OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
14. Young Beichan (Child 53)
It has been suggested that the frequent and widespread occurrence of this ballad as traditional song may be due to its frequent appearance in broadside and songbook print (for which see Barry, BBM 106-22, and especially Kittredge's bibliographical note, JAFL XXX 294-7). The argument may easily, however, be turned the other way: that ballad printers used it because it was known to be a favorite. Cause and effect are not easily distinguished in such cases. There is at least no question that it is a favorite. It has been reported as traditional song in recent times in Scotland (LL 40-2), Northamptonshire (ECS 62-3), Lincolnshire (JFSS iii 192-9), Wiltshire and Hampshire (FSUT 147-9; Williams says it is "common to the whole of the Thames Valley"), Sussex (Sharp's Folk-Songs of England v 32-3), Somerset (FSSom no. 65), even, the tune at least, in the Isle of Man (JFSS vii 315) ; and on this side of the water in the Bahamas (JAFL xli 585-8), Newfoundland (FSN 88-92, BSSN 17), Nova Scotia (BSSNS 16-19), Maine (BBM 106-22), Vermont (VFSB 204-8), Pennsvlvania (JAFL XXIII 450-1), Virginia (TBV 158-71, SharpK i 87, SCSM 212-13), West Virginia (FSS 36-41), Kentucky (JAFL xx 251-2, xxii 64-5, SharpK i 79-80, 83-6, 87, 88, LT 58-61, DD 86-7), Tennessee (SharpK i 81-3. 86, FSSH 55-9, BTFLS viii 68-9), North Carolina (JAFL xxviii 149-51, SharpK i 77-9, 80-1, FSRA 18-20), South Carolina (SCB 104-6), Mississippi (FSM 75-6), Florida (SFLQ VIII 144-6), the Ozarks (OMF 197-201, OFS i 83-8), Ohio (BSO 28-9), Michigan (BSSM 143-5), and Nebraska (ABS 53-6, really from Indiana).
There are certain interesting variations among these many texts. Kittredge, in the note above referred to, remarks that some of the American texts differ from the broadsides in retaining a detail of the Turks' barbarous cruelty: a hole is bored in Beichan's shoulder by means of which he is harnessed and becomes a draft-animal. Thus in Child A:
For thro his shoulder he put a bore.
An thro the bore has pitten a tree,
An he's gard him draw the carts o wine.
Where liorse and oxen had wont to be.
Similarly in B D E H I N. The word "tree" here means "draught-tree," the pole of a wagon or cart by which it is attached to the
draft animal. "Tree" in this sense was apparently not an acceptable locution, was not understood in America ; Henry's Tennessee text and our version E change it to "key," two of the West Virginia texts and the only text in TBV that retains this feature change the word to "rope" and the other West Virginia text to "string." Other American texts that keep the word change the meaning; the "tree" is now that to which the captive is tied (chained, nailed, bound, fastened, sometimes around his middle), giving a quite different picture. So BBM D, TBV E, SharpK A E, JAFL xxviii 150, XXX 295, and our A version. Some of the texts have in the closing scene what seems to be a reference to the heroine's baptism, most definitely in Child A:
He's take his bonny love by the han,
And led her to yon fountain stane;
He's changed her name frae Shusy Pye,
An he's cald her his bonny love, Lady Jane.
Some of the American texts, both from the North and from the South, retain the feature of the change of name, but I judge that in each instance it is understood of a change of name by marriage, not by christening. Finally, certain of the American texts make the heroine declare her love with an un-American frankness. When the prisoner offers wealth and position to the lady if she will free him from his bonds, she tells him that all she wants is his "fair body." This locution is found in none of the Child texts; but it is in Coverly's Boston broadside, in The Forget-Me-Not Songster, and in traditional texts from Nova Scotia, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, and North Carolina (though not in any of the texts in our collection). Whether the innovation originates with Coverly is not clear, but it is contrary to the general American mores to express desire so simply.
Our collection has six texts of Young Beichan.
