Bow Lamkins- Hart (VA) 1921 Stone/Davis
[Title could be "Bo' Lamkins," for Bold Lamkins. From Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
LAMKIN (Child, No. 93)
The first evidence that this ballad survived in America came from Virginia. Child's Additions and Corrections (III, 515) report that "the negroes of Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia, have this ballad, orally transmitted from the original Scottish settlers of that region, with the stanza,
Mr. Lammikin, Mr. Lammikin,
Oh, spare me my life,
And I'll give you my daughter, Betsy,
and she shall be your wife."
It is to be noted that all the Virginia variants, except, of course, the fragment D, have the stanza which makes this unnatural offer (A 14, B 7, C 5). Of the twenty-six versions printed by child, this stanza.is found in only three (I 19, T 15, K 16), but the resemblance is not otherwise close to any one of these three, or indeed to any Child version. The Virginia texts seem to represent at least two separate version, (A and B) not found in Child.
The story, however, does not differ materially from that of the Child versions, thus summarized by Child: " A mason has built a castle for a nobleman, cannot get his pay, and therefore seeks revenge. The name given the builder is Lamkin [in Virginia, also Lampkin, Ward Lampkin, Beaulamkins, or Bow Lamkins] . . .The Lord, having occasion to leave his family fears mischief from the man whom he has wronged, and enjoins his wife to keep the castle well fastened. Precautions are taken, but nevertheless his enemy effects an entrance through some apperture that has not been secured or by connivance with a nurse. Most of the servants are away. To get at the lady, Lamkin, as we may call him, by advice of the nurse afflicts some hurt on the babe in the cradle stabbing it, or 'nipping' it, and the cries bring the mother down. The lady proffers large sums of gold to save her life, but Lamkin does not care for gold now. [She also offers her daughter. See above.] He gloats over his opportunity, and bids the nurse, or maid-servant, or even one of the daughters of the house, to scour a silver basin to hold the lady's noble blood. The lord has a presentment of calamity at home, and returning, finds his house red with the blood of his wife and child. Lamkin is hanged, or burned, or boiled in a pot full of lead. The nurse is burned, or hanged, or boiled in a cauldron." In Virginia texts, Lamkin is always hanged, the nurse always burned.
The tale has been localized in various parts of Scotland, as pointed out by Motherwell in his Minstrelsy, p. lxx, note 27, and p. 291. The name Lamkin Child explains a either (1) a soubriquet applied in derision of the meekness with which the builder had submitted to his injury," or (2) "a simply ironical designation for the bloody mason, the terror of countless nurseries."
Four Virginia texts and one tune are here, given. Of these, A and B are new and different versions, C is a badly mangled variant of A, and D is a fragment corresponding to Child D 13. The tune to B is conjecturally interpreted, but the original notation is also given.
A. "Bow Lamkins." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mr. George Hart, of Konnarock, Va. Washington County. November 9, 1921.
1 Bow Lamkins was a fine mason
As ever laid stone;
He built him a frame house
Not far from Benone.
2 The landlord he bid her
Before he left home
To beware of Bow Lamkins
For he's come unbeknowns.
3 "What cares I for Bow Lamkins,
What cares I for him,
When my door is fast locked
And my windows barred in?"
4 Bow Lamkins he come
And he knocked on the ring,
And the false nurse she rose
And let him come in.
5 "O where is the landlord,
Or is he at home?"
"He is gone to fair England
To buy me a ring."
6 "O where is the lord's lady,
Or is she at home?"
"She is upstairs a-sleeping,"
Said the false nurse to him.
7 "O how will we get her down here?"
Said the false nurse to him,
"We will stick her little baby
Full of needles and pins."
8 Bow Lamkins he rocked,
And the false nurse she sung,
Till the tears and the red blood
From the cradle did run.
9 She come running downstairs,
Not a-thinking any harm;
And Row Lamkins stood waiting
To catch her in his arms.
10 "O spare my life, Bow Lamkins,
O spare it one week;
Don't you hear my little baby
Horv mournful it weeps?"
11 "What cares I for your baby,
What cares I for it,
When I've got my heart's fortune
And it's all I do crave?"
12 "O spare my life, Bow Lamkins,
O spare it one day;
You may have as much gay gold
As your horse can tote away."
13 "What cares I for your gay gold,
What cares I for it,
When I can hardly keep my pen-knife
From your little white throati"
14 "O spare my life, Bow Lamkins,
O spare it one hour;
You may have my daughter Betsy,
My own blooming fower."
1S "You may keep your daughter Betsy
To run through the blood
And to scour your silver basins
That catches your heart's blood."
16 "O stay, daughter Betsy,
Wherever you be,
Till you hear your old father
Come hard riding by."
17 "O father, dear father,
How can you blame me?
For Bow Lamkins and the false nurse
Has killed my mammy.
For Bow Lamkins and the false nurse
Has killed your lady."
18 Bow Lamkins he was hung
At the gallows so high;
And the false nurse she was burnt
At the stake standing by.