The Celtic Review, Vol. II, pp. 297-299 (April, 1906) dated c. 1850
THE CELTIC REVIEW APRIL 16, 1906
A WELSH BALLAD
J. Glyn Davies (Welsh Library, Aberystwyth)
I TOOK down the following ballad and its tune from the singing of my mother, Mrs. John Davies of Liverpool, who had heard it sung at Talysarn, Carnarvonshire, nearly half a century ago, by her eldest sister. I do not know of any other instance of its existence in Wales, nor indeed of any other ballad of a similar type.
It is obviously fragmentary, and must have been so when my mother heard it, for the last verse was regarded as an anticlimax pour rire. From the fairly regular distribution of stressed and unstressed syllables, I would assign the utmost age-limit of the present form of the ballad to the mid-sixteenth century[1].
The phrase 'claf iawn y w f'enaid' [very sick is my soul] I should not expect to find in Welsh popular poetry much after the close of the sixteenth century. Between metric and diction, I feel tempted to put the ballad down to the first half of the seventeenth century.
In the following arrangement of words and tune, each of the first two lines is repeated : —
[with music]
1. Tif fy mab anwyl ble buost ti ddoe;
yn hela sgwarnogod: mam cweiriwch fy ngwely ; (repeat)
Claf iawn yw f'enaid yn ymyl terfynu.
2. fy mab anwyl be gefist ti'n fwyd :
Neidar lie sly wan[2]: mam cweiriwch fy ngwely
Claf iawn yw f'enaid yn ymyl terfynu.
3. O fy mab anwyl be roddi di'th blant :
Bendith Duw nefoedd : mam cweiriwch fy ngwely ;
Claf iawn yw f'enaid yn ymyl terfynu.
4. fy mab anwyl be roddi di'th wraig :
Cortyn i'w chrogi : mam cweiriwch fy ngwely ;
Claf iawn yw f'enaid yn ymyl terfynu[3].
When I took down the words, some five years ago, I had hda jpysgodyn [hunting a fish] instead of hela sgwarnogod[4] [hunting hares]. Neidar lie slywan in the second verse points to a North Walian origin: to pack lly somen into two syllables
would be difficult, without mutilating it beyond recognition.
1. 'O whare hae ye been a' day, Lord Donald, my son ?
O whare hae ye been a' day, my jollie young man?
"I 've been awa courtin : mither, mak my bed sune.
For I 'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie doun.'
2. 'What wad ye hae for your supper?' etc,
'I've gotten my supper:' etc.
3. 'What did you get to your supper? ' etc.
'A dish of sma' fishes: ' etc.
4. 'Whare gat ye the fishes? ' etc.
'In my father's black ditches: ' etc.
5. "What like were your fishes?' etc.
'Black backs and speckl'd bellies:' etc.
6. 'I fear ye are poison'd' etc.
'Oh yes! I am poison'd:' etc.
7. ' What will ye leave to your father ? ' etc.
'Baith my houses and land:' etc.
8. 'What will ye leave to your brither?' etc.
'My horse and the saddle: ' etc.
9. "What will ye leave to your sister? ' etc.
'Baith my gold box and rings: ' etc.
10. ' What will ye leave to your true-love T etc.
' The tow and the halter, for to hang on yon tree,
And lat her hang there, for the poysoning of me.'
There are many versions of 'Lord Randal,' and I have only access to three. Possessors of Child's large edition may be able to find closer parallels, but at any rate, there can be no doubt as to the identity of the Welsh ballad. It will be observed that the metric is practically identical with Version B, the only difference being the repetition of the second line, which I look upon as an excrescence. Verses of five lines are rare in Welsh, and of a different type from this, whereas the same Langzeile occurs in rhyming couplets, and is common in quatrain form.
I am indebted to my colleague, Mr. David Jenkins, Mus. Bac, for revising my score of the curious and hitherto unpublished tune, and to my brother, Mr. G.M.L. Davies, for sending me a fresh and attested copy of tune and words.
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Footnotes:
1. I hope to publish shortly an account of metrical changes in the sixteenth century, where the data for this statement will be given.
2. slywauy N. Wales metathesis of llysoweti.
3. missing
4 (translation)
1. My dear son, where hast thou been yesterday:
hunting hares; mother make my bed,
very sick is my soul, near its end.
2. My dear son, what hadst thou for food:
a snake instead of an eel; mother, etc.
3. My dear son, what wilt thou give to thy children:
the blessing of God of Heaven; mother, etc.
4. My dear son, what wilt thou give to thy wife:
a rope to hang her; mother, etc.
3 Spoken W. for ysgyfarnogod.