Wife at Usher's Well- Fish (NH) 1943 Flanders B
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads; Traditionally Sung in New England, 1966. Coffin's notes follow. Both Flanders' version A and B are not traditional. They were both sung by the informants: A is taken by Burditt from print and B is a ballad recreation by Fish. I have no problem with the informants- however - there is no excuse from Flanders to include these in a book with "traditionally sung" in the title. And there's no excuse for not finding out the source by asking the informant and including their responses- clearly this is misrepresentation bordering on dishonesty.
Fish's ballad recreation is based loosely on Child A and B. I'm certain she would say she wrote it from print and that it's an original work based on Child A and B. Flanders does not ask - and says nothing.
R. Matteson 2015]
The Wife of Usher's Well
(Child 79)
The tradition of "The wife of usher's Well" is much confused, although most of the American texts are rather consistent in their similarity to child D, from North Carolina. The British versions, now pretty much extinct, are generally incomplete or garbled. child A and B give no motive for the return of the three sons nor do they describe the actions of the sons at home. C is nearly impossible to follow, although the return comes as a result or prayer as it does in D. Belden, 55-56, and Jane Zielonko, "Some American Variants of Child Ballads" (Master's thesis, Columbia university, 1945), 104 f., both discuss the manner in which the
Child D tradition varies from the Child A-C texts. Belden seems certain the child D tradition goes back to print, but he can offer no references. However, there is strong circumstantial evidence to back his feeling as the song is rare in Britain, widespread and relatively unvarying in this country. In the light of these facts, the Flanders texts are immensely interesting. Flanders A is a close reproduction of Child A in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802), II, III, and thus quite unusual for America. This brings up the possibility that it was learned directly from Sir Walter Scott's volume or from Child by someone in Mrs. Burditt's family.
Flanders B, which does not seem to be a ghost story at all, rather a sentimental love tale spiced with maternal devotion, is a remarkable find. Obviously it is near print; the trite language and the maudlin plot are proof enough of that. Originally, it may be related to the tradition of the garbled Child C from Shropshire where the boys are named Joe, Peter, and John, although names Malcolm, Jock, and Don seem Scottish or at least Scotch-Irish. It is actually a completely new song, not Child 79 at all, and no closer to its "progenitor" than many of the so-called secondary ballads.
L. C. Wimberly, Folklore in the English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Chicago, 1928), 226, discusses the themes of revenants, moralistic punishment, and transformation that are interwoven into the American texts. Coffin, 83-84, gives an American bibliography and summary. Dean-Smith
does not list the song, although it appears in E. M. Leather's
The Folk-Lore of Herefordshire (London, 1912), 198.
B. Wife at Usher's Well. Sung by Mrs. Lena Bourne Fish of East Jaffrey, New Hampshire. It is an eight-line tune. on January 5, 1943 she sang an identical retake for H. H. F.; M. Olney, Collector July 15, 1942. For annotation see A above, since the two tunes are identical.
There lived a dame at Usher's well
And a comely dame was she.
She had three brave and hardy sons
Who sailed the deep blue sea.
Once on a voyage they did go--
So it has been told to me--
When word came to this worthy dame
That her sons had been lost at sea.
Now this poor dame did weep and mourn,
For her sons she did adore,
When told that her three sons were dead,
That she'd see them nevermore.
She vowed that she would eat no flesh
Nor drink a drop of wine
Till her three sons came home again
From across the foaming brine.
One morning as the cock did crow
Some one knocked on her door,
Which proved to be her hardy sons
Whom she thought she'd see no more.
She kissed them and embraced them too
As only mothers can
For she did love her manly sons--
Her Malcolm, Jock and Dan.
"I'll give each one a gift," said she,
"So ask me what you will,
For my lamp of faith is shining bright-
God's mercy liveth still;
For what is gold and land, my sons,
Or treasures rare?" quoth she.
"They'll not compare to my three sons
Which God has spared. to me."
Malcolm asked for the family coat-of-arms--
Or so I have heard say-
And Jock desired the houses and lands
Beyond the castle brae.[1]
Said Dan, "I do not ask for gold,
But there's one thing I desire:
It's the hand of that bonny maid of thine
Who daily lights your fire."
"My son, do you love this maiden fair?"
"That I do with ail my heart!"
"Then you shall wed this very day-
And nevermore shall part.
We will have a merrie wedding, son;
We'll dance and sing and dine;
And drink a toast to your bonny bride
With mother's choicest wine."
1 "brae": "hill"