The Gypsy Laddie- Campbell (ON) 1962 Fowke
[From British Ballads in Ontario by Edith Fowke; Midwest Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 133-162. Her notes follow.
This version was reprinted in the Penguin Book of Canada Folk Songs, Fowke/MacMillan 1973, as "Seven Gypsies on Yon Hill."
This excellent version is certainly of an old lineage and is the only version from North America to name Lord Cassilis (Lord Castle) and a stanza about the "implied" hanging of the gypsies for charming Lady Cassilis.
The "I hae been east and I hae been West," stanza (see Child E and also Child A added stanzas) is fully developed and the location or town, Niceree, should be compared also to the "lang town o Kircadie."
R. Matteson 2015]
Versions of "The Gypsy Laddie" are extremely common and widespread in North America, but the others tell simply of a gypsy who charms a lady from her home, and of her refusal to return to her husband. ("The Gypsy Daisy" which Mr. Abbott sang and which may be heard on his Folkways record, is typical of that form). However, the original story told of a band of gypsies rather than one, and in the end they were captured and hanged. This Ontario version retains that pattern, with its references to Lord Castle and the hanging of the seven gypsies not found in other North American versions. It differs from most versions in omitting any reference to the lady's conversation with the gypsies or to the changing of her clothes. In general it compares most closely to Child G, although it gives a more detailed account of the lord's search. The conversation with the old man does not occur specifically in any Child version, but it compares with the meeting "wi' a cheel" in E 12-13, and may be implied by G 7. Two stanzas, the eighth and the thirteenth, are paralleled most closely by 15 and 2.
Mr. Campbell's father was of Scottish and his mother of Irish descent. His maternal great grandfather came out from Ireland to the Ottawa valley in the early part of the nineteenth century. He believed he had learned this song from his mother, although one would have expected it to come from the Scottish side of his family.
TEXT 3: THE GYPSY LADDIE- Sung by Robert Campbell, Weston, Ontario, 1962.
1. Seven gypsies on yon hill,
They were neither bright nor bonny O,
But they sang so sweet with the changing of their notes
That they stole Lord Castle's lady O.
2. When Lord Castle he came home
He inquired for his lady O,
But the waiting maid she thus replied,
"She is gone with a gypsy laddie O."
3. "Come saddle to me my milk-white steed,
The bay is not so speedy O,
And I'll ride east and I'll ride west
Till I overtake my lady O."
4. So he rode east and he rode west
Till he came to Niceree Valley O,
And there he met a poor old man,
He was both weary and tired O.
5. "Have you been east and have you been west,
Have you been to Niceree Valley O?
And did you see my lady fair,
And is she going with a gypsy laddie O?"
6. "Yes, I've been east and I've been west,
And I've been to Niceree Valley O,
And there I saw your lady fair,
And she was staying with a gypsy laddie O."
7. So he rode east and he rode west
Till he came to Niceree Valley O,
And there he found his lady fair
And she was going with a gypsy laddie O.
8. "Will you come home, my dear," he said,
"Will you come home, my honey O?
And by the point of my broadsword
Not a gypsy shall ever come nigh thee O."
9. "No I won't come home, my dear," she said,
"Nor I won't go home, my honey O,
For I'd rather have a kiss from a gypsy laddie's lips
Than all Lord Castle's body O."
10. "Will you forsake your house and land,
Will you forsake your baby too,
Will you forsake your own dear lord,
And go with a gypsy laddie O?"
11. "Yes, I'll forsake my house and land,
And I'll forsake my baby too,
And I'll forsake my own dear lord,
And go with a gypsy laddie O.
12. "Last night I slept on a bed of down,
Me and my honey O,
But tonight I'll sleep on a cold barn floor
With nothing but gypsies around me O.
13. "They gave to me the honey sweet,
And they gave to me the sugar too,
But I gave to them far better things,
I gave seven gold rings from my fingers O."
14. Seven gypsies on yon hill,
They were neither bright nor bonny O,
But they all came down for to die
For the stealing of Lord Castle's lady O.