No. 86: Young Benjie
[There are no traditional US or Canadian versions of this ballad. Barry, in Brittish Ballads Maine, p. 453, reports that a Maine woman recognized this ballad as one she had heard in her childhood in Ireland.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-B.(A* is a supplimental version of A with a different first verse from Additions and Corrections)
5. End-Notes (There are no end-notes)
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 86. Young Benjie
A. Roud Number ( Listings)
2. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-B and A* with additional notes)]
3. Sheet Music: 86. Young Benjie (Bronson texts- music)
Child's Narrative: Young Benjie
A. 'Young Benjie,' Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, III, 251, ed. 1803; JET, 10, ed. 1833.
A* 'Young Boonjie,' from Jean Scott. In the handwriting of William Laidlaw. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 29, Abbotsford. [Added in a later edition. Designated A* by Kittredge in 1904.]
B. 'Bondsey and Maisry,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 265.
'Verkel Vejemandsøn,' Grundtvig, IV, 151, No 198, invites a comparison with 'Young Benjie,' although the ballads, in the form in which they are now extant, are widely divergent. Verkel Vejemandsøn, seeing maid Gundelild shining in her virgin crown, makes a fiendish vow to rob her of it. He rides up to her house and asks where her father and mother are. They are away from home. He carries her off on his horse into the thickest of a wood, and bids her hold the beast while he makes a bed of leaves. He loses her in the thicket, and cannot find her, though he looks for her a day and two days. She goes to the strand and throws herself into the sea, saying, It was a very different bride-bed that my mother meant me to have. She is drawn out in a fisherman's net. Verkel swears that he has not seen her for eight years, but he is convicted of his crime, on evidence not given, and "clothes three stakes;" that is, he is hanged, and parts of his body are exposed on the wheels which crown the three posts of a gallows.
Sir Walter Scott's observations on the passage in which the drowned maid reveals the author of her death are too interesting to be spared:
"In this ballad the reader will find traces of a singular superstition, not yet altogether discredited in the wilder parts of Scotland. The lykewake, or watching a dead body, in itself a melancholy office, is rendered, in the idea of the assistants, more dismally awful by the mysterious horrors of superstition. In the interval betwixt death and interment, the disembodied spirit is supposed to hover round its mortal habitation, and, if invoked by certain rites, retains the power of communicating, through its organs, the cause of its dissolution. Such inquiries, however, are always dangerous, and never to be resorted to unless the deceased is suspected to have suffered foul play, as it is called. It is the more unsafe to tamper with this charm in an unauthorized manner, because the inhabitants of the infernal regions are, at such periods, peculiarly active. One of the most potent ceremonies in the charm, for causing the dead body to speak, is setting the door ajar, or half open. On this account the peasants of Scotland sedulously avoid leaving the door ajar while a corpse lies in the house. The door must either be left wide open or quite shut; but the first is always preferred, on account of the exercise of hospitality usual on such occasions. The attendants must be likewise careful never to leave the corpse for a moment alone, or, if it is left alone, to avoid, with a degree of superstitious horror, the first sight of it.
"The following story, which is frequently related by the peasants of Scotland, will illustrate the imaginary danger of leaving the door ajar. In former times a man and his wife lived in a solitary cottage on one of the extensive Border fells. One day the husband died suddenly, and his wife, who was equally afraid of staying alone by the corpse, or leaving the dead body by itself, repeatedly went to the door, and looked anxiously over the lonely moor for the sight of some person approach ing. In her confusion and alarm she accidentally left the door ajar, when the corpse suddenly started up and sat in the bed, frowning and grinning at her frightfully. She sat alone, crying bitterly, unable to avoid the fascination of the dead man's eye, and too much terrified to break the sullen silence, till a Catholic priest, passing over the wild, entered the cottage. He first set the door quite open, then put his little finger in his mouth, and said the paternoster backwards; when the horrid look of the corpse relaxed, it fell back on the bed, and behaved itself as a dead man ought to do.
"The ballad is given from tradition. I have been informed by a lady of the highest literary eminence [Miss Joanna Baillie], that she has heard a ballad on the same subject, in which the scene was laid upon the banks of the Clyde. The chorus was,
O Bothwell banks bloom bonny,
and the watching of the dead corpse was said to have taken place in Bothwell church."
A is translated by Schubart, p. 164; by Gerhard, p. 88; by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 31.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Scott's version in the Border Minstrelsy, 1803, in, 251, contains the whole of A* except the first stanza. It has about twice as many verses as A*, and the other half might well have been supplied by the editor. Scott's title 'Young Benjie' is here retained, and some of the additional stanzas are given in the Notes.
