No. 302: Young Bearwell
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 302. Young Bearwell
A. Roud No. 3935: Young Bearwell (5 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 302. Young Bearwell (Bronson gives no music )
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child version A)
Child's Narrative: 302. Young Bearwell
A. 'Young Bearwell,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 75;" Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 456, derived from Buchan; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 345.
This is one of half a dozen pieces sent Buchan by Mr. Nicol of Strichen, "who wrote them from, memory as he had learned them in his earlier years from old people." It is also one of not a few flimsy and un jointed ballads found in Buchan's volumes, the like of which is hardly to be found elsewhere, that require a respectable voucher, such as Mr. Nicol undoubtedly was, for the other five pieces communicated by him were all above suspicion, and have a considerable value. It will not, however, help the ballad much that it was not palmed off on Buchan in jest or otherwise, or even if it was learned from an old person by Mr. Nicol in his youth. The intrinsic character of the ballad remains, and old people have sometimes burdened their memory with worthless things.
Young Bearwell and a mayor's daughter are lovers. Seeing him coming along one day, the lady tells him that there are such reports in circulation about him that he will have to sail the sea beyond Yorkisfauld, which may be beyond Ultima Thule for aught we know. Bearwell's life is in danger where he is, and the lady has had the forethought to build him a ship, in which she sends him off. By the process of sailing both east and west and then meeting wind from the north, he is blown to a land where the king and court, who pass their time mostly in playing ball, put a harp into the hand of every stranger and invite him to stay and play. Bearwell stays, and perhaps plays, twelve months. During this time the lady is so beset with suitors that she feels constrained to apply to a young skipper named Heyvalin to fetch her true-love back. To do this he must sail first east, then west, and then have a blast of north wind to blow him to the land. All this comes to pass; the king and court are playing ball, but immediately put a harp into Heyvalin's hand and urge him to stay and play. Skipper though he be, he falls to playing, and finds Bearwell the first man in all the company.
"From circumstances," which do not occur to me, Motherwell would almost be inclined to trace this piece to a Danish source, "or it may be an episode of some forgotten metrical romance." It may also, and more probably, be the effort of some amateur ballad-monger in northern Scotland whose imagination was unequal to the finishing of the inane story which he had undertaken.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This is one of half a dozen pieces sent Buchan by Mr. Nicol of Strichen, "who wrote them from memory as he had learned them in his earlier years from old people." It is also one of not a few flimsy and unjointed ballads found in Buchan's volumes, the like of which is hardly to be found elsewhere, that require a respectable voucher, such as Mr. Nicol undoubtedly was, for the other five pieces communicated by him were all above suspicion, and have a considerable value. It will not, however, help the ballad much that it was not palmed off on Buchan in jest or otherwise, or even if it was learned from an old person by Mr. Nicol in his youth. The intrinsic character of the ballad remains, and old people have sometimes burdened their memory with worthless things.
Child's Ballad Text
'Young Bearwell'- Version A; Child 302 Young Bearwell
'Young Bearwell,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 75;" Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 456, derived from Buchan; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 345.
1 When two lovers love each other well,
Great sin it were them to twinn;
And this I speak from Young Bearwell;
He loved a lady young,
The Mayor's daughter of Birktoun-brae,
That lovely, leesome thing.
2 One day when she was looking out,
When washing her milk-white hands,
That she beheld him Young Bearwell,
As he came in the sands.
3 Says, Wae's me for you, Young Bearwell,
Such tales of you are tauld;
They'll cause you sail the salt sea so far
As beyond Yorkisfauld.
4 . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
'O shall I bide in good greenwood,
Or stay in bower with thee?'
5 'The leaves are thick in good greenwood,
Would hold you from the rain;
And if you stay in bower with me
You will be taken and slain.
6 'But I caused build a ship for you
Upon Saint Innocent's day;
I'll bid Saint Innocent be your guide,
And Our Lady, that meikle may.
You are a lady's first true-love,
God carry you well away!'
7 Then he sailed east, and he sailed west,
By many a comely strand;
At length a puff of northern wind
Did blow him to the land.
8 When he did see the king and court,
Were playing at the ba;
Gave him a harp into his hand,
Says, Stay, Bearwell, and play.
9 had not been in the king's court
A twelvemonth and a day,
Till there came lairds and lords anew
To court that lady gay.
10 They wooed her with brooch and ring,
They nothing could keep back;
The very charters of their lands
Into her hands they pat.
11 She's done her down to Heyvalin,
With the light of the moon;
Says, Will ye do this deed for me,
And will ye do it soon?
12 'Will ye go seek him Young Bearwell,
On seas wherever he be?
And if I live and bruik my life
Rewarded ye shall be.'
13 'Alas, I am too young a skipper,
So far to sail the faem;
Bit if I live and bruik my life
I'll strive to bring him hame.'
14 So he has saild east and then saild west,
By many a comely strand,
Till there came a blast of northern wind
And blew him to the land.
15 And there the king and all his court
Were playing at the ba;
Gave him a harp into his hand,
Says, Stay, Heyvalin, and play.
16 He has tane up the harp in hand,
And unto play went he,
And Young Bearwell was the first man
In all that companie.
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