Molley Bann Lavery- (Down) pre1845 Hume/Shields
[No informant named. From an MS by John Hume; reprinted in "Some Songs and Ballads in Use in the Province of Ulster. . . 1845" by Hugh Shields (Ulster Folklife, Vo. 17, 1971).
R. Matteson 2016]
"Molley Bann Lavery" pre1845 from John Hume's MS taken down in County Down, Ireland from oral tradition; published by Hugh Shields.
[1st] It's all you young men that carry a gun,
Beware of late fowling at the setting of the sun,
Concerning a young man that happened of late,
That shot Molley Bann Lavery — her beauty was great.
[2nd] He being late fowling he shot her in the dark,
But oh and alas, he did not miss his mark!
With her apron about her he took her for a cran[1],practice
But oh and alas, it was poor Molly Bann!
[3rd] But when he went to her and found she was dead
Abundance of tears from his eyes he has shed;
He went home to his father with his gun in his hand
Saying, — Father, dear father, I have shot poor Molley Bann.
[4th] It's out bespoke his father, his hairs they were gray,
My son, take my blessing and don't run away.
Stay in your own country your trial to stand
And you will not be condemned by the laws of the land.
[5th] O father, dear father, I must go away
For in this country I never could stay;
I shot Molley Bann Lavery and she was my darling,
The pride of the North and the Flower of Kilwarlin.
[6th] The maids of this country they are all very glad
Since Molley Bann Lavery the beauty is dead,
But gather them together and put them all in a row:
She appears in the middle like a mountain of snow.
[7th] She appeared to her uncle as it were in a dream
Saying, — Uncle, dear uncle, James Reynolds don't blame;
With my apron being about me he took me for a cran,
But oh and alas, it was I, Molley Bann!
[8th] In Lisburn she was born and in Lurgan educated
But oh, in Kilwarlin poor Molley was defeated!
With her apron being about her she was taken for a cran,
But oh and alas, it was poor Molley Bann!
1. "Cran" was the usual Old English word for the crane. According to the 2nd ed. of Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (apparently 1840), it survived for some time in Scotland as a name for the heron.