A. 'Lord Beham.' From the John Bell Henneman collection, the North Carolina part of which came into the possession of the North Carolina Folklore Society through Professor C. Alphonso Smith of the University of Virginia. Presumably this, like the other North Carolina items in the Henneman collection, came from the singing of Mrs. Simpkins, but the manuscript does not say so. In the manuscript it is not divided into stanzas, but since much of it is clearly stanzaic I have attempted such division. The marginal notes are from the manuscript; the punctuation is the editor's. One suspects mishearing, or miswriting, in
the matter of the Turkish lady's name. In most texts her name is Susy Pye; sometimes Susanna, less often Sophia.
1 Lord Beham was a gentleman,
A gentleman of high degree.
He put his foot on yon footboardings,
Saying, 'Some foreign land I will go see.'
2 He sailed east, he sailed west,
He sailed towards the north;
There he fell among the Turks;
They taken him as a slave.
3 In his right shoulder they bored a hole
And into that they put a tree;
They bound him down in prison strong,
Quite weary of his life to be.
4 The old Turkish priest had but one daughter
At night she goes and steals the keys,
Saying, 'Lord Beham I will go and see.
5 'Have you land or have you livings?
Have you a castle of high degree?
What will you give one lady fair
If out of the prison she will set you clair?'
6 'Yes, I have lands and I have livings,
I have a castle of high degree ;
I will give it all to one lady fair.
If out of prison she will me clair.'
7 She took him to her father's castle,
She treated him on the best of beer.
And every merry health she'd drink to him,
'Lord Beham, you're a gentleman,'
And every merry health she'd drink to him,
'Lord Beham, I wish you were mine.'
8 A gold ring then was broke betwixt 'em :
At seven long years Susifie will cross the sea. [5"».yy Fyr
9 She carried him down to her father's harbour.
She put him aboard her father's ship:
'Farewell, farewell, my own heart's joy !
You I fear I shall no more see.'
10 Long seven years come and past over.
11 Lord Beham carried his new bride home.
And Susifie she crossed the sea.
She came into the city
Enquiring for Lord Beham's dwelling.
12 'Yes, this is Lord Beham's dwelling;
He's just carried his new bride home.'
13 'Tell him to send me a piece of bread
And a bottle of beer.
Ask him if he'd forgot the lady fair
Who out of prison set him clair."
14 A-going into his master's dwelling
And falling on his knees.
'Rise up, rise up, my bold porter.
And tell your story unto me.'
15 'There is a lady at your gate,
She is one perfect beauty;
She's got more gold about her waist
Than all England can afford.'
16 He ris up from his new royal dinner,
He split his table in pieces three:
Til lay you all my lands and living
My Susilie has crossed the sea.
17 'Your daughter is bonny and very bonny.
Although she's none the worse for me ;
She came to me on a horse and saddle,
ril send her home in coaches three.'
18 Her mother, being very angry:
'I wish in hell Susilie had have been [Siisifyr?
Before she crossed the sea.'
'The Turkish Lady.' Contributed in 1913 by Miss Edith B. Fish from her collection at White Rock, Madison county. The same, verbatim et literatim, as Perrow's text published in JAFL x.xvni 149-51 and therefore not printed here. Perrow says his text is from a manuscript "lent E. N. Caldwell, 1913," which may mean that Miss Fish lent the manuscript to Caldwell at that time.
C. 'Lord Bateman.' The first of two versions of the ballad found by Mrs. Sutton. This one she took down from the singing of a little girl in the Brushy Creek schoolhouse in Avery county in 1917. "Brushy Creek," Mrs. Sutton writes, "runs through a high narrow valley in the ridge between the Toe and Linville rivers. The little schoolhouse stood on a narrow flat in the ridge and was surrounded by a forest." After singing the ballad the little girl, a sixth-grade pupil, remarked : "He'd ort to 'a' knowed that she'd foller him."
1 In London city was Bateman born,
He longed far lands to see
So he was taken by a savage Turk
Who punished him cruelly.
