No. 43: The Broomfield Hill
[Numerous broadside versions of the ballad under the title "The Merry Broomfield" can be found in Bodleian Library. The image below dates from 1711-1732. The text is the same as Child's F also taken from a broadside (Douce Ballads III, fol. 64b: Newcastle, printed and sold by John White in Pilgrim Street.)
I agree with Kidson that the song "Brume, brume on hil," named in The Complaint of Scotland, 1549, is not related to this ballad.
There are few traditional US versions of this ballad. I'm following Bronson and including the related ballad, The Maid on the Shore (The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore; The Sea Captain) as an appendix to Child No. 43.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-F (Changes for A b and F b found in End-Notes)
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info:The Broomfield Hill
A. Roud Number 34; The Broomfield Hill
2. Sheet Music: The Broomfield Hill (Bronson's texts and some music examples)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-F with additional notes)]
Printed between 1711 and 1732 for Tho. Norris, at the Looking-Glass on London Bridge
Child's Narrative
A. 'The Broomfield Hill.'
a. Scott's Minstrelsy, III, 271, 1803.
b. The same, II, 229, 1802.
B. 'I'll wager, I'll wager,' etc., Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 310.
C. 'Broomfield Hills,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 291.
D. 'Lord John,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 195.
E. Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January, 1830, p. 7.
F. 'The Merry Broomfield, or The West Country Wager.'
a. Douce Ballads, III, fo1. 64b.
b. The same, IV, fol. 10.
A song of 'Brume, brume on hil' is one of those named in The Complaint of Scotland, 1549, p. 64 of Dr. J. A. H. Murray's edition. "The foot of the song" is sung, with others, by Moros in Wager's "very merry and pithy Comedy called The longer thou livest the more fool thou art," c. 1568. 'Broom, broom on hil' is also one of Captain Cox's "bunch of ballets and songs, all auncient," No 53 of the collection, 1575.[1] The lines that Moros sings are:
Brome, brome on hill,
The gentle brome on hill, hill,
Brome, brome on Hive hill,
The gentle brome on Hive hill,
The brome stands on Hive hill a.
"A more sanguine antiquary than the editor," says Scott, "might perhaps endeavor to identify this poem, which is of undoubted antiquity, with the 'Broom, broom on hill' mentioned ... as forming part of Captain Cox's collection." Assuredly "Broom, broom on hill," if that were all, would justify no such identification, but the occurrence of Hive hill, both in the burden which Moros sings and in the eighth stanza of Scott's ballad, is a circumstance that would embolden even a very cautious antiquary, if he had received Hive hill from tradition, and was therefore unaffected by a suspicion that this locality had been introduced by an editor from the old song.[2]
Most of the versions give no explicit account of the knight's prolonged sleep. He must needs be asleep when the lady comes to him, else there would be no story; but his heavy slumber, not broken by all the efforts of his horse and his hawk, is as a matter of course not natural; es geht nicht zu mit rechten dingen; the witch-wife of A 4 is at the bottom of that. And yet the broom-flowers strewed on his hals-bane in A 8, B 3, and the roses in D 6, are only to be a sign that the maid had been there and was gone. Considering the character of many of Buchan's versions, we cannot feel sure that C has not borrowed the second and third stanzas from B, and the witch-wife, in the sixth, from A; but it would be extravagant to call in question the genuineness of C as a whole. The eighth stanza gives us the light which we require.
Ye'll pu the bloom frae aff the broom,
Strew 't at his head and feet,
And aye the thicker that ye do strew,
The sounder he will sleep.'
The silver belt about the knight's head in A 5 can hardly have to do with his sleeping, and to me seems meaningless. It is possible that roses are not used at random in D 6, though, like the posie of pleasant perfume in F 9, they serve only to prove that the lady had been there. An excrescence on the dog-rose, rosenschwamm, schlafkunz, kunz, schlafapfel, it is believed in Germany, if laid under a man's pillow, will make him sleep till it is taken away. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 1008, and Deutsches Wörterbuch (Hildebrand), V, 2753 e.
C makes the lady hide in the broom to hear what the knight will say when he wakes, and in this point agrees with the broadside F, as also in the comment made by the men on their master in stanza 24; cf. F 16.
Mr. J. W. Dixon has reprinted an Aldermary Churchyard copy of the broadside, differing as to four or five words only from F, in Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 116, Percy Society, Volume XVII. The editor remarks that A is evidently taken from F; from which it is clear that the pungent buckishness of the broadside does not necessarily make an impression. A smells of the broom; F suggests the groom.[3]
The sleep which is produced in A by strewing the flower of the broom on a man's head and feet, according to a witch's advice, is brought about in two Norse ballads by means not simply occult, but altogether preternatural; that is, by the power of runes. One of these, 'Sömn-runorna,' Arwidsson, II, 249, No 133, is preserved in a manuscript of the end of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth, century. The other, 'Sövnerunerne,' Grundtvig, II, 337, No 81, was taken down in 1847 from the singing of a woman seventy-five years of age.
