Willie's Lady- Ray Fisher- Folk Legacy- 1982
[From the Folk Legacy recording Willie's Lady, 1982 by Ray Fisher of Edinburgh.
Her notes follow,
R. Matteson 2014]
I have set this magnificent ballad to a tune of a Breton drinking song [Son Ar Chistr or The Song of Cider]. The text is based entirely on the contents in Francis James Child's massive collection, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. I have omitted, added, and ‘telescoped’ some of the verses.
For immediate understanding, the plot is as follows: Willie marries a young and beautiful girl. His mother, a witch, disapproves of the girl and curses her. The girl will never produce a child; she and the child will die in childbirth. Offers of gifts to the mother to lift the curse prove fruitless. Willie seeks and gets help from the servant, the Billy Blind. Willie follows the Billy Blind's instructions and foils his mother's scheme and eventually fathers a son.
The Billy Blind: Some Scottish households retained a non-working servant who possesses some disability, e.g. deaf, dumb, hare-lipped or blind. The belief was held that they had second-sight, wisdom, or some supernatural power to compensate for their disability. They were feared by many, mainly due to ignorance. A blind man may well develop an extra keen hearing capacity and a refined sense of touch, so the belief was reasonably well-founded. Thus, as a means of protection or insurance against evil, a household would shelter such a person. In this ballad he was blind.
A brief clarification of the curses:
The knots in the girl's hair (note the magic number, nine; 3 × 3 = powerful) symbolise the constricting elements—holding back the free-flowing birth of the child. Even today, in some parts of Scotland, during childbirth a girl's garments are loose, unbuttoned, without pins or fastenings.
The combs (kaims o' care) of care were pressed through the long, golden hair, accompanied by a curse each time, and then left in the hair to hold in the curse. The hair is a powerful vehicle for curse-making.
The master kid (a young goat) was the link between the forces of evil and the witch—the catalyst or carrier. This invariably is an animal—the witch's cat being the most widely-known example.
The woodbine is a clinging, constricting plant that holds on and winds around other plants and branches—holding in again is symbolised here.
Lastly, the left-side shoe (leften shee) again has evil influence (i.e., Latin: sinister). This was tightly knotted to strengthen the curse.
Finally, the advice from the Billy Blind to make a wax baby and invite the mother to the christening is a master stroke indeed. This results in the eventual birth of a son.
The mother really laid it on pretty heavily with the curses—any one would have done the trick! She must either have doubted her own skills or have feared the power of the love bond between her son and the girl.
WILLIE'S LADY
O Willie's ta'en ower the raging faem
He's woo'd a wife & he's bocht her hame
He's woo'd her for her lang yellow hair
But his mother wrocht her muckle care
And muckle dolour gar'd her dree
For light o' bairn his lady canna be
For light o' bairn she canna be
And aye she lies in her bower wi' pain
And Willie mourns his lady a' in vain
And Willie mourns her a' in vain.
So Willie's tae his wicked mither gane
The vilest witch o' womenkind
And says, "My lady has a bonnie cup
Wi' gowd & silver set aboot"
"This goodly gift it shall be yer ain
Gin ye let her be lighter o' her bairn
Gin ye let her be lighter o' bairn"
"O, light o' bairn she ne'er will be
Nor in her bower will shine sae bricht for ye
Nor in her bower will shine for thee"
"But she will die and slowly turn tae clay
You will wed wi' anither may"
"O, anither may I'll never wed
Anither may shall never share my bed
I'd rather die," Young Willie said.
So Willie's tae his mither yet again
That vilest witch o' womenkind
And says "My lady has a milk white steed
Like o' it's no' in the lands o' Leed"
"At lika tett o' that horse's mane
Hangs fifty bonnie siller bells & ten
Fifty siller bells and ten"
"This goodly gift it shall be yer ain
Gin ye let her be lighter o' her bairn
Gin ye let her be light o' bairn."
"O, light o' bairn she ne'er will be
Nor in her bower will shine sae bricht for ye
Nor in her bower will shine for thee"
"But she will die and slowly turn tae clay
And you will wed wi' anither may"
"O, anither may I'll never wed
Anither may shall never share my bed
I'd rather die" young Willie said
So Willie's tae the wise old Billy Blind
And aye he spoke oot in good time
He says "Go down intae the market place
There ye'll buy a loaf of wax"
"And shape it bairn and bairnie-like
And in ti's heid twa glassen e'en ye'll put
And in it's heid twa e'en ye'll put"
"And you will tae yer wicked mither gae
Invite her tae yer son's christenin"
"But ye must stand a way forbye
And listen weel what yer wicked mither says
Listen weel what she does says."
So Willie's tae his wicked mither gane
Invited her tae his son's christenin
And he did stand a wee forbye
And listened weel what his wicked mither said
Listened weel what she did say
"And wha has ta'en oot the kaims o' care
That hung amang yon lady's hair"
"And wha has killed the Master Kid
That ran beneath that bonnie lady's bed
That ran beneath that lady's bed"
"And wha has ta'en doon the bush o' woodbine
That hung atween that lady's bower & mine
That hung atween her bower & mine"
"And wha has loos'd her left foot shee
So light o' bairn this lady then may be
So light o' bairn this lady be"
Then Willie's ta'en oot the nine and witchen knots
That were amang his lady's locks
And Willie's ta'en oot the kaims o' care
That hung amang his lady's hair
And Willie's killed the Master Kid
That ran beneath his bonnie lady's bed
That ran ran beneath his lady's bed
And Willie's ta'en doon the bush o' woodbine
That hung atween his lady's bower sae fine
Hung atween her bower sae fine
Then Willie's looosened his lady's leften shee
That light o' bairn she then might be
And when an' a' these things were done
His lady's brocht forth untae him a son
His lady's brocht forth a bonnie son.