2 He cast him in a dungeon deep
Where he couldn't hear or see ;
He shut 'him up in a prison dark
And handled him cruelly.
3 The Turk had but one fair child,
As fair as she could be.
She stole the keys to the prison dark
And set Lord Bateman free.
4 She said, 'Have you any house or land
Or rents in your own country?
Would you give it all to a lady fair
If she would set you free?'
5 She gave him a loaf of snow-white bread
And a flask of Spanish wine.
He vowed a vow to marry her ;
I wish that she was mine.'
6 She led him down to the salt sea.
'Go, haste to your own country ;
Before seven years have come and gone
Come back and marry me.'
7 Before seven years had come and gone
She longed her true love to see.
She set her foot on a sailing ship
And started over the sea.
8 When she got to Lord Bateman 's hall
She jingled at the ring:
'Oh, Lord Bateman, Lord Bateman, asleep or awake,
Arise and let me in !
9 'Is this Lord Bateman's hall?' she said,
'Oh, is Lord Bateman in?'
'He's in the hall, with his new bride.
And the wedding guests with him,'
10 'Oh, he has taken another bride
And forgotten his vows to me.'
And then the Turkish lady said,
'I wish I was in my own country.'
11 'Oh, I've been a porter at your gate
For seven years and three,
But there's a lady out there now
Whose like I never did see.
12 'On every finger she has a ring,
On the middle one she has three.
And there's as much gold about her head
As would buy a farm for me.'
13 Then up and started Lord Bateman,
And oath he swore, did he.
Saying, 'That's my Turkish princess
Who has crossed the sea to me.'
14 Then quickly he ran out of the hall.
And when he saw 'twas she
He took his true love in his arms
And kissed her tenderly.
15 'Oh, have you forgotten, Lord Bateman dear.
Oh, have you forgotten,' said she,
'That I took you out of the dark dungeon
And started you over the sea?'
16 'Take home, take home your daughter dear;
She's none the worse for me.
For I must marry my own true love
Who has followed me o'er the sea.'
'Lord Bateman.' Another version found by Mrs. Sutton in Avery county. This was sung by Mrs. Brown, of Beech Mountain. The elements of the story are the same as in C, yet the language is different — so much so that there are scarcely two identical stanzas in the two versions.
1 Lord Bateman sailed on the salt-salt sea
Until he came to Turkey's shore.
Where he was caught and placed in jail ;
He feared he'd never travel more.
2 The jailer had just one fair child,
As pretty a girl as you e'er did see.
She stole the key of Lord Bateman's cell.
She stole the key and set him free.
3 'Have you got house? Have you got land?*
Have you got wealth for me to see?
Have you got anything to maintain me on
For to keep me from slavery?^
4 'I've got house and I've got land^
And both of these I'll give to thee,
My merry men shall you command
If you'll only go to my countree.'
5 She carried him down to the wharf
And loosed a ship that rode the foam.
Seveh dark sailor men she gave to him,
Saying, 'Soon, my lord, you'll be at home.'
6 When he reached his home he forgot the maid,
Forgot the maid who saved his life;
He sought the hand of a neighbor girl;
In a little while she was his wife.
7 The Turkish girl waited long for him
Before she tried to cross the sea.
At last she said, 'I'll follow him,
My own true love, to his far country.'
8 She traveled many a weary mile
Before she reached Lord Bateman's door,
Her body ached, her heart was sick,
Her little feet was very sore.
9 When she reached the door of his castle grand
She jingled loudly at the bell.
'Oh, who is that?' the young wife said,
'Oh, who is that? I pray thee tell !'
10 'There's a lady there,' the servant said,
'A lady fair and richly clad.
Your husband's name is all she speaks.
Her voice is quare and very sad.'
11 Lord Bateman walked thru the long, long hall
To meet his true love at the door.
He took her by her lily-white hand
And bowed him down unto the floor.
