A Strange Proposal- Martin (NH) 1939 Flanders
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966, version A. Notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
(Child 46)
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" tells an old tale of the ingenious suitor who must answer riddles to obtain his maid. The situation, as one can easily learn from Child's notes, I, 414 f., goes well back into the Middle Ages. The riddles used are known without the situation at least as far back as the fifteenth century. But the ballad combining the two is relatively modern and urbane-probably no earlier than the 1600's. The American texts are clustered in the northeast, close to the Child versions, and, according to Phillips Barry who includes the song in British Ballads from Maine, 93-99, probably from an Irish source. The
song is rare in England, but not long ago was easy to discover in Scotland.
There are three complications concerning the riddle portion of the ballad. First, it has been general practice by scholars to assume the popular riddle lyric, "I Gave My Love a Cherry," to be a portion of "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." Even where the music is similar and the informant calls the lyric "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" this seems a dangerous practice, and it is far more likely that the riddle lyric is not only older than the ballad but attached itself to the ballad while maintaining an independent tradition of its own. "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is known all over America and the British Isles and, unless fused into the "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" pattern, should be treated as a separate song. Second, the riddles can also be found in a nursery song called "The Four Brothers" or "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee." This song is also more popular than the Child ballad, has been confused with the ballad by scholars and informants alike, and tells a love story quite different from the ballad tale. Its popularity in this country was no doubt stimulated by its inclusion in such songsters as MacCaskey's Franklin Square Song Collection and Mother Goose's Melodies during the post-Civil War period. Third, in New England, it has been common
practice for Child l, "Riddles Wisely Expounded," and 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" to intermingle. The fragments from Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Hough printed here under Child I, Version F below, and the lyrics given by Barry, op. cit., 95-98, offer illustrations of the confusions. The problem with citations for further study, was touched in the headnote to Child I above. Sufifrce it to say here that once a song has lost its situation and been reduced to mere riddling ir has really lost its identity too and will drift easily.
The Flanders A text follows the normal English pattern in that the couple marries before the "girl lies next the wall." However, this is not always the case in Scotland and America. As with B-F, such formalities need not be observed. The B text, with its footnote, offers a good example of what an informant may change in a song on re-rendering it. C-F are riddle fragments. And the "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" texts (I and II), at the end of the "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" variants, offer adequate illustration of the nursery rime as it is known in this country.
Bibliographical references to "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," "I Gave My Love a Cherry," and "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" can be had through the listings in Coffin, 59-60. Each song is treated separately there. Dean-Smith, 100, confusing "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" and the "I Gave My Love a Cherry" lyric, gives English citations. And Greig and Keith, 33-36, opens up the Scottish tradition of the song. Child's remarks, I, 414 f., on old nursery rimes are also useful.
The relationship of riddling to courtship, discussed in the headnote to Child 2, should be recalled here.
The five tunes for Child 46 are parts of three groups: 1) the Burditt tune, which may be a distant relative of BCI group A; 2) the Burditt, Richards, and Fish tunes, which are themselves fairly diverse, but which definitely belong to BCI group A; and 3) the Norcross tune, which is part of BCI Appendix (to Child 46) group C. For the Burditt tune, BCI group B is also a possibility, especially his tune No. 20 on Page 371.
A. "A Strange Proposal." Copied, literatim et punctatim from the notebook of Mrs. Margaret A. Martin of Plainfield, New Hampshire, as sung by her grandfather, Edwin Walsh of Graigue, County Cork, Ireland. Printed in Ballads Migrant in New England, 43. H. H. F., Collector; November, 1939.
A Strange Proposal
There was a farmer's daughter
Walking down a narrow lane.
She met with Mr. Woodburn,
The keeper of the game.
He said unto his servant man,
"Were it not for the law,
I'd have that maid in bed with me,
And she lie next the wall."
"Go your way, young man," said she,
"And do not trouble me;
Before I would lie one night with you
You must get me dishes three.
Three dishes you must get for me
When I set forth them all
Before I would lie one night with you
And either stock or wall
"For my breakfast you must get
A cherry without a stone
And for my supper you must get for me
A bird without a bone,
And for my supper you must get for me,
A bird without a gall
Before I would lie one night with you
At either stock or wall."
"When the cherry is in blossom
It really has no stone,
And when the bird is in the egg
I'm sure it has no bone.
The dove it is a gentle bird.
It flies without a gall;
So you and I in one bed will lie
And you'll lie next the wall."
"Go your way, young man," she said,
"And do not me perplex
Before I would lie one night with you
You must answer questions six,
Six questions you must answer me
Where I set forth them all,
Before I would lie one night with you
At either stock or wall."
"What's rounder than a ring,
What's higher than a tree,
What's worse than womankind
And what's deeper than the sea?
What bird sings best; what tree buds first
And where does the dew first fall?
Before I would lie one night with you
At either stock or wall."
"The earth is rounder than a ring;
The sky is higher than a tree;
The Devil is worse than womankind,
And Hell is deeper than the sea.
The thrush sings best, the heath buds first
And on it the dew first falls
And so you and I in one bed will lie
And you'll lie next the wall."
"You must get from me some winter fruit
That in September grew.
You must get for me a mantle
That never wet went through;
A sparrow's horn, a priest unborn,
To join us one and all
Before I'll lie one night with You
At either stock or wall."
"Winter fruits are easily got-
I'll pick for you some haws;
My mother had a mantle,
That never wet went through.
A sparrow's horn is easily got.
There's one in every claw.
Melch isedec [1] was a Priest unborn
To join us one and all,
And so you and I in one bed will lie,
And you'll lie next the wall.
Now to conclude and finish
I mean to end my theme.
This couple they got married
And happy do remain.
This young man was so clever
That he did her heart enthrall.
He took her in his arms
And rolled her from the wall.
1. Melchizedek (name for the devil)