No. 24: Bonnie Annie
[A similar ballad, "The Faithless Sea Captain or the Betrayed Virgin," in 3 parts, a chap book garland (LXXXII. Old Ballads was collected by John Bell Newcastle circ. 1768, Press mark 11621.c.2) is found in the British Museum. The story is this:
The Sea captain induces a Virgin to elope with his from her father's and mother's house. She comes on board his ship, but falls overboard. The body floats after the ship. When the Captain sees this, he throws himself overboard to her. [Martin Graebe]
Although it's a different ballad, "The Faithless Sea Captain or the Betrayed Virgin," may come from the same early source as "Bonnie Annie," with both ballads distantly related.
For some reason, "The Undutiful Daughter" title has been omitted from Child C. The three versions were sent to Child by Baring-Gould c. 1890, just before publication of Child's edition.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnote (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-C (C was added in a later edition)
5. Endnotes
6. "Additions and Corrections"
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Bonnie Annie
A. Roud Number 172: Bonnie Annie (106 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: Bonnie Annie (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-C with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. 'Bonnie Annie,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123. p. 652.
B. 'The High Banks o Yarrow,' Motherwell's Manuscript.
C. The Undutiful Daughter- Collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould in South Devon. [Title added; C added]
a. From an old man at Bradstone.
b. From a young man at Dartmoor.
c. From an old man at Holne.
Had an old copy of this still pretty and touching, but much disordered, ballad been saved, we should perhaps have had a story like this. Bonnie Annie, having stolen her father's gold and her mother's fee, and fled with her paramour (like the maid in No 4), the ship in which she is sailing encounters a storm and cannot get on. Annie is seized with the pangs of travail, and deplores the absence of women (B 6, 7, A 9, 10; compare No 15, 21-26). The sailors say there is somebody on board who is marked for death, or flying from a just doom. They cast lots, and the lot falls on Annie, — a result which strikes us as having more semblance of the "corrupted currents of this world" than of a pure judgment of God. Annie, conscious only of her own guilt, asks to be thrown overboard. Her paramour offers great sums to the crew to save her, but their efforts prove useless, and Annie again begs, or they now insist, that she shall be cast into the sea with her babe. This done, the ship is able to sail on; Annie floats to shore and is buried there.
The captain of the ship is the guilty man in A, in B a rich squire. A may exhibit the original plot, but it is just as likely that the captain was substituted for a passenger, under the influence of another ballad, in which there is no Annie, but a ship-master stained with many crimes, whom the lot points out as endangering or obstructing the vessel. See 'Brown Robyn's Confession,' further on.
If the narrative in Jonah, I, is the ultimate source of this and similar stories, it must be owned that the tradition has maintained its principal traits in this ballad remarkably well. Jonah flies from the presence of the Lord in a ship; the ship is overtaken by a tempest;[1] the sailors cast lots to know who is the guilty cause, and the lot falls on Jonah; he bids the sailors take him up and cast him into the sea; nevertheless the men row hard to bring the ship to land, but cannot succeed; they throw Jonah into the water, and the storm ceases.[2]
Translated in Grundtvig's Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 199, No 31.
Footnotes:
1. Jonah is asleep below. This trait we find in several Norse ballads: see 'Brown Robyn's Confession.'
2. A singular episode in the life of Saint Mary Magdalen in the Golden Legend, Grässe, c. xcvi, 2, p. 409 ff, indicates a belief that even a dead body might prejudice the safety of a ship. The princess of Marseilles, in the course of a storm, has given birth to a boy and expired. The sailors demand that the body shall be thrown into the sea (and apparently the boy, too), for, they say, as long as it shall be with us, this thumping will not cease. They presently see a hill, and. think it better to put off the corpse, and the boy, there, than that these should be devoured by sea-monsters. Fear will fasten upon anything in such a case.