12 'My own true love has followed me
From out a far-oflf distant land.
My pledged word belongs to her.
My life and heart she does command.
13 'You may return to your father's house,
Ten thousand pound I'll give to thee,
Six merry men to guard you home ;
My own true love will marry me.'
^ This appears in the manuscript, both times, as "lard" — surely just a slip.
' This stanza seems to have been borrowed from 'James Harris' ; at
least it appears frequently in American texts of that ballad.
E. 'Susan Price.' From the manuscript songbook of Miss Edith Walker of Boone, Watauga county. This is the same version as that reported by Henry, FSSH 55-8, from Blount county, Tennessee — which is only a few miles away on the other side of the state line from Watauga county. This version is distinguished by deriving the hero not from London but from Glasgow (there is a trace of this in Kinloch's version. Child H, where, though Beichan is London-born in stanza 1, he becomes "the lord frae Scotland" in stanza 12 and "my Scottish lord" in stanza 18, and comes home to "Glasgow town" in stanza 20, and the
Turkish lady comes to "the Scottish shore" in stanza 28) and by having Deham propose first his oldest and then his youngest brother as substitute before he finally agrees to marry the lady himself. Although the two texts correspond rather closely in the main, there are variations that make it worth while to record Miss Walker's text here. In the manuscript it is written as couplets, but the rhyme shows that it is really in quatrains and I have so printed it.
1 Young Deham from Glasgow is gone
All the Turks for to see.
And the Turks took him as a prisoner
And bound him to a thirsty tree ;
2 Through his left shoulder they bored a hole
And through and through they drune^ a key
And they forced him into the dungeon deep
Where the light of day he ne'er could see.
3 The jailer had a l^eautiful daughter —
A beautiful creature, oh ! was she —
The jailhouse door was open wide
And by Lord Deham did stand she.
4. 'Now have you any house or land,
Or any other buildings free?
What would you give to a pretty gu'l
To set you at your liberty ?'
5 'Glasgow town is all my own,
Besides other buildings two or three :
All this I'll give to a pretty girl
To set me at my liberty.'
6 She took him by the Hberty- white hand,
Through rooms and rooms went he and she;
The sugar bread and wine so red
Was all to nourish his fair body.
7 They drew a leave^ between them both
For seven long years and a day.
'And if you don't come unto the time,
All the blame on you I'll lay.'
8 The seven year being most gone
Miss Susan thought the time was long.
T must go seek my young Deham.
I know not where or what land.'
9 Her father built her a little ship
And put it on the raging sea.
And in it he put gold enough
To bear her own sweet company.
10 She sailed high and she sailed low ;
Some turquoise stones she chanced to spy.
As she sat cracking her milk-white fingers
Three gentlemen came riding by.
11 Is this Deham's hall?
Or is there ary knight within?'
'This here is young Deham's hall,
And there is a knight within.
12 'He's a-sittin' at his wedding table,
Makin' welcome with his noble kin.'
13 When she came to Lord Deham's gate
She dingled loudly at the gate.
'Just wait a while,' the proud porter says,
'I'll quickly rise and let you in.
14 'There's the purtiest woman at your gate
That ever my two eyes did see.'
He kicked the table with his foot
And caught all upon his knees.
15 The silver pans and earthen cans,
All to pieces they did fly.
'I'll lay my life,' Lord Deham says,
Miss Susan Price come over sea!'
1 6 'Now are you married to another woman?
I'm sure I hain't to another man.
Just pay me down ninety thousand pounds
And I'll sail back to the Turkish land.'
17 'My dearest jewel, now don't say so!
But if you murmur, let it be;
I'll wed you to my older brother,
If contented with him you will be.'
18 'I wish you great luck with your older brother,
But I don't want no such a man.
Just pay me down ninety thousand pounds
And I'll sail back to the Turkish land.'
19 'My dearest jewel, now don't say so!
But if you murmur, let it be;
I'll wed you to my younger brother,
If contented with him you'll be.'
