.
3 'I am married to a ship-carpenter,
A ship-carpenter he's bound;
I wadna he kend my mind this nicht
For twice five hundred pound.'
* * * * *
4 She has put her foot on gude ship-board,
And on ship-board she's gane,
And the veil that hung oure her face
Was a' wi gowd begane.
5 She had na sailed a league, a league,
A league, but barely twa,
Till she did mind on the husband she left,
And her wee young son alsua.
6 'O haud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee;
I'll show whare the white lillies grow,
On the banks of Italie.'
7 She has na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
Till grim, grim grew his countenance,
And gurly grew the sea.
8 'O haud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee;
I'll show whare the white lillies grow,
In the bottom of the sea.'
9 He's tane her by the milk-white hand,
And he's thrown her in the main;
And full five-and-twenty hundred ships
Perishd all on the coast of Spain.
--------------
'The Daemon Lover'- Version E; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 97.
1 'Where have you been, my long lost lover,
This seven long years and more?'
'I've been seeking gold for thee, my love,
And riches of great store.
2 'Now I'm come for the vows you promised me,
You promised me long ago;'
'My former vows you must forgive,
For I'm a wedded wife.'
3 'I might have been married to a king's daughter,
Far, far ayont the sea;
But I refused the crown of gold,
And it's all for the love of thee.'
4 'If you might have married a king's daughter,
Yourself you have to blame;
For I'm married to a ship's-carpenter,
And to him I have a son.
5 'Have you any place to put me in,
If I with you should gang?'
'I've seven brave ships upon the sea,
All laden to the brim.
6 'I'll build my love a bridge of steel,
All for to help her oer;
Likewise webs of silk down by her side,
To keep my love from the cold.'
7 She took her eldest son into her arms,
And sweetly did him kiss:
'My blessing go with you, and your father too,
For little does he know of this.'
8 As they were walking up the street,
Most beautiful for to Behold,
He cast a glamour oer her face,
And it shone like the brightest gold.
9 As they were walking along the sea-side,
Where his gallant ship lay in,
So ready was the chair of gold
To welcome this lady in.
10 They had not sailed a league, a league,
A league but scarsely three,
Till altered grew his countenance,
And raging grew the sea.
11 When they came to yon sea-side,
She set her down to rest;
It's then she spied his cloven foot,
Most bitterly she wept.
12 'O is it for gold that you do weep?
Or is it for fear?
Or is it for the man you left behind
When that you did come here?'
13 'It is not for gold that I do weep,
O no, nor yet for fear;
But it is for the man I left behind
When that I did come here.
14 'O what a bright, bright hill is yon,
That shines so clear to see?'
'O it is the hill of heaven,' he said
'Where you shall never be.'
15 'O what a black, dark hill is yon,
That looks so dark to me?'
'O it is the hill of hell,' he said,
'Where you and I shall be.
16 'Would you wish to see the fishes swim
In the bottom of the sea,
Or wish to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy?'
17 'I hope I'll never see the fishes swim
On the bottom of the sea,
But I hope to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy.'
18 He took her up to the topmast high,
To see what she could see;
He sunk the ship in a flash of fire,
To the bottom of the sea.
-----------
'The Daemon Lover'- Version F; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, fifth edition, 1812, II, 427; taken down from the recitation of Walter Grieve by William Laidlaw.
1 'O where have you been, my long, long love,
This long seven years and mair?'
'O I'm come to seek my former vows
Ye granted me before.'
2 'O hold your tongue of your former vows,
For they will breed sad strife;
O hold your tongue of your former vows,
For I am become a wife.'
3 He turned him right and round about,
And the tear blinded his ee:
'I wad never hae trodden on Irish ground,
If it had not been for thee.
4 'I might hae had a king's daughter,
Far, far beyond the sea;
I might have had a king's daughter,
Had it not been for love o thee.'
5 'If ye might have had a king's daughter,
Yer sel ye had to blame;
Ye might have taken the king's daughter,
For ye kend that I was nane.
6 'If I was to leave my husband dear,
And my two babes also,
O what have you to take me to,
If with you I should go?'
7 'I hae seven ships upon the sea —
The eighth brought me to land —
With four-and-twenty bold mariners,
And music on every hand.'
8 She has taken up her two little babes,
Kissd them baith cheek and chin:
'O fair ye weel, my ain two babes,
For I'll never see you again.'