Child's Ballad Texts
'Young Benjie'- Version A; Child 86 Young Benjie
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, III, 251, ed. 1803; III, 10, ed. 1833. From tradition.
1 Of a' the maids o fair Scotland
The fairest was Marjorie,
And young Benjie was her ae true-love,
And a dear true-love was he.
2 And wow! but they were lovers dear,
And loved fu constantlie;
But ay the mair, when they fell out,
The sairer was their plea.
3 And they hae quarrelled on a day,
Till Marjorie's heart grew wae,
And she said she'd chuse another luve,
And let Young Benjie gae.
4 And he was stout, and proud-hearted,
And thought o't bitterlie,
And he's gaen by the wan moon-light
To meet his Marjorie.
5 'O open, open, my true-love,
'O open, open, my true-love,
'I dare na open, Young Benjie,
My three brother are within.'
6 'Ye lied, ye lied, ye bonny burd,
Sae loud's I hear ye lie;
As I came by the Lowden banks,
They bade gude een to me.
7 'But fare ye weel, my ae fause love,
That I hae loved sae lang!
It sets ye chuse another love,
And let Young Benjie gang.'
8 Then Marjorie turned her round about,
The tear blinding her ee:
'I darena, darena let thee in,
But I'll come down to thee.'
9 Then saft she smiled, and said to him,
O what ill hae I done?
He took her in his armis twa,
And threw her oer the linn.
10 The stream was strang, the maid was stout,
And laith, laith to be dang,
But ere she wan the Lowden banks
Her fair colour was wan.
11 Then up bespak her eldest brother,
'O see na ye what I see?'
And out then spak her second brother,
'It's our sister Marjorie!'
12 Out then spak her eldest brother,
'O how shall we her ken?'
And out then spak her youngest brother,
'There's a honey-mark on her chin.'
13 Then they've taen up the comely corpse,
And laid it on the grund:
'O wha has killed our ae sister,
And how can he be found?
14 'The night it is her low lykewake,
The morn her burial day,
And we maun watch at mirk midnight,
And hear what she will say.'
15 Wi doors ajar, and candle-light,
And torches burning clear,
The streikit corpse, till still midnight,
They waked, but naething hear.
16 About the middle o the night
The cocks began to craw,
And at the dead hour o the night
The corpse began to thraw.
17 'O wha has done the wrang, sister,
Or dared the deadly sin?
Wha was sae stout, and feared nae dout,
As thraw ye oer the linn?'
18 'Young Benjie was the first ae man
I laid my love upon;
He was sae stout and proud-hearted,
He threw me oer the linn.'
19 'Sall we Young Benjie head, sister?
Sall we Young Benjie hang?
Or sall we pike out his twa gray een,
And punish him ere he gang?'
20 'Ye mauna Benjie head, brothers,
Ye mauna Benjie hang,
But ye maun pike out his twa gray een,
And punish him ere he gang.
21 'Tie a green gravat round his neck,
And lead him out and in,
And the best ae servant about your house
To wait Young Benjie on.
22 'And ay, at every seven year's end,
Ye'll tak him to the linn;
For that's the penance he maun drie,
To scug his deadly sin.'
'Young Boonjie'- Version A*; Child 86 Young Benjie
From Jean Scott. In the handwriting of William Laidlaw. Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy, No. 29, Abbotsford.
1 Fair Marjorie sat i her bower-door,
Sewin her silken seam,
When by then cam her false true-love,
Gard a' his bridles ring.
2 'Open, open, my true-love,
Open an let me in;'
'I dare na, I dare na, my true-love,
My brethren are within.'
3 'Ye lee, ye lee, my ain true-love,
Sae loud I hear ye lee!
For or I cam thrae Lothian banks
They took fare-weel o me.'
4 The wind was loud, that maid was proud,
An leath, leath to be dung,
But or she wan the Lothian banks
Her fair coulour was gane.
5 He took her up in his armis,
An threw her in the lynn.
6 Up then spak her eldest brother,
Said, What is yon I see?
Sure, youn is either a drowned ladie
Or my sister Marjorie.
7 Up then spak her second brother,
Said, How will we her ken?
Up then spak her ... brother,
There a hinnie-mark on her chin.
8 About the midle o the night
The cock began to craw;
About the middle o the night
The corpse began to thraw.