The Swedish ballad runs thus. There is a damsel in our land who every night will sleep with a man, and dance a maid in the morning. The fame of this comes to the ears of the son of the king of England, who orders his horse, thinking to catch this damsel. When he arrives at the castle gate, there stands the lady, and asks him what is his haste. He frankly answers that he expects to get a fair maid's honor for his pains, and she bids him follow her to the upper room. She lays sheets on the bed, and writes strong runes on them. The youth sits down on the bed, and is asleep before he can stretch himself out. He sleeps through that day, and the next, and into the third. Then the lady rouses him. "Wake up; you are sleeping your two eyes out." He is still so heavy that he can hardly stir. He offers her his horse and saddle to report the matter as he wishes. "Keep your horse," she says; "shame fa such liars."
The Danish story is much the same. One of a king's five sons goes to make trial of the maid. She tells him to fasten his horse while she goes before and unlocks; calls to her maid to bring five feather-beds, feather-beds nine, and write a sleep on each of them. He sleeps through three days, and is roused the fourth, with "Wake up, wake up; you have slept away your pluck." He offers her a bribe, as before, which she scornfully rejects, assuring him that he will not be spared when she comes among maids and knights.
A sleep produced by runes or gramarye is one of the two main incidents of a tale in the Gesta Romanorum, better known through the other, which is the forfeit of flesh for money not forthcoming at the day set, as in the Merchant of Venice: Latin, Oesterley, No 195, p. 603;[4] English, Harleian Manuscript 7333, No 40, printed by Douce, Illustrations of Shakspere, I, 281, Madden, p. 130, Herrtage, p. 158; German, No 68, of the printed edition of 1489 (which I have not seen). A knight, who has a passion for an emperor's daughter, engages to give a thousand [hundred] marks for being once admitted to her bed. He instantly falls asleep, and has to be roused in the morning. Like terms are made for a second night, and the man's lands have to be pledged to raise the money. He sleeps as before, but stipulates for a third night at the same price. A merchant lends him the thousand marks, on condition that, if he breaks his day, his creditor may take the money's weight of flesh from his body. Feeling what a risk he is now running, the knight consults a philosopher, Virgil, in the English version. The philosopher (who in the Latin version says he ought to know, for he had helped the lady to her trick) tells the knight that between the sheet and coverlet of the bed there is a letter, which causes the sleep; this he must find, and, when found, cast far from the bed. The knight follows these directions, and gets the better of the lady, who conceives a reciprocal passion for him, and delivers him, in the sequel, from the fearful penalty of his bond by pleading that the flesh must be taken without shedding of blood.
The romance of Dolopathos, a variety of the Seven "Vise Masters, written about 1185, considerably before the earliest date which has hitherto been proposed for the compilation of the Gesta, has this story, with variations, of which only these require to be noted. The lady has herself been a student in magic. She is wooed of many; all comers are received, and pay a hundred marks; anyone who accomplishes his will may wed her the next day. An enchanted feather of a screech-owl, laid under the pillow, makes all who enter the bed fall asleep at once, and many bave been baffled by this charm. At last a youth of high birth, but small means, tries his fortune, and, failing at the first essay, tries once more. Thinking that the softness of his couch was the cause of his falling asleep, he puts away the pillow, and in this process the feather is thrown out: Iohannis de Alta Silva Dolopathos, ed. esterley, pp 57-59; Herbers, Romans de Dolopathos, Brunet et Montaiglon, vv 7096-7498, pp 244-59; Le Roux de Lincy, in a sequel to Loiseleur-Deslongchamps's Essai sur les Fables indiennes, pp 211 ff. This form of the tale is found in German, in a fifteenth-century manuscript, from which it was printed by Haupt in Altdeutsche Blätter, I 143-49; but here the sleep is produced by the use of both the means employed in the Gesta and in Dolopathos, letter (runes) and feather. "the wild man's feather."[5]
Magic is dropped, and a sleeping draught administered, just as the man is going to bed, in a version of the story in the Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, Giornata, IVa, Nov. 1a (last quarter of the fourteenth century). Upon the third trial the man, warned by a friendly chambermaid not to drink, pours the medicated wine into his bosom. The account of Ser Giovanni is adopted in Les Adventures d'Abdalla fils d'Hanif, etc., La Haye, 1713. Bibliothèque de Romans, 1778, Janvier, I, 112-14, 143 f.
