The Wife of Usher's Well- Ritchie (NC) 1960 REC
[From British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Volume 2; Jean Ritchie, 1960. Notes by Goldstein follow.
This is further evidence that Jean Richie arranged ballads from print sources and attributed them to her Uncle Jason. It's possible the print sources were from Uncle Jason - but that's not the issue.
This version is not traditional.
R. Matteson 2015]
SIDE III, Band 5: THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL
(Child #79)
The oldest versions of this ballad which were known to Child (both of Scottish provenience) appear to be fragmentary, for no motivation is suggested for the sons' returning to their grieving mother. And, indeed, only in the American texts, which may be descended from some unreported earlier form of the ballad, is a fully coherent story found in which the sons return to inform their mother that excessive grief on her part disturbs their rest by wetting their winding sheets.
In addition to the motif of the dead being disturbed by excessive grief, this ballad contains the equally wide-spread belief concerning the forced return of the dead to their graves at the crowing of the cock and the dawn of the day. Jean Ritchie's version, learned from her Uncle Jason, is an important recording, for it follows neither of the two story types for this ballad
as it has previously been reported in America. Indeed, it is the first American text to conform with the early Scottish texts printed by Child. Jean's version closely folloys Child's A text, originally published in Scott's Minstrelsy, in 1802, and in addition contains the Citherwise unreported stanza 5 of Child's B text (see Jean's text, stanza 10). Jean's version, like the British texts, supplies no motive for the sons' return, but, as Child has said: " ... supplying a motive would add nothing to the impressiveness
of these verses. Nothing that we have is more profoundly affecting."
For additional texts and information, see: Child, Volume II, p. 238 ff.; Coffin, pp. 83-84; Sharp, Volume I, pp. 150-160; Brown Collection, Volume II, pp. 95-101; Davis, pp. 161-169.
SIDE I, Band 5: THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL (Child #79)
There lived a wife at Usher's Well,
And a weal thy wife was she;
She had three strong and stalwart sons
And she sent them o'er the sea.
They hadn't been gone but a week from her,
But a week and only one;
When word was sent to this wealthy wife
That her sons were dead and gone.
They hadn't been gone three weeks from her,
Three weeks and only three,
When word was sent to this wealthy wife
That her sons she'd never see.
She prayed the wind would never cease,
Nor troubles in the flood,
Till her three sons came home to her
In their own flesh and blood.
It fell about the Martinmas time,
When nights are long and dark,
This wife's three sons came home to her
With robes all shining bright.
Blow up the fire my maidens fair,
Bring waters from the well,
For we shall have a merry, merry feast
Since my three sons are well.
Oh it's she has made for them a bed,
She made it large and wide,
And placed her mantle over them all
And sat down at their side.
The cock he chaffed his wings and craved
Before the break of day;
The eldest to the youngest said:
It's time we were away.
The cock doth crow, the day doth dawn,
The merry birds doth Chide,
We shall be missed out of our place
And we must no longer bide.
Lie still, lie still, but a little while,
Lie still but if we may,
If our mother misses us when she wakes up
She'll go mad o'er the break of day.
So fare ye well my mother dear,
For we must say goodbye
And thee well the bonny lass
That kindles my mother's fire.