9 'O whae has doon ye wrang, sister?
whae has doon ye wrang?'
10 'Young Boonjie was the ae first man
I laid my love upon;
He was sae proud an hardie
He threw me oer the lynne.'
11 'O shall we Boonjie head, sister?
Or shall we Boonjie hang?
O shall we pyke out his twa grey eyes,
An punish him or he gang?'
12 'O ye sanna Boonjie head, brother,
Ye sana Boonjie hang;
But ye maun pyke out his twa grey eyes,
An punish him or he gang.'
13 'The ae best man about your house
Maun wait young Boonjie on.'
----------------
'Bondsey and Maisry'- Version B; Child 86 Young Benjie
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 265.
1 'O come along wi me, brother,
Now come along wi me;
'O come along wi me, brother,
Now come along wi me;
And we'll gae seek our sister Maisry,
Into the water o Dee.'
2 The eldest brother he stepped in,
He stepped to the knee;
Then out he jumpd upo the bank,
Says, This water's nae for me.
3 The second brother he stepped in,
He stepped to the quit;
Then out he jumpd upo the bank,
Says, This water's wondrous deep.
4 When the third brother stepped in,
He stepped to the chin;
Out he got, and forward wade,
For fear o drowning him.
5 The younges brother he stepped in,
Took's sister by the hand;
Said, Here she is, my sister Maisry,
Wi the hinny-draps on her chin.
6 'O if I were in some bonny ship,
And in some strange countrie,
For to find out some conjurer,
To gar Maisry speak to me!'
7 Then out it speaks an auld woman,
As she was passing by:
'Ask of your sister what you want,
And she will speak to thee.'
8 'O sister, tell me who is the man
That did your body win?
And who is the wretch, tell me, likewise,
That threw you in the lin?'
9 'O Bondsey was the only man
That did my body win;
And likewise Bondsey was the man
That threw me in the lin.'
10 'O will we Bondsey head, sister?
Or will we Bondsey hang?
Or will we set him at our bow-end,
Lat arrows at him gang?'
11 'Ye winna Bondsey head, brothers,
Nor will ye Bondsey hang;
But ye'll take out his twa grey een,
Make Bondsey blind to gang.
12 'Ye'll put to the gate a chain o gold,
A rose garland gar make,
And ye'll put that in Bondsey's head,
A' for your sister's sake.'
Additions and Corrections
P. 281. "From Jean Scott." In the handwriting of William Laidlaw. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 29, Abbotsford. [Designated A* by Kittredge.]
Excepting the first stanza, the whole of this fragment (with slight changes) is found in the ballad in Scott's Minstrelsy. That ballad has about twice as many verses, and the other half might easily have been supplied by the editor.
1 Fair Marjorie sat i her bower-door,
Sewin her silken seam,
When by then cam her false true-love,
Gard a' his bridles ring.
2 'Open, open, my true-love,
Open an let me in;'
'I dare na, I dare na, my true-love,
My brethren are within.'
3 'Ye lee, ye lee, my ain true-love,
Sae loud I hear ye lee!
For or I cam thrae Lothian banks
They took fare-weel o me.'
4 The wind was loud, that maid was proud,
An leath, leath to be dung,
But or she wan the Lothian banks
Her fair coulour was gane.
5 He took her up in his armis,
An threw her in the lynn.
6 Up then spak her eldest brother,
Said, What is yon I see?
Sure, youn is either a drowned ladie
Or my sister Marjorie.
7 Up then spak her second brother,
Said, How will wi her ken?
Up then spak her ... brother,
There a hinnie-mark on her chin.
8 About the midle o the night
The cock began to craw;
About the middle o the night
The corpse began to thraw.
9 'O whae has doon ye wrang, sister?
whae has doon ye wrang?'
10 'Young Boonjie was the ae first man
I laid my love upon;
He was sae proud an hardie
He threw me oer the lynne.'
11 'O shall we Boonjie head, sister?
Or shall we Boonjie hang?
Or shall we pyke out his twa grey eyes,
An punish him or he gang?'
12 'O ye sanna Boonjie head, brother,
Ye sana Boonjie hang;
But ye maun pyke out his twa grey eyes,
An punish him or he gang.'
13 'The ae best man about your house
Maun wait young Boonjie on.'
33. thare.
4 should probably follow 5.
63. either a substituted for some.
73. her second: second struck out. youngest?
83. The corpse: corpse struck out.
Trivial Corrections of Spelling.
479, 72. Read we.