No. 70: Willie and Lady Maisry
[There are no known traditional US or Canadian versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-B.
5. End-Notes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Willie and Lady Maisry
A. Roud Number 198 (9 Listings)
2. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-B with additional notes)]
3. Sheet Music: Willie and Lady Maisry (Bronson's text and music)
Child's Narrative
A. 'Willie, the Widow's Son,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 498; 'Sweet Willie and Lady Margerie,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 370. B. 'Willie and Lady Maisry,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I. 155.
'Willie and Lady Maisry' has much in common with 'Clerk Saunders.' The chief point of difference is that of Willie's killing Maisry's brother and the guard, B 22-24. Here the ballad has probably been affected by another, now represented in English only by a very corrupt version, 'The Bent Sae Brown,' which immediately follows.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
'Willie and Lady Maisry,' preserved in two versions, has much in common with 'Clerk Saunders.' The chief point of difference is that of Willie's killing Maisry's brother and the guard (in A, only the guard). Here the ballad has probably been affected by another now represented in English only by a very corrupt version, 'The Bent sae Brown' (No. 71).
Child's Ballad Texts A-B
'Willie, the Widow's Son'- Version A; Child 70 Willie and Lady Maisry
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 498; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 370. From the recitation of Mrs. Notman, then far advanced in years, with whose grandmother it was a favorite: September 9, 1826.
1 Willie was a widow's son,
And he wore a milk-white weed, O
And weel could Willie read and write,
Far better ride on steed, O.
2 Lady Margerie was the first lady
That drank to him the wine,
And aye as the healths gade round and round,
'Laddy, your love is mine.'
3 Lady Margerie was the first ladye
That drank to him the beer,
And aye as the healths gade round and round,
'Laddy, you're welcome here.'
4 'You must come into my bower
When the evening bells do ring,
And you must come into my bower
When the evening mass doth sing.'
5 He's taen four and twenty braid arrows,
And laced them in a whang,
And he's awa to Lady Margerie's bower,
As fast as he can gang.
6 He set ae foot on the wall,
And the other on a stane,
And he's killed a' the king's life-guards,
And he's killed them every man.
7 'Oh open, open, Lady Margerie,
Open and let me in;
The weet weets a' my yellow hair,
And the dew draps on my chin.'
8 With her feet as white as sleet
She strode her bower within,
And with her fingers long and small
She's looten Sweet Willie in.
9 She's louten down unto her foot
To loose Sweet Willie's shoon;
The buckles were sa stiff they wudna lowse,
The blood had frozen in.
10 'O Willie, Willie, I fear that thou
Has bred me dule and sorrow;
The deed that thou has dune this nicht
Will kythe upon the morrow.'
11 In then came her father dear,
And a broad sword by his gare,
And he's gien Willie, the widow's son,
A deep wound and a sair.
12 'Lye yont, lye yont, Willie,' she says,
'Your sweat weets a' my side;
Lye yont, lie yont, Willie,' she says,
'For your sweat I downa bide.'
13 She turned her back unto the wa,
Her face unto the room,
And there she saw her auld father,
Walking up and down.
14 'Woe be to you, father,' she said,
'And an ill deed may you die!
For ye've killd Willie, the widow's son
And he would have married me.'
15 She turned her back unto the room,
Her face unto the wa,
And with a deep and heavy sich
Her heart it brak in twa.
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'Willie and Lady Maisry'- Version B; Child 70 Willie and Lady Maisry
Buchan's ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 155.
1 Sweet Willie was a widow's son,
And milk-white was his weed;
It sets him weel to bridle a horse,
And better to saddle a steed, my dear,
And better to saddle a steed.
2 But he is on to Maisry's bower-door,
And tirled at the pin:
'Ye sleep ye, wake ye, Lady Maisry,
Ye'll open, let me come in.'
3 'O who is this at my bower-door,
Sae well that knows my name?'
'It is your ain true-love, Willie,
If ye love me, lat me in.'
4 Then huly, huly raise she up,
For fear o making din,
Then in her arms lang and bent,
She caught sweet Willie in.
5 She leand her low down to her toe,
To loose her true-love's sheen,
But cauld, cauld were the draps o bleed
Fell fae his trusty brand.
6 'What frightfu sight is that, my love?
A frightfu sight to see!
What bluid is this on your sharp brand?
O may ye not tell me?'
7 'As I came thro the woods this night,
The wolf maist worried me;
O shoud I slain the wolf, Maisry?
Or shoud the wolf slain me?'
8 They hadna kissd, nor love clapped,
As lovers when they meet,
Till up it starts her auld father,
Out o his drowsy sleep.
9 'O what's become o my house-cock,
Sae crouse at ane did craw?
I wonder as much at my bold watch,
That's nae shooting ower the wa.
10 'My gude house-cock, my only son,
Heir ower my land sae free,
If ony ruffian hae him slain,
High hanged shall he be.'
11 Then he's on to Maisry's bower-door,
And tirled at the pin:
'Ye sleep ye, wake ye, daughter Maisry,
Ye'll open, lat me come in.'
12 Between the curtains and the wa
She rowd her true-love then,
And huly went she to the door,
And let her father in.
13 'What's become o your maries, Maisry,
Your bower it looks sae teem?
What's become o your green claithing,
Your beds they are sae thin?'
14 'Gude forgie you, father,' she said,
'I wish ye be't for sin;
Sae aft as ye hae dreaded me,
But never found me wrang.'
15 He turnd him right and round about,
As he'd been gaun awa;
But sae nimbly as he slippet in
Behind a screen sae sma.
16 Maisry, thinking a' dangers past,
She to her love did say,
'Come, love, and take your silent rest;
My auld father's away.'
17 Then baith lockd in each other's arms,
They fell full fast asleep,
When up it starts her auld father,
And stood at their bed-feet.
18 'I think I hae the villain now
That my dear son did slay;
But I shall be revengd on him
Before I see the day.'
19 Then he's drawn out a trusty brand,
And stroakd it oer a stray,
And thro and thro Sweet Willie's middle
He's gart cauld iron gae.
20 Then up it wakend Lady Maisry,
Out o her drowsy sleep,
And when she saw her true-love slain,
She straight began to weep.
21 'O gude forgie you now, father,' she said,
'I wish ye be't for sin;
For I never lovd a love but ane,
In my arms ye've him slain.'
22 'This night he's slain my gude bold watch,
Thirty stout men and twa;
Likewise he's slain your ae brother,
To me was worth them a'.
23 'If he has slain my ae brither,
Himsell had a' the blame,
For mony a day he plots contriv'd,
To hae Sweet Willie slain.
24 'And tho he's slain your gude bold watch,
He might hae been forgien;
They came on him in armour bright,
When he was but alane.'
25 Nae meen was made for this young knight,
In bower where he lay slain,
But a' was for sweet Maisry bright,
In fields where she ran brain.
End-Notes
21, 34. Lady in Manuscript, Laddy in Minstrelsy.
91. his foot in Minstrelsy: cf. B 51.
103. hast in both. Several slight changes are made by Motherwell in printing.
Additions and Corrections
To be Corrected in the Print.
169 a, last line but two. Supply A before 24.