Lord Batesman- York (NC) 1937 Brown F REC
[From: Brown Collection (A-F Versions) Vol. 2, c.1952, version F. James York and his wife were performers and contributors to the Abrams/Brown collections. From what I can tell, they were not informants and performed versions taken from different traditional sources. The source is unknown. On the MS: "Collected from James York August 20, 1937." There are two recordings of the ballad in Abrams collection.
R. Matteson 2014]
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
14. Young Beichan (Child 53)
It has been suggested that the frequent and widespread occurrence of this ballad as traditional song may be due to its frequent appearance in broadside and songbook print (for which see Barry, BBM 106-22, and especially Kittredge's bibliographical note, JAFL XXX 294-7). The argument may easily, however, be turned the other way: that ballad printers used it because it was known to be a favorite. Cause and effect are not easily distinguished in such cases. There is at least no question that it is a favorite. It has been reported as traditional song in recent times in Scotland (LL 40-2), Northamptonshire (ECS 62-3), Lincolnshire (JFSS iii 192-9), Wiltshire and Hampshire (FSUT 147-9; Williams says it is "common to the whole of the Thames Valley"), Sussex (Sharp's Folk-Songs of England v 32-3), Somerset (FSSom no. 65), even, the tune at least, in the Isle of Man (JFSS vii 315) ; and on this side of the water in the Bahamas (JAFL xli 585-8), Newfoundland (FSN 88-92, BSSN 17), Nova Scotia (BSSNS 16-19), Maine (BBM 106-22), Vermont (VFSB 204-8), Pennsvlvania (JAFL XXIII 450-1), Virginia (TBV 158-71, SharpK i 87, SCSM 212-13), West Virginia (FSS 36-41), Kentucky (JAFL xx 251-2, xxii 64-5, SharpK i 79-80, 83-6, 87, 88, LT 58-61, DD 86-7), Tennessee (SharpK i 81-3. 86, FSSH 55-9, BTFLS viii 68-9), North Carolina (JAFL xxviii 149-51, SharpK i 77-9, 80-1, FSRA 18-20), South Carolina (SCB 104-6), Mississippi (FSM 75-6), Florida (SFLQ VIII 144-6), the Ozarks (OMF 197-201, OFS i 83-8), Ohio (BSO 28-9), Michigan (BSSM 143-5), and Nebraska (ABS 53-6, really from Indiana).
There are certain interesting variations among these many texts. Kittredge, in the note above referred to, remarks that some of the American texts differ from the broadsides in retaining a detail of the Turks' barbarous cruelty: a hole is bored in Beichan's shoulder by means of which he is harnessed and becomes a draft-animal. Thus in Child A:
For thro his shoulder he put a bore.
An thro the bore has pitten a tree,
An he's gard him draw the carts o wine.
Where horse and oxen had wont to be.
Similarly in B D E H I N. The word "tree" here means "draught-tree," the pole of a wagon or cart by which it is attached to the
draft animal. "Tree" in this sense was apparently not an acceptable locution, was not understood in America ; Henry's Tennessee text and our version E change it to "key," two of the West Virginia texts and the only text in TBV that retains this feature change the word to "rope" and the other West Virginia text to "string." Other American texts that keep the word change the meaning; the "tree" is now that to which the captive is tied (chained, nailed, bound, fastened, sometimes around his middle), giving a quite different picture. So BBM D, TBV E, SharpK A E, JAFL xxviii 150, XXX 295, and our A version. Some of the texts have in the closing scene what seems to be a reference to the heroine's baptism, most definitely in Child A:
He's take his bonny love by the han,
And led her to yon fountain stane;
He's changed her name frae Shusy Pye,
An he's cald her his bonny love, Lady Jane.
Some of the American texts, both from the North and from the South, retain the feature of the change of name, but I judge that in each instance it is understood of a change of name by marriage, not by christening. Finally, certain of the American texts make the heroine declare her love with an un-American frankness. When the prisoner offers wealth and position to the lady if she will free him from his bonds, she tells him that all she wants is his "fair body." This locution is found in none of the Child texts; but it is in Coverly's Boston broadside, in The Forget-Me-Not Songster, and in traditional texts from Nova Scotia, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, and North Carolina (though not in any of the texts in our collection). Whether the innovation originates with Coverly is not clear, but it is contrary to the general American mores to express desire so simply.
Our collection has six texts of Young Beichan.
F. 'Lord Batesman.' Contributed by James York of Olin, Iredell county, in 1939. [Collected 1937]
1 There lived a man in our country
And he was a man of high degree.
Lord Batesman could not be contented
Till he had taken a voyage at sea.
2 And he sailed east and he sailed west,
He sailed till he came to the Turkish shore.
And there he's taken up a prisoner —
No hopes of freedom any more.
3 The jailer had one only daughter,
And she was as fine as fine could be.
She gathered all her father's keys,
Saying, 'Lord Batesman I'll go see.'
4 She took him down to her father's cellar,
She gave him wine so red and strong.
And every glass she held unto him,
Saying, 'I wish Lord Batesman was my own.
5 'Oh, have you house and land,' she sayeth.
And have you living of high degree?
And will you give it all to the lady
Who out of prison will set you free?'
6 'Yes, I have houses and lands,' he sayeth,
'And I have a living of high degree.
And I will give it all to the lady
Who out of prison will set me free.'
7 'For seven long years we'll make this bargain.
For seven long years — and here's my hand —
If you will marry no other lady
I'm sure I'll marry no other man.'
8 She took him down to her father's harbor
And there she gave him a boat and car,[1]
Saying, 'Fare you well, my own true lover,
I fear I'll see your face no more.'
9 For seven long years have passed and ended,
The seven long years ; and it's one, two, three —
She gathered all her jewelry round her
Saying, 'Lord Batesman I'll go see.'
10 She sailed till she came to Lord Batesman's castle
She tangled till she made him let her within.
Lord Batesman sent his servant down running
To see who wished for to come in.
11 'Is this Lord Batesman's castle?' she sayeth;
'Doth he himself dwell here within?'
'Yes, this is Lord Batesman's castle,' he sayeth,
'And he's just brought his new bride in.'
12 'Go tell him I want a slice of his bread,
And I want a glass of his wine so strong.
And ask him if he's forgotten the lady
Who's freed him out of prison so long.'
13 'There's the finest lady at your gate
That ever my two eyes did see.
She wears a ring on her little finger
And on the rest is one, two, three;
She wears more jewelry round her body
Than is worn by your bride and her company.'
14 Lord Batesman rising from his table
As he broke the bread and the wine so strong,
Saying. 'Are you well, my lovely beauty?
Since my sweet Susan has come to me.
15 I married your daughter just today,
I'm sure she's injured none by me;
I brought her here on horse and saddle
But I'll take her back in a coach of three.'
1. Both sense and rhyme call for "oar" here.