Ellin writes sleep-runes on the cushions on which her husband is to sleep, in the Danish ballad 'Frændehævn,' Grundtvig, No 4, A 31 [C 45J.
In Icelandic tales a sleep-thorn[6] is employed, probably a thorn inscribed with runes. The thorn is stuck into the clothes or into the head (the ears, according to the popular notion, Vigfusson), and the sleep lasts till the thorn is taken out. Odin stuck such a thorn into Brynhild's garments: Fáfnismál, 43; Sigrdrífumál, 7; Völsúnga Saga, Fornaldar Sögur, I, 166. The thorn is put into the clothes also in the Icelandic fairy-tale, Mærþöll, Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen, p. 286. Ólöf, to save herself from Helgi's violence, and to punish his insolence, sticks him with a sleep-thorn after he is dead drunk: Hrólfs Saga Kraka, Forn. S. I, 18 f, Torfæus, p. 32. Vilhjálmr sticks a sleep-thorn into Hrólfr, and he lies as if dead so long as the thorn is in him: Gaungu-Hrólfs Saga, Forn. S., III, 303, 306.
A pillow of soporific quality, which Kamele, by Isot's direction, puts under Kaedin's head, assures her safety though she lies all night by his side: Ulrich's continuation of Gottfried's Tristan, vv 1668-99, 1744-85; and Heinrich's continuation, omitting the last circumstance, vv 4861-4960 (J. Grimm).
The witch-woman, in the English ballad, A 4, represents the philosopher in the Gesta, and the wager in the other versions the fee or fine exacted by the lady in the Gesta and elsewhere.
An Italian ballad, a slight and unmeritable thing, follows the story of Ser Giovanni, or agrees with it, in respect to the sleeping draught. A man falls in with a girl at a spring, and offers her a hundred ducats, or scudi, per una nottina. The girl says that she must consult her mother. The mother advises her to accept the offer: she will give the man a drug, and the money will serve for a dowry. The man, roused in the morning, counts out the money with one hand and wipes his eyes with the other. When asked why he is crying, he replies that the money is not the loss he weeps for, and makes a second offer of the same amount. The girl wishes to refer the matter to her mother again, but the gallant says the mother shall not take him in a second time. One version (A) ends somewhat more respectably: the girl declares that, having come off with her honor once, she will not again expose herself to shame. A. Ferraro, Canti popolari monfertini,' La Ragazza onesta,' p. 66, No 47. B. Ferraro, C. p. di Ferrara, Cento e Pontelgoscuro, p. 53 (Cento) No 4, 'La Ragazza onesta.' C. The same, p. 94 (Pontelagoscuro) No 8, 'La Brunetta,' previously in Rivista di Filologia Romanza, II, 200. D. Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 74, 'La Contadina alla Fonte.' E. Bernoni, C. p. veneziani, Puntata V, No 4, p. 6, 'La bella Brunetta.' F. Bolza, Canzoni p. comasche, p. 677, No 57, 'L'Amante deluso.' G. Ive, C. p. istriani, p. 324, No 4, 'La Contadina alla Fonte.' H . Ginandrea, C. p. marchigiani, p. 277, No 12, 'La Madre indegna.' I. Ferraro, C. p. della Bassa Romagna, Rivista di Letteratura popolare, p. 57, 'La Ragazza onesta.' J. Casetti e Imbriani, C. p. della Provincie meridionali, p. 1, No 1 (Chieti), the first sixteen verses. K. Archivio per Tradizioni popolari, I, 89, No 4, 'La Fandéll e lu Cavalére,' the first thirteen lines.
'The Sleepy Merchant,' a modern ballad, in Kinloch's Manuscripts, V, 26, was perhaps fashioned on some traditional report of the story in Il Pecorone. The girl gives the merchant a drink, and when the sun is up starts to her feet, crying, "I'm a leal maiden yet!" The merchant comes back, and gets another dram, but "tooms it a' between the bolster and the wa," and then sits up and sings.
