13. The Lass of Roch Royal
13. THE LASS OF ROCH ROYAL (Child, No. 76)
One complete version (A) and a fragment (B) have been recovered in West Virginia.
"Fair Annie and Gregory." Contributed by Mrs. J. J. Haines, Parkersburg, Wood County, January 15, 1916, who writes: "I have heard these old ballads sung from my earliest recollection by my grandparents and others. Grandfather's name was Benjamin Franklin Roberts; grandmother's name was Mary Leatherman Roberts. Grandfather's mother was a descendant of the Franklins, but I do not know whether of Benjamin Franklin's father's family, or a brother. My ancestors on both sides came to America in the time of the colonization." Printed by Cox, xlv, 347.
This excellent version of "The Lass of Roch Royal," though derived by the contributor from an oral source, probably goes back to print. It seems to be formed from Jamieson's text {Popular Ballads, 1806, I, 37) and from Scott's {Minstrelsy, 1802, n, 49), chiefly from the former. Thus one may account for its close resemblance to Child's D and for the points which it has in common with Child's E, as well as for the name "Loch Royan " (Child's B). Cf . Journal, xxx, 304.
1 "O who will shoe my bonny feet,
Or who will glove my hand,
Or who will lace my middle waist
With a new-made London band?
2 "And who will comb my yellow hair
With a new-made silver comb?
And who will be my bairn's father,
Till love Gregory comes home?"
3 "Your father will shoe your bonny feet,
Your mother will glove your hand,
Your sister will lace your middle waist
With a new-made London band.
4 "Myself will comb your yellow hair
With a new-made silver comb,
And the Lord will be the bairn's father,
Till Gregory comes home."
5 "O if I had a bonny ship,
And men to sail with me,
I would go to my true love,
Since he will not come to me."
6 Her father gave her a fair ship
And sent her to the strand;
She has taken her young son in her arms
And turned her back to land.
7 She had been sailing on the sea
About a month or more,
When she landed her bonny ship
Near to her true love's door.
8 The night was dark and the wind was cold,
And her love was fast asleep ;
And the bairn that was in her arms,
Full sore began to weep.
9 Long stood she at her lover's door
And long twirled at the pin;
At length up got his false mother,
Saying, " Who's that, that would be in?"
10. "O it is Annie of Loch Royan,
Your love, come over the sea;
Also your young son in her arms,
So open the door to me."
11. "Away, away, you ill woman,
You're not come here for good;
You 're but a witch or a vile warlock,
Or a mermaid of the flood."
12 "I'm not a witch or a vile warlock,
Nor a mermaiden," said she;
"But I am Annie of Loch Royan;
Please open the door to me."
13 "O if you be Annie of Loch Royan,
As I believe you not to be,
Now tell me some of the love tokens
That have passed between thee and me."
14 "O do you mind, love Gregory,
When we sat at the wine,
How we changed the napkins from our necks?
It's not so long a time.
15 "And yours was good, and good enough,
But not so good as mine;
For yours was of the cambric clear,
But mine of the silk so fine.
16 "And do you not mind, love Gregory,
As we two sat to dine,
How we changed the rings from our fingers?
And I can show thee thine.
17 "So open the door, love Gregory,
And open it with speedy
Or our young son in my arms
From cold will soon be dead."
18 "Away, away, you false woman,
Go from your door for shame;
For I have gotten another fair love,
So you may hie you home."
19 "O have you gotten another fair love,
For all the oaths you sware?
Then farewell, false Gregory,
You will never see me more."
20 O early, early went she back,
As the day began to peep;
She set her foot on her good ship,
And sorely she did weep.
21 Love Gregory started from his sleep
And to his mother did say:
"I dreamed a dream this night, mother,
That fills my heart with woe.
22 "I dreamed that Annie of Loch Roy an,
The flower of all her kind,
Was standing mourning at my door,
And none would let her in."
23 "If it be Annie of Loch Royan,
That you make all this din,
She stood all last night at your door,
But I'm sure she was not in."
24 "O woe betide you, false woman,
An ill death may you die,
That would not open the door to her,
Nor yet would waken me!"
25 O quickly, quickly raised he up
And fast run to the strand;
And then he saw his fair Annie,
Was sailing far from land.
26 "O Annie, and it's O Annie,
O Annie, where do you abide?"
But all the more he cried " Annie,"
The faster ran the tide.
27 The wind grew loud and the sea grew rough,
And the ship was rent in twain;
And soon he saw his fair Annie
Come floating through the foam.
28 He saw his young son in her arms,
Both tossed about the tide;
He wrung his hands and fast he ran,
And plunged into the sea so wide.
29 He caught her by the yellow hair,
He drew her to the strand;
But cold and stiff was every limb,
Before he reached the land.
30 O first he kissed her pale cheeks,
And then he kissed her chin;
And then he kissed her bonny lips,
But there was no breath within.
31 And he mourned over his fair Annie,
Till the sun was going down;
Then with a sigh his heart did break,
And his soul to heaven has flown.
B. "My Lady's Slipper." Communicated by Mr. R. S. Ridenour, Farmington, Marion County, January 1916; obtained from the Rev. W. J. Sharpes, who learned it about seventy years ago.
These two stanzas sometimes occur by themselves; so Child, in, 512 (from "the Carolina mountains"); Cox, C; Focus, iv, 49. But they easily become associated with any song on the theme of lovers' parting. They turn up, accordingly, (1) in "The New-Slain Knight" (Child, No. 263); (2) in some forms of "The True Lover's Farewell" (as Cox, No. 137, and Campbell and Sharp, No. 61 A; Belden's collection); (3) in one version of "The Rejected Lover" (Campbell and Sharp, No. 56 A); (4) in "Cold Winter's Night" (Shearin, Modern Language Review, vi, 514; cf. Shearin and Combs, p. 8), which is a cross between (2) and (3); (5) in some forms of "Careless Love" (Perrow, Journal, xxvm, 147, mixed with "The True Lover's Farewell"; Focus, in, 275); (6) in some versions of "The False Young Man" (Campbell and Sharp, No. 94 C; Babcock, Folk-Lore Journal, vn, 31, reprinted by Child, 111, 511); (7) in "Kitty Kline" (Bascom, Journal, xxn, 240; cf. F. C. Brown, p. 9); (8) in "Blue-eyed Boy" (Belden's Missouri collection) ; in (9) in a comic ditty (Lomax, The North Carolina Booklet, July, 191 1, xi, 29). The same stanzas, alone or in combination, are recorded in Bulletin, Nos. 2-10. They occur also in a West Virginia text of "The House Carpenter" (No. 25 C), in "John Hardy" (No. 35 E), and apparently in a North Carolina version of "Lord Randal," Child, No. 12 (F. C.Brown, p. 9). Cf. Reed Smith, Journal, xxvni, 201, 202.
1 "Who will shoe your pretty little feet?
Who will glove your hand?
Who will kiss your sweet rosy lips,
When I'm in a foreign land?"
2 "My father will shoe my pretty little feet,
My mother will glove my hand,
And you may kiss my sweet rosy lips,
When you come from the foreign land."