9 She set her foot upon the ship,
No mariners could she behold;
But the sails were o the taffetie,
And the masts o the beaten gold.
10 She had not sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
When dismal grew his countenance,
And drumlie grew his ee.
11 They had not saild a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
Until she espied his cloven foot,
And she wept right bitterlie.
12 'O hold your tongue of your weeping,' says he,
'Of your weeping now let me be;
I will shew you how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.'
13 'O what hills are yon, yon pleasant hills,
That the sun shines sweetly on?'
'O you are the hills of heaven,' he said,
'Where you will never win.'
14 'O whaten a mountain is yon,' she said,
'All so dreary wi frost and snow?'
'O yon is the mountain of hell,' he cried,
'Where you and I will go.'
15 He strack the tap-mast wi his hand,
The fore-mast wi his knee,
And he brake that gallant ship in twain,
And sank her in the sea.
-------------
'The Daemon Lover'- Version G; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 93.
1 'I have seven ships upon the sea,
Laden with the finest gold,
And mariners to wait us upon;
All these you may behold.
2 'And I have shoes for my love's feet,
Beaten of the purest gold,
And lin d wi the velvet soft,
To keep my love's feet from the cold.
3 'O how do you love the ship?' he said,
'Or how do you love the sea?
And how do you love the bold mariners
That wait upon thee and me?'
4 'O I do love the ship,' she said,
'And I do love the sea;
But woe be to the dim mariners,
That nowhere I can see!'
5 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but one,
When she bagan to weep and mourn,
And to think on her little wee son.
6 'O hold your tongue, my dear,' he said,
'And let all your weeping abee,
For I'll soon show to you how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.'
7 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but two,
Until she espied his cloven foot,
From his gay robes sticking thro.
8 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but three,
When dark, dark, grew his eerie looks,
And raging grew the sea.
9 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but four,
When the little wee ship ran round about,
And never was seen more.
----------
['He's given her a pair of shoes']- Version H; Child 243 James Harris, (The Daemon Lover)
Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 138; taken down by the editor's father from the singing of an aged relative.
1 He's given her a pair of shoes,
To hold her frae the cold;
The one side of them was velvaret,
And the other beaten gold.
2 Up she has taen her little wee son,
And given him kisses three;
Says, Fare ye weel, my little wee son,
I'm gaun to sail the sea.
-------------
End-Notes:
B. The Rambler's Garland, composed of some Delightful New Songs. There are four: the third is The distressed Ship Carpenter. "1785?"
11. my my own.
E. 32. Originally, Had it not been for love of thee.
103. In the margin, Till grim, grim grew.
114. Och hone under the line.
141. Altered to, O whatena.
151. Altered to, O whatena dark. (The original readings are likely to have been the traditional ones.)
173. sea.
F. In a letter to Scott, January 3, 1803, Laidlaw gives some account of the ballad sung by Walter Grieve, and cites some verses from recollection, which, not unnaturally, differ from what he afterwards took down in writing.
"He likewise sung part of a very beautiful ballad which I think you will not have seen. As a punishment for her inconstancy, the Devil is supposed to come and entice a young woman from her husband, in the form of her former lover. The tune is very solemn and melancholy, and the effect is mixed with a considerable proportion of horror. I remember but very few verses. He prevails upon her to go abroad [aboard?] to hear his musicians, after upbraiding her
'I might hae marrit a king's daughter, but
I mindit my love for thee.'
"The description of her setting her child on the nurse's knee and bidding him farewell is waesome, but I have forgot it."
She set her foot into the ship, to hear the music play;
The masts war o the beaten goud, and the sails o the silk sae gay.
They hadna saild a league thrae land, a league but barely three,
Till drearie grew his countenance, and drumlie grew his ee.
They hadna saild another league, another league but three,
Till she beheld his cloven fit, and she wept most bitterlie.
'O had yer tongue, my love,' he said, 'why weep ye sae mournfulie?
We're gaun to see how the lillies do grow on the banks o fair Italie.'
'What hills are yon, yon pleasant hills, where the sun shines [a wafer here]
'O yon's the hills of heaven,' he said, 'where you will never win!'"
Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Vol. I, No 78, Abbotsford.
--------------
Additions and Corrections
P. 360 a. B. There is another, and perhaps slightly earlier, copy of The Rambler's Garland, British Museum, 11621, c. 2 (64), with a few trifling differences, for better or worse.