A ballad found everywhere in Germany, but always in what appears to be an extremely defective form, must originally, one would think, have had some connection with those which we are considering. A hunter meets a girl on the heath, and takes her with him to his hut, where they pass the night. She rouses him in the morning, and proclaims herself still a maid. The hunter is so chagrined that he is of a mind to kill her, but spares her life. 'Der Jäger,' 'Der ernsthafte Jäger,' 'Des Jägers Verdruss,' 'Der Jäger und die reine Jungfrau,' 'Der verschlafene Jäger:' Meinert, p. 203; Wunderhorn, 1857, I, 274, Birlinger u. Crecelius, I, 190; Büsching n. von der Hagen, p. 134, No 51; Nicolai, Almanach, I, 77 (fragment); Erk u. Irmer, ii, 12, No 15; Meier, p. 305, No 170; Pröhle, No 54, p. 81; Fiedler, p. 175; Erk, Liederhort, pp 377 f, Nos 174, 174a; Hoffmann u. Richter, p. 202, No 176; Ditfurth, Fränkische Volkslieder, II, 26 f, Nos 30, 31; Norrenberg, Des dülkener Fiedlers Liederbuch, No 16, p. 20; J.A.E. Kohler, Volksbrauch im Voigtlande, p. 307; Jeitteles, Volkslied in Steiermark, Archiv für Lit. gesch., IX, 361, etc.; Uhland, No 104, Niederdeutsches Liederbuch, No 59, 'vermuthlich vom Eingang des 17. Jhd.' Cf. Die Mâeget, Flemish, Büsching u. von der Hagen, p. 311; Willems, p. 160, No 61.[7]
A a is translated by Doenniges, p. 3; by Gerhard, p. 146; by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 226.
Footnotes:
1. Furniyall, Captain Cox, his Ballad. and Books, pp cxxvii f. Hitson cited the comedy in the dissertation prefixed to his Ancient Songs, 1790, p. lx.
2. Motherwell remarks, at page 42 of his Introduction, "The song is popular still, and is often to be met with." It was printed in a cheap American songbook, which I have not been able to recover, under the title of 'The Green Broomfield,' and with some cis-atlantic variations. Graham's Illustrated Magazine, September, 1858, gives these stanzas:
"Then when she went to the green broom field,
Where her love was fast asleep,
With a gray goose-hawk and a green laurel bough,
And a green broom under his feet.
"And when he awoke from out his sleep,
An angry man was he;
He looked to the East, and he looked to the West,
And he wept for ltis sweetheart to see.
"Oh! where was you, my gray goose-hawk,
The hawk that I loved so dear,
That you did not awake me from out my sleep,
When my sweetheart was so near?"
3. The broadside is also copied into Buchan's Manuscripts, II, 197.
4. The Anglo-Latin text in Harleian Manuscript 2270, No 48.
5. Sy ... bereytte keyn abende das bette met der czöberye met der schryft und met des wylden mannes veddere, p. 145, lines 8, 10-12; das quam alles von der czoyberye, das die jungfrowe dy knaben alle beczobert hatte met schryft und met bryven, dy sy en under dy höbt leyte under dy kussen, und met den veddern von den wylden ruchen lüten, lines 1-5. Only one letter and one feather is employed in each case.
6. Svefnþorn, Danish søvntorn, or søvnpreen: blundstafir, sleep-staves, rods (if not letters, runes) in Sigrdrífumál, 2.
7. The first stanza of the German ballad occurs in a music. book of 1622: Hoffmann u. Richter, p. 202, who add that the ballad is extant in Dutch and Flemish
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
A song of 'Brume, brume on hil' is named in The Complaint of Scotland, 1549 (ed. Murray, p. 64). The foot of the song is sung in Wager's comedy "The Longer thou Livest, the More Fool thou art" (about 1568), as follows: —
Brome, brome on hill,
The gentle brome on hill, hill,
Brome, brome on Hive hill,
The gentle brome on Hive hill,
The brome stands on Hive hill a.
If "Hive Hill" in A, st. 8, is a genuine traditional reading, the song and the ballad are doubtless identical; but we cannot be quite sure of this stanza.
The main features of the story are widely known, in ballads, romances, and tales. The magic may be vulgarized into a sleeping draught (as in the Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, iv, 1), and the tables are sometimes turned on the maiden.
Child's Ballad Texts A-F
The Broomfield Hill- Version A Child 43
a. Scott's Minstrelsy, III, 271, ed. 1803.
b. Sts. 8-14; the same, II, 229, ed. 1802.
1 There was a knight and a lady bright,
Had a true tryste at the broom;
The ane gaed early in the morning,
The other in the afternoon.
2 And ay she sat in her mother's bower door,
And ay she made her mane:
'O whether should I gang to the Broomfield Hill,
Or should I stay at hame?
3 'For if I gang to the Broomfield Hill,
My maidenhead is gone;
And if I chance to stay at hame,
My love will ca me mansworn.'
4 Up then spake a witch-woman,
Ay from the room aboon:
'O ye may gang to the broomfield Hill,
And yet come maiden hame.
5 'For when ye gang to the Broomfield Hill,
Ye'll find your love asleep,
With a silver belt about his head,
And a broom-cow at his feet.
6 'Take ye the blossom of the broom,
The blossom it smells sweet,
And strew it at your true-love's head,
And likewise at his feet.
7 'Take ye the rings off your fingers,
Put them on his right hand,
To let him know, when he doth awake,
His love was at his command.'