The Digby Mystery of Mary Magdalene has this scene, at p. 122 of the New Shakspere Society edition, ed. Furnivall.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Had an old copy of this still pretty and touching, but much disordered, ballad been saved, we should perhaps have had a story like this: Bonnie Annie, having stolen her father's gold and her mother's fee, and fled with her paramour, the ship in which she is sailing encounters a storm and cannot get on. Annie is seized with the pangs of travail, and deplores the absence of women. The sailors say there is somebody on board who is marked for death, or flying from a just doom. They cast lots, and the lot falls on Annie. Conscious only of her own guilt, she asks to be thrown overboard. Her paramour offers great sums to the crew to save her, but their efforts prove useless, and Annie again begs, or they now insist, that she shall be cast into the sea with her babe. This done, the ship is able to sail on; Annie floats to shore and is buried there.
If the narrative in Jonah, i, is the ultimate source of this and similar stories, it must be owned that the tradition has maintained its principal traits in this ballad remarkably well. Cf. also 'Brown Robyn's Confession' (No. 57).
Child's Ballad Texts A-C
'Bonnie Annie'- Version A; Child 24- Bonnie Annie
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.
1 There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,
He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.
2 O she was fair, O dear, she was bonnie!
A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.
3 There cam a ship's captain out owre the sea sailing,
He courted this young thing till he got her wi bairn.
4 'Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,
And I'll mak ye a lady in Ireland bonnie.'
5 She's stown her father's gowd, and her mother's money,
But she was never a lady in Ireland bonnie.
* * * * *
6 'There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me,
There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me.'
7 They've casten black bullets twice six and forty,
And ae the black bullet fell on bonnie Annie.
8 'Ye'll tak me in your arms twa, lo, lift me cannie,
Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'
9 He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.
10 'What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye;'
'Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me.'
11 'Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,
Do all ye can to save my dear Annie.'
12 'I've laid about, steerd about, laid about cannie,
But all I can do, she winna sail for me.
13 'Ye'll tak her in your arms twa, lo, lift her cannie,
And throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'
14 He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.
15 As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,
And she was at Ireland as soon as them.
16 He made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
And buried his bonnie love doun in a sea valley.
'The High Banks o Yarrow'- Version B; Bonnie Annie- Child 24
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 652. From the singing of a boy, Henry French, Ayr.
1 Down in Dumbarton there wonnd a rich merchant,
Down in Dumbarton there wond a rich merchant,
And he had nae family but ae only dochter.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
2 There cam a rich squire, intending to woo her,
There cam a rich squire, intending to woo her,
He wooed her until he had got her wi babie.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
3 'Oh what shall I do! oh what shall come o me!
'Oh what shall I do! oh what shall come o me!
Baith father and mither will think naething o me.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
4 'Gae up to your father, bring down gowd and money,
'Gae up to your father, bring down gowd and money,
And I'll take ye ower to a braw Irish ladie.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
5 She gade to her father, brought down gowd and money,
She gade to her father, brought down gowd and money,
And she's awa ower to a braw Irish ladie.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
6 She hadna sailed far till the young thing cried 'Women!'
She hadna sailed far till the young thing cried 'Women!'
'What women can do, my dear, I'll do for you.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
7 'O haud your tongue, foolish man, dinna talk vainly,
'O haud your tongue, foolish man, dinna talk vainly,
For ye never kent what a woman driet for you.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
8 'Gae wash your hands in the cauld spring water,
'Gae wash your hands in the cauld spring water,
And dry them on a towel a' giltit wi silver.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
9 'And tak me by the middle, and lift me up saftlie,
'And tak me by the middle, and lift me up saftlie,
And throw me ower shipboard, baith me and my babie.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
10 He took her by the middle, and lifted her saftly,
He took her by the middle, and lifted her saftly,
And threw her ower shipboard, baith her and her babie.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
11 Sometimes she did sink, sometimes she did float it,
Sometimes she did sink, sometimes she did float it,
Until that she cam to the high banks o Yarrow.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
12 'O captain tak gowd, O sailors tak money,
'O captain tak gowd, O sailors tak money,
And launch out your sma boat till I sail for my honey.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
13 'How can I tak gowd, how can I tak money?
