Andy Bardan- Laws (KY) c.1870 Belden; Barry C
[From: Five Old-Country Ballads; by Kittredge contributed to him by Belden; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 25, No. 96 (Apr. - Jun., 1912), pp. 171-178. Notes from Belden follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
FIVE OLD-COUNTRY BALLADS [1]
OF the following ballads, the first two are from the recollection of Miss Lucy R. Laws of Christian College, Columbia, Mo. She learned them in her childhood in Mercer County, Kentucky, from a Shakeress who was a nurse in the family. Concerning "Andy Bardan" she writes, "The ballad came to us from the Shakeress's son-in-law. He was a pensioner of the Civil War, brought up in Indiana, I think, but of the old Kentucky Sims family. He came to Mercer County in the late sixties to look up an orphan half-sister who was a step-daughter of the Shakeress. He introduced the ballad among the children of the neighborhood about that time. The Shakeress had been a nurse in our family, hence we had the benefit of the songs. Charlie Sims, the singer, became a well-known figure in the county, and died in Harrodsburg, a pensioner upon the Government and upon the charity of the people. On one side he was connected with a large and well-known family in West Mercer (the hill region) and adjoining counties; on the other side he must have been of very obscure and undesirable extraction. I always supposed that he heard the ballad while in army service, though the Sims family might well have preserved folk ballads."
I. ANDY BARDAN [2]
Three brothers in old Scotland did dwell,
Three loving brothers were they;
They all cast lots to see which of them
Should go robbing around the salt sea.
The lot fell on to Andy Bardan,
The youngest of the three,
For to maintain the other two
A-robbing around the salt sea.
He had not sailed very many long nights
Before a ship he did spy;
It sailed far off, it sailed far off,
And then it came sailing close by.
"Who's there, who's there?" said Andy Bardan,
"Who's there that sails so nigh?"
"We are the rich merchants from old England;
If no offense, let us pass by."
"Oh no! oh no!" said Andy Bardan,
"Oh no, that never can be!
Your ship and your cargo we'll have, my boys,
And your bodies sink in the salt sea."
The news came into King Henry
(For it was him they crowned)
His ship and his cargo both were lost
And all his merry men drowned.
"Go build a ship both wide and deep,
And build it safe and secure,
And if Andy Bardan you do not bring in,
Your lives shall no longer endure."
They had not sailed very many long nights
Before a ship they did spy;
It sailed far off, it sailed far off,
And then it came sailing close by.
"Who's there? Who's there?" said Captain Charles Stewart,
" Who's there that sails so nigh?"
"We are the bold robbers from old Scotland;
If no offense, let us pass by."
"Oh no! oh no!" said Captain Charles Stewart,
"Oh no! that never can be;
Your ship and your cargo we'll have, my boys,
And your bodies sink in the salt sea."
"Peel on! peel on!" said Andy Bardan,
And loud the cannon did roar;
And Captain Charles Stewart took Andy Bardan,
He took him to Fair England's shore.
"What now, what now," said Andy Bardan,
"What now my fate it shall be!
The gallows are ready for Andy Bardan,
The bold robber around the salt sea.
"Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
And dig it close to the sea;
And tell my brothers as they pass by,
I'm done robbing around the salt sea."
Footnotes:
1 Nos. I (first two versions), 2, 3, 4, were contributed and edited by Professor H. M. Belden, of the University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.; the third version of No. I was contributed by Professor George B. Woods, of Miami University, Oxford, O.; No. 5, by Dr. Alma Blount, of the State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich. - G. L. K.
2. Compare Child 250, E, which is also from oral tradition in America; but "Andy Bardan" is nearer than Child's E to "Sir Andrew Barton," since it has kept the King's name as Henry, not George, and represents the pirate as conquered and taken back to England. In "Sir Andrew Barton" he is killed, and his head is carried back as a trophy.