8 She pu'd the broom flower on Hive Hill,
And strewd on's white hals-bane,
And that was to be wittering true
That maiden she had gane.
9 'O where were ye, my milk-white steed,
That I hae coft sae dear,
That wadna watch and waken me
When there was maiden here?'
10 'I stamped wi my foot, master,
And gard my bridle ring,
But na kin thing wald waken ye,
Till she was past and gane.'
11 'And wae betide ye, my gay goss-hawk,
That I did love sae dear,
That wadna watch and waken me
When there was maiden here.'
12 'I clapped wi my wings, master,
And aye my bells I rang,
And aye cry'd, Waken, waken, master,
Before the ladye gang.'
13 'But haste and haste, my gude white steed,
To come the maiden till,
Or a' the birds of gude green wood
Of your flesh shall have their fill.'
14 'Ye need na burst your gude white steed
Wi racing oer the howm;
Nae bird flies faster through the wood,
Than she fled through the broom.'
-------------
'I'll wager, I'll wager'- Version B; The Broomfield Hill- Child 43
Herd, Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 310.
1 'I'll wager, I'll wager, I'll wager with you
Five hundred merks and ten,
That a maid shanae go to yon bonny green wood,
And a maiden return agen.'
2 'I'll wager, I'll wager, I'll wager with you
Five hundred merks and ten,
That a maid shall go to yon bonny green wood,
And a maiden return agen.'
* * * * *
3 She's pu'd the blooms aff the broom-bush,
And strewd them on's white hass-bane:
'This is a sign whereby you may know
That a maiden was here, but she's gane.'
4 'O where was you, my good gray steed,
That I hae loed sae dear?
O why did you not awaken me
When my true love was here?'
5 'I stamped with my foot, master,
And gard my bridle ring,
But you wadnae waken from your sleep
Till your love was past and gane.'
6 'Now I may sing as dreary a sang
As the bird sung on the brier,
For my true love is far removd,
And I'll neer see her mair.'
-------------
'Broomfield Hills'- Version C; Child 43 The Broomfield Hill
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 291.
1 There was a knight and lady bright
Set trysts amo the broom,
The one to come at morning ear,
The other at afternoon.
2 'I'll wager a wager wi you,' he said,
'An hundred merks and ten,
That ye shall not go to Broomfield Hills,
Return a maiden again.'
3 'I'll wager a wager wi you,' she said,
'A hundred pounds and ten,
That I will gang to Broomfield Hills,
A maiden return again.'
4 The lady stands in her bower door,
And thus she made her mane:
'O shall I gang to Broomfield Hills,
Or shall I stay at hame?
5 'If I do gang to Broomfield Hills,
A maid I'll not return;
But if I stay from Broomfield Hills,
I'll be a maid mis-sworn.'
6 Then out it speaks an auld witch-wife,
Sat in the bower aboon:
'O ye shall gang to Broomfield Hills,
Ye shall not stay at hame.
7 'But when ye gang to Broomfield Hills,
Walk nine times round and round;
Down below a bonny burn bank,
Ye'll find your love sleeping sound.
8 'Ye'll pu the bloom frae aff the broom,
Strew't at his head and feet,
And aye the thicker that ye do strew,
The sounder he will sleep.
9 'The broach that is on your napkin,
Put it on his breast bane,
To let him know, when he does wake,
That's true love's come and gane.
10 'The rings that are on your fingers,
Lay them down on a stane,
To let him know, when he does wake,
That's true love's come and gane.
11 'And when ye hae your work all done,
Ye'll gang to a bush o' broom,
And then you'll hear what he will say,
When he sees ye are gane.'
12 When she came to Broomfield Hills,
She walkd it nine times round,
And down below yon burn bank,
She found him sleeping sound.
13 She pu'd the bloom frae aff the broom,
Strew'd it at 's head and feet,
And aye the thicker that she strewd,
The sounder he did sleep.
14 The broach that was on her napkin,
She put on his breast bane,
To let him know, when he did wake,
His love was come and gane.
15 The rings that were on her fingers,
She laid upon a stane,
To let him know, when he did wake,
His love was come and gane.
16 Now when she had her work all dune,
She went to a bush o broom,
That she might hear what he did say,
When he saw she was gane.
17 'O where were ye, my guid grey hound,
That I paid for sae dear,
Ye didna waken me frae my sleep
When my true love was sae near?'
18 'I scraped wi my foot, master,
Till a' my collars rang,
But still the mair that I did scrape,
Waken woud ye nane.'
19 'Where were ye, my berry-brown steed,
That I paid for sae dear,
That ye woudna waken me out o my sleep
When my love was sae near?'