'How can I tak gowd, how can I tak money?
My ship's on a sand bank, she winna sail for me.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
14 The captain took gowd, the sailors took money,
The captain took gowd, the sailors took money,
And they launchd out their sma boat till he sailed for his honey.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
15 'Mak my love a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,
Whar the wood it is dear, and the planks they are narrow,
And bury my love on the high banks o Yarrow.'
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
16 They made her a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,
They made her a coffin o the gowd sae yellow,
And buried her deep on the high banks o Yarrow.
Sing fal lal de deedle, fal lal de deedle lair, O a day
'The Undutiful Daughter'- Version C; Bonnie Annie- Child 24
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould has recently found this ballad in South Devon.
a. Taken down from a man of above eighty years at Bradstone.
b. From a young man at Dartmoor.
c. From an old man at Holne.
1 ’T was of a sea-captain came oer the salt billow,
He courted a maiden down by the green willow:
‘O take of your father his gold and his treasure,
O take of your mother her fee without measure.’
2 ‘I’ll take of my father his gold and his treasure,
I’ll take of my mother her fee without measure:’
She has come with the captain unto the seaside, O,
‘We’ll sail to lands foreign upon the blue tide, O!’
3 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in sorrow;
And when she had sailed the days were not many,
The sails were outspread, but of miles made not any.
4 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in sorrow;
And when she had sailed not many a mile, O,
The maid was delivered of a beautiful child, O.
5. . . . . .
6 ‘O take a white napkin, about my head bind it!
O take a white napkin, about my feet wind it!
Alack! I must sink, both me and my baby,
Alack! I must sink in the deep salten water.
7 ‘O captain, O captain, here’s fifty gold crown, O,
I pray thee to bear me and turn the ship round, O;
O captain, O captain, here’s fifty gold pound, O,
If thou wilt but set me upon the green ground, O.’
8 ‘O never, O never! the wind it blows stronger,
O never, O never! the time it grows longer;
And better it were that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I vow, O.’
9 ‘O get me a boat that is narrow and thin, O,
And set me and my little baby therein, O:’
‘O no, it were better that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I vow, O.’
10 They got a white napkin, about her head bound it,
They got a white napkin, about her feet wound it;
They cast her then overboard, baby and she, O,
Together to sink in the cruel salt sea, O.
11 The moon it was shining, the tide it was running;
O what in the wake of the vessel was swimming?
‘O see, boys! O see how she floats on the water!
O see, boys! O see! the undutiful daughter!
12 ‘Why swim in the moonlight, upon the sea swaying?
O what art thou seeking? for what art thou praying?’
‘O captain, O captain, I float on the water;
For the sea giveth up the undutiful daughter.
13 ‘O take of my father the gold and the treasure,
O take of my mother her fee without measure;
O make me a coffin of gold that is yellow,
And bury me under the banks of green willow!’
14 ‘I will make thee a coffin of gold that is yellow,
I’ll bury thee under the banks of green willow;
I’ll bury thee there as becometh a lady,
I’ll bury thee there, both thou and thy baby.’
15 The sails they were spread, and the wind it was blowing,
The sea was so salt, and the tide it was flowing;
They steered for the land, and they reachd the shore, O,
But the corpse of the maiden had reachd there before, O.
End-Notes
A. Printed by Kinloch in four-line stanzas.
161. coffin off the Goats of Yerrow.
A. B. 16. Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. xcix, 146, gives the stanza thus:
They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
And they buried her deep on the high banks of Yarrow.
Sing fal lal, de deedle, fal lal, de deedle lair, Oh a Day!
C. b. 11,2. There was a sea-captain came to the seaside, O,
He courted a damsel and got her in trouble.