20 'I wish you great luck with your younger brothier,
But I don't want no such a man.
Just pay me down ninety thousand pound
And I'll sail back to the Turkish land.'
21 'My dearest jewel, now don't say so!
But if you murmur, let it be;
I'll wed you to my own self
If contented you'll be.'
22 Up then spoke the new bride's mother :
'Such a thing was never known,
To marry a damsel in the morning fair
And wed another before it's noon!'
23 'You can take your brown girl home,
I'm sure she's none the worse by me;
I aim to wed the lady fair
That set me at my liberty.'
' Henry's text has "drew." For the meaning of "key" see headnote.
* So the manuscript ; perhaps merely a mistake not corrected.
' The meaning seems to be "promise" or "agreement" ; "leave' a strange word for it.
F. 'Lord Batesman.' Contributed by James York of Olin, Iredell county, in 1939-
1 There lived a man in our country
And he was a man of high degree.
Lord Batesman could not be contented
Till he had taken a voyage at sea.
2 And he sailed east and he sailed west,
He sailed till he came to the Turkish shore.
And there he's taken up a prisoner —
No hopes of freedom any more.
3 The jailer had one only daughter,
And she was as fine as fine could be.
She gathered all her father's keys,
Saying, 'Lord Batesman I'll go see.'
4 She took him down to her father's cellar,
She gave him wine so red and strong.
And every glass she held unto him,
Saying, 'I wish Lord Batesman was my own.
5 'Oh, have you house and land,' she sayeth.
And have you living of high degree?
And will you give it all to the lady
Who out of prison will set you free?'
6 'Yes, I have houses and lands,' he sayeth,
'And I have a living of high degree.
And I will give it all to the lady
Who out of prison will set me free.'
7 'For seven long years we'll make this bargain.
For seven long years — and here's my hand —
If you will marry no other lady
I'm sure I'll marry no other man.'
8 She took him down to her father's harbor
And there she gave him a boat and car,*
Saying, 'Fare you well, my own true lover,
I fear I'll see your face no more.'
9 For seven long years have passed and ended,
The seven long years ; and it's one, two, three —
She gathered all her jewelry round her
Saying, 'Lord Batesman I'll go see.'
10 She sailed till she came to Lord Batesman's castle
She tangled till she made him let her within.
Lord Batesman sent his servant down running
To see who wished for to come in.
11 'Is this Lord Batesman's castle?' she sayeth;
'Doth he himself dwell here within?'
'Yes, this is Lord Batesman's castle,' he sayeth,
'And he's just brought his new bride in.'
12 'Go tell him I want a slice of his bread,
And I want a glass of his wine so strong.
And ask him if he's forgotten the lady
Who's freed him out of prison so long.'
13 'There's the finest lady at your gate
That ever my two eyes did see.
She wears a ring on her little finger
And on the rest is one, two, three;
She wears more jewelry round her body
Than is worn by your bride and her company.'
14 Lord Batesman rising from his table
As he broke the bread and the wine so strong,
Saying. 'Are you well, my lovely beauty?
Since my sweet Susan has come to me.
15 I married your daughter just today,
I'm sure she's injured none by me;
I brought her here on horse and saddle
But I'll take her back in a coach of three.'
* Both sense and rhyme call for "oar" here.
-------------------------------------------------
14 Young Beichan
(Child 53)
'Susan Price.' Sung by Mrs. Nora Hicks and granddaughter, Addie Hicks. Recorded at Mast's Gap, Sugar Grove, August 28, 1940.
For melodic relationship cf. *FSSH 55, No. 9A.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2). Both cadences are closely related. Measure 6 is merely a variation of measure 3- Circular Tune (V).
'Lord Batesman.' Sung by Mr. and Mrs. James York. Recorded at Olin, Iredell county, August 14, 1939- For textual variations cf. BB 30-1.
For melodic relationship cf. *SFSEA 215, No. 214.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: e. Structure: aa1aSaa (2,2,2,2). The a3 is considerably varied.