20 'I patted wi my foot, master,
Till a' my bridles rang,
But still the mair that I did patt,
Waken woud ye nane.'
21 'O where were ye, my gay goss-hawk,
That I paid for sae dear,
That ye woudna waken me out o my sleep
When ye sae my love near?'
22 'I flapped wi my wings, master,
Till a' my bells they rang,
But still the mair that I did flap,
Waken woud ye nane.'
23 'O where were ye, my merry young men,
That I pay meat and fee,
Ye woudna waken me out o' my sleep
When my love ye did see?'
24 'Ye'll sleep mair on the night, master,
And wake mair on the day;
Gae sooner down to Broomfield Hills
When ye've sic pranks to play.
25 'If I had seen any armed men
Come riding over the hill;
But I saw but a fair lady
Come quietly you until.'
26 'O wae mat worth you, my young men,
That I pay meat and fee,
That ye woudna waken me frae sleep
When ye my love did see.
27 'O had I waked when she was nigh,
And o her got my will,
I shoudna cared upon the morn
Tho sma birds o her were fill.'
28 When she went out, right bitter wept,
But singing came she hame;
Says, I hae been at Broomfield Hills,
And maid returnd again.
-----------
'Lord John'- Version D Child 43; The Broomfield Hill
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 195.
1 'I'll wager, I'll wager,' says Lord John,
'A hundred merks and ten,
That ye winna gae to the bonnie broom-fields,
And a maid return again.'
2 'But I'll lay a wager wi you, Lord John,
A' your merks oure again,
That I'll gae alane to the bonnie broom-fields,
And a maid return again.'
3 Then Lord John mounted his grey steed,
And his hound wi his bells sae bricht,
And swiftly he rade to the bonny broomfields,
Wi his hawks, like a lord or knicht.
4 'Now rest, now rest, my bonnie grey steed,
My lady will soon be here,
And I'll lay my head aneath this rose sae red,
And the bonnie burn sae near.'
5 But sound, sound was the sleep he took,
For he slept till it was noon,
And his lady cam at day, left a taiken and away,
Gaed as licht as a glint o the moon.
6 She strawed the roses on the ground,
Threw her mantle on the brier,
And the belt around her middle sae jimp,
As a taiken that she'd been there.
7 The rustling leaves flew round his head,
And rousd him frae his dream;
He saw by the roses, and mantle sae green,
That his love had been there and was gane.
8 'O whare was ye, my gude grey steed,
That I coft ye sae dear,
That ye didna waken your master,
Whan ye kend that his love was here?'
9 'I pautit wi my foot, master,
Garrd a' my bridles ring,
And still I cried, Waken, gude master,
For now is the hour and time.'
10 'Then whare was ye, my bonnie grey hound,
That I coft ye sae dear,
That ye didna waken your master,
Whan ye kend that his love was here?'
11 'I pautit wi my foot, master,
Garrd a' my bells to ring,
And still I cried, Waken, gude master,
For now is the hour and time.'
12 'But whare was ye, my hawks, my hawks,
That I coft ye sae dear,
That ye didna waken your master,
Whan ye kend that his love was here?'
13 'O wyte na me, now, my master dear,
I garrd a' my young hawks sing,
And still I cried, Waken, gude master,
For now is the hour and time.'
14 'Then be it sae, my wager gane,
'Twill skaith frae meikle ill,
For gif I had found her in bonnie broomfields,
O her heart's blude ye'd drunken your fill.'
-----------
'I'll wager, I'll wager'- Version E Child 43; The Broomfield Hill
Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January 1, 1830, p. 7.
1 'I'll wager, I'll wager wi you, fair maid,
Five hunder punds and ten,
That a maid winna gae to the bonnie green bower,
An a maid return back agen.'
2 'I'll wager, I'll wager wi you, kin' sir,
Five hunder punds and ten,
That a maid I'll gang to the bonnie green bower,
An a maid return again.'
3 But when she cam to the bonnie green bower,
Her true-love was fast asleep;
Sumtimes she kist his rosie, rosie lips,
An his breath was wondrous sweet.
4 Sometimes she went to the crown o his head,
Sometimes to the soles o his feet,
Sometimes she kist his rosie, rosie lips,
An his breath was wondrous sweet.
5 She's taen a ring frae her finger,
Laid it upon his breast-bane;
It was for a token that she had been there,
That she had been there, but was gane.
6 'Where was you, where was ye, my merry men a',
That I do luve sae dear,
That ye didna waken me out o my sleep
When my true love was here?
7 'Where was ye, where was ye, my gay goshawk,
That I do luve sae dear,
That ye didna waken me out o my sleep
Whan my true love was here?'
8 'Wi my wings I flaw, kin' sir,
An wi my bill I sang,
But ye woudna waken out o yer sleep
Till your true love was gane.'