133. coffin of the deepest stoll yellow.
154. But the mother and baby had got there before, O.
C c. 1 ’T is of a sea-captain, down by the green willow,
He courted a damsel and brought her in trouble;
When gone her mother’s good will and all her father’s money,
She fled across the wide sea along with her Johnny.
2 They had not been sailing the miles they were many
Before she was delivered of a beautiful baby:
‘O tie up my head! O and tie it up easy,
And throw me overboard, both me and my baby!’
3 She floated on the waves, and she floated so easy,
That they took her on board again, both she and her baby.
(The rest forgotten.)
Additions and Corrections
P. 245 ff. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould has recently found this ballad in South Devon.
[1890 date of this edition, making Rev. S. Baring-Gould c. 1880]
a. Taken down from a man of above eighty years at Bradstone.
b. From a young man at Dartmoor,
c. From an old man at Holne.
C a. 1 'T was of a sea-captain came oer the salt billow,
He courted a maiden down by the green willow:
'O take of your father his gold and his treasure,
take of your mother her fee without measure.'
2 'I'll take of my father his gold and his treasure,
I'll take of my mother her fee without measure:'
She has come with the captain unto the seaside, O,
'We'll sail to lands foreign upon the blue tide, O!'
3 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in sorrow;
And when she had sailed the days were not many,
The sails were outspread, but of miles made not any.
4 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in sorrow;
And when she had sailed not many a mile, O,
The maid was delivered of a beautiful child, O.
5 . . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
6 'O take a white napkin, about my head bind it!
O take a white napkin, about my feet wind it!
Alack! I must sink, both me and my baby,
Alack! I must sink in the deep salten water.
7 'O captain, O captain, here's fifty gold crown, O,
I pray thee to bear me and turn the ship round, O;
O captain, O captain, here's fifty gold pound, O,
If thou wilt but set me upon the green ground, O.'
8 'O never, O never! the wind it blows stronger,
O never, O never! the time it grows longer;
And better it were that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I vow, O.'
9 'O get me a boat that is narrow and thin, O,
And set me and my little baby therein, O:'
'O no, it were better that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I vow, O.'
10 They got a white napkin, about her head bound it,
They got a white napkin, about her feet wound it;
They cast her then overboard, baby and she, O,
Together to sink in the cruel salt sea, O.
11 The moon it was shining, the tide it was running;
O what in the wake of the vessel was swimming?
'O see, boys! O see how she floats on the water!
O see, boys! O see! the undutiful daughter!
12 'Why swim in the moonlight, upon the sea swaying?
what art thou seeking? for what art thou praying?'
'O captain, O captain, I float on the water;
For the sea giveth up the undutiful daughter.
13 'O take of my father the gold and the treasure,
O take of my mother her fee without measure;
O make me a coffin of gold that is yellow,
And bury me under the banks of green willow!'
14 'I will make thee a coffin of gold that is yellow,
I'll bury thee under the banks of green willow;
I'll bury thee there as becometh a lady,
I'll bury thee there, both thou and thy baby.'
15 The sails they were spread, and the wind it was blowing,
The sea was so salt, and the tide it was flowing;
They steered for the land, and they reachd the shore, O,
But the corpse of the maiden had reachd there before, O.
C b. 11,2. There was a sea-captain came to the seaside, O,
He courted a damsel and got her in trouble.
133. coffin of the deepest stoll yellow.
154. But the mother and baby had got there before, O.
C c. 1 'T is of a sea-captain, down by the green willow,
He courted a damsel and brought her in trouble;
When gone her mother's good will and all her father's money,
She fled across the wide sea along with her Johnny.
2 They had not been sailing the miles they were many
Before she was delivered of a beautiful baby:
'O tie up my head! O and tie it up easy,
And throw me overboard, both me and my baby!'
3 She floated on the waves, and she floated so easy,
That they took her on board again, both she and her baby.
(The rest forgotten.)