9 'Where was ye, my bonnie grey steed,
That I do luve sae dear,
That ye didna waken me out o my sleep
When my true love was here?'
10 'I stampit wi my fit, maister,
And made my bridle ring,
But ye wadna waken out o yer sleep,
Till your true love was gane.'
-----------
'The Merry Broomfield, or The West Country Wager'- Version F a; Child 43 The Broomfield Hill
a. Douce Ballads, III, fol. 64b: Newcastle, printed and sold by John White in Pilgrim Street
b. Douce Ballads, IV, fol. 10.
1 A noble young squire that livd in the west,
He courted a young lady gay,
And as he was merry, he put forth a jest,
A wager with her he would lay.
2 'A wager with me?' the young lady reply'd,
'I pray, about what must it be?
If I like the humour you shan't be deny'd;
I love to be merry and free.'
3 Quoth he, 'I will lay you an hundred pounds,
A hundred pounds, aye, and ten,
That a maid if you go to the merry broomfield,
That a maid you return not again.'
4 'I'll lay you that wager,' the lady she said,
Then the money she flung down amain;
'To the merry broomfield I'll go a pure maid,
The same I'll return home again.'
5 He coverd her bett in the midst of the hall
With an hundred and ten jolly pounds,
And then to his servant straightway he did call,
For to bring forth his hawk and his hounds.
6 A ready obedience the servant did yield,
And all was made ready oer night;
Next morning he went to the merry broomfield,
To meet with his love and delight.
7 Now when he came there, having waited a while,
Among the green broom down he lies;
The lady came to him, and coud not but smile,
For sleep then had closed his eyes.
8 Upon his right hand a gold ring she secur'd,
Down from her own finger so fair,
That when he awaked he might be assur'd
His lady and love had been there.
9 She left him a posie of pleasant perfume,
Then stept from the place where he lay;
Then hid herself close in the besom of the broom,
To hear what her true-love would say.
10 He wakend and found the gold ring on his hand,
Then sorrow of heart he was in:
'My love has been here, I do well understand,
And this wager I now shall not win.
11 'O where was you, my goodly gawshawk,
The which I have purchasd so dear?
Why did you not waken me out of my sleep
When the lady, my lover, was here?'
12 'O with my bells did I ring, master,
And eke with my feet did I run;
And still did I cry, Pray awake, master,
She's here now, and soon will be gone.'
13 'O where was you, my gallant greyhound,
Whose collar is flourishd with gold?
Why hadst thou not wakend me out of my sleep
When thou didst my lady behold?'
14 'Dear master, I barkd with my mouth when she came,
And likewise my coller I shook,
And told you that here was the beautiful dame,
But no notice of me then you took.'
15 'O where was thou, my serving-man,
Whom I have cloathed so fine?
If you had wak'd me when she was here,
The wager then had been mine.'
16 'In the night ye should have slept, master,
And kept awake in the day;
Had you not been sleeping when hither she came,
Then a maid she had not gone away.'
17 Then home he returnd, when the wager was lost,
With sorrow of heart, I may say;
The lady she laughd to find her love crost,
This was upon midsummer-day.
18 'O squire, I laid in the bushes conceald,
And heard you when you did complain;
And thus I have been to the merry broomfield,
And a maid returnd back again.
19 'Be chearful, be chearful, and do not repine,
For now 'tis as clear as the sun,
The money, the money, the money is mine,
The wager I fairly have won.'
End-Notes
A. b. 81. flower frae the bush.
83. a witter true.
92. I did love.
111. gray goshawk.
112. sae well.
113. When my love was here hers ell.
124. Afore your true love gang.
133. in good.
142-4. By running oer the howm;
Nae hare runs swifter oer the lea
Nor your love ran thro the broom.
E. concludes with these stanzas, which do not belong to this ballad:
11 'Rise up, rise up, my bonnie grey cock,
And craw when it is day,
An your neck sall be o the beaten gowd,
And your wings o the silver lay.'
12 But the cock provd fauss, and untrue he was,
And he crew three hour ower seen,
The lassie thocht it day, and sent her love away,
An it was but a blink o the meen.
13 'If I had him but agen,' she says,
'O if I but had him agen,
The best grey cock that ever crew at morn
Should never bereave me o's charms.'
F. a. 82. fingers.
111 131. Oh.
152. I am.
b. 21. I pray you now, what.
31. Said he.
34. omits That.
43. omits pure.
44. And the ... back again.
52. ten good.
53. he strait.
54. omits For.
61. his servants.
62. omits made.
64. his joy.
74. sleep had fast.
82. finger.
93. in the midst.
94. what her lover.
101. Awaking he found.
102. of bearst.
103. omits do.
113. wake.
114. and lover.
121, 2. I did.
123. wake.
124. here and she.
133. Why did you not wake.
141. I barked aloud when.
143. that there was my.
152. I have.
153. when she had been here.
154. had been surely mine.
161. omits should.
173. to see.
181. lay.
183. so I.
184. have returnd.
b has no imprint.
Additions and Corrections
P. 393 a, first paragraph. In Gongu-Rólvs kvæði, Hammershaimb, Færöiske Kvæder, No 16, p. 140, sts 99-105, Lindin remains a maid for two nights, and loses the name the third, but the sleep-rune or thorn which should explain this does not occur.
393 b, third paragraph. Add: 'Kurz gefasst,' Alfred Müller, Volkslieder aus dem Erzgebirge, p. 90.
P. 391. Josyan, in Sir Bevis of Hamptoun, preserves her chastity by the use of a rune.
'I shall go make me a writ,
Thorough a clerk wise of wit,
That there shall no man have grace,
While that letter is in place,
Against my will to lie me by,
Nor do me shame nor villany.'
She did that letter soon be wrought
On the manner as she had thought;
About her neck she hanged it.
Ellis's English Metrical Romances, London, 1848, p. 256.
391 b, note †. The text of Harleian Manuscript, 2270, compared with another copy in Harleian Manuscript, No 5259, is given in Wright's Latin Stories, o. 114, No 126, Percy Society, vol. viii. R. Köhler.
In the Lai de Doon, ed. G. Paris, Romania, VIII, 61 ff, those who sleep in the bed are found dead in the morning, and Doon simply sits up all night. R. Köhler.
393 b. Last line but one. Uhland, No 104, in Niederdeutsche Volkslieder, herausgegeben vom Verein für niederdeutsche Sprachforschung, p. 40, Np 63.
P. 392 b. Sleep-thorns.
Sleep-thorns, or something similar, occur in the West Highland tales. In a story partly reported by Campbell, I, xci, "the sister put gath nimh, a poisonous sting or thorn, into the bed, and the prince was as though he were dead for three days, and he was buried. But Knowledge told the other two dogs what to do, and they scraped up the prince and took out the thorn, and he came alive again and went home." So in "The Widow's Son," Campbell, II, 296: "On the morrow he went, but the carlin stuck a bior nimh, spike of hurt, in the outside of the door post, and when he came to the church he fell asleep." In another version of The Widow's Son, II, 297, a "big pin" serves as the "spike of hurt." Cf. the needle in Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen, 3d ed., p. 141, No 32. (G. L. K.)
393. Italian ballad. Add: Righi, p. 33, No 96; Nigra, No 77, p. 393, 'La Bevanda sonnifera,' A-H; Giannini, 'Il Cavaliere ingannato,' p. 157; Ferrari, Biblioteca di Lett, pop. italiana, I, 2J8, 'La bella Brunetta;' Finamore, in Archivio, I, 89, La Fandell' e lu Cavaljiere (mixed); Nerucci, in Archivio, II, 524, 'La Ragazza Fantina;' Julia, in Archivio, VI, 244, 'La 'nfantina e lu Cavalieri;' Rondini, in Archivio, VII, 189.
Ricordi, Canti p. Lombardi, No 9, 'La Moraschina,' gives the first half of the story, with a slight alteration for propriety's sake.
P. 392 b, III, 506. Sleep-thorn, sleep-pin. Add: Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, 1890, pp. 40, 130 ff., 200; Hyde, Beside the Fire, Irish-Gaelic Folk-Stories, p. 43; Maclnnes, Folk and Hero Tales, 1890, p. 141 (cf. p. 459).
Sleep-pin, Wlisłocki, M. u. S. der transylvanischen Zigeuner, p. 46 . Compare the wand in J. H. Knowles's Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 199. (G. L. K.)
393, III, 506 b. Italian. 'La bella Brunetta,' Ferrari, C. p. in San Pietro Capofiume; 'La Bevanda sonnifera,' Giannini, Canzoni del Contado di Massa Lunense, Archivio, VII, 109, No 11, 279, No 7.
[P. 393 a, III, 506 b, IV, 459 b. With the Italian ballad cf. 'Quarante ans j'ai travaillé,' Georgeakis et Pineau, Folk-lore de Lesbos, p. 246.]
393 f., 506. Jäger-Romanze in Böhme, Altdeutsches Liederbuch, No 437, from Melchior Franck, Fasciculus Quodlibeticus, Nürnberg, 1611, No 6: slightly different, no disposition to kill the maid. Three copies of this all but inevitable ballad in Blätter für Pommersche Volkskunde, II. Jahrgang, p. 77 f., 'Jägerslied;' and more might be added.