Barbara Allan- Harrison (NS) pre1928 Mackenzie A
[From Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia - Page 38 by William Roy Mackenzie - 1928; version A, no date is given. His notes follow. Compare to Davis R.
Mackenzie believes this a rare and important version. It compares so closely to The Forget-Me Not Songster version which is identified by stanza 4, the gift stanza (similar to a stanza found in the House Carpenter), that it surely was taken from the songster print version.
R. Matteson 2015]
BONNY BARBARA ALLAN
(Child, No. 84)
Of the three Nova Scotia versions the first is based upon Child A, and the second and third are fairly good representatives of group B in Child, Version A, however, cannot be dismissed with the mere remark that it is based on Child A. It corresponds closely to that version in several stanzas, but in several others it departs for distant regions, charted and uncharted. To sum up the correspondence, first:-stanza 1 represents Child A, stanza 1; stanza 11, with a slight change, represents Child A, stanza 3; stanza 12 corresponds in its first line to Chitd A,'stanza 4, and then goes a-roving; stanzas 13, 14, and 18 correspond, respectively, to stanzas 5, 7, and 9 of Child A. Of the remaining 12 stanzas in my version A the most interesting - since they are the mist eccentric - are 4 and 10. As for stanza 4, it may possibly be accounted for by the amplified version of the Buchan MS., in which the dying-lover leaves the freights of nine ships to Barbara Allan, although there is no other evidence
of connection with that version. As for stanza 10, it is a brief and strange excursion into the phraseology of "Sir Patrick Spens," or "Lord Derwentwater," or "Geordie." version A from Nova Scotia, take it for all in all, is a queer and unaccountable composite.
Versions B and C present no special difficulties. Version B roughly resembles Child Bd (Percy's Reliques), though it differs in the following respects: it sends a letter, instead of a messenger, to Barbara Allan; it introduces the slighting of Barbara during the drinking of healths at the tavern, as in Child A; it adds the rose-and-briar motive at the end. As for Version C, it is remarkably reminiscent of Child Bd; it retains "young Jemmye Grove" (slightly modified to "Young Jimmy Groves") as the lover, and in all other respects, except for the omission of a few stanzas, it corresponds closely to that version.
A. "Barbara Allan." From the singing and recitation of Alexander Harrison, Maccan, Cumberland County.
1 It fell about the Martinmas day
When the green leaves were falling,
Sir James the Graeme in the West Country
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
2 She was a fair and comely maid,
And a maid nigh to his dwelling,
Which made him to admire the more
The beauty of Barbara Allan.
3 "O what's thy name, my bonny maid,
Or where has thou thy dwelling?"
She answered him most modestly,
"My name is Barbara Allan."
4 O see you not yon seven ships,
So bonny as they are sailing?
I'll make you mistress of them all,
My bonny Barbara Allan."
5 But it fell out upon a day,
At the wine as they were drinking,
They toasted their glasses round about
And slighted Barbara Allan.
6 O she has taken it so ill out
That she'd no more look on him,
And for all the letters he could send
Still swore she'd never have him.
7 "O if I had a man, a man,
A man within my dwelling,
That will write a letter with my blood,
And carry it to Barbara Allan,
8 "Daring her to come here with speed,
For I am at the dying,
And speak one word to her true love,
For I'll die for Barbara Allan."
9 His man is off with all his speed
To the place where she is dwelling:
"Here's a letter from my master dear,
Give ye to Barbara Allan."
10 O when she looked the letter upon,
With a loud laughter gi'ed she;
But ere she read the letter through,
The tears blinded her eye.
11 O hasty, hasty rose she up,
And slowly gaed she to him,
And slightly drew the curtains by;
"Young man, I think you're dying!"
12 "O I am sick. and very sick,
And my mast is at the breaking;
One kiss or two from thy sweet mouth
Would keep me from the dying."
13 O mind you not, young man," said she,
"When you sat in the tavern,
Then you made the health go around
And slighted Barbara Allan? "
14 And slowly, slowly rose she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And, sighing, said she could not stay
Since death of life had reft him.
15 She had not gone a mile from the town
Till she heard the dead-bell knelling,
And every knell that dead-bell gave
Was woe to Barbara Allan.
16 Now when the virgin heard the sound,
Sure, she was greatly troubled.
When in the coffin his corpse she viewed
Her sorrows all were doubled.
17 "What, has thou died for me!" she cried,
"Let all true lovers shun me.
Too late I may this sadly say,
That death has quite undone me.
18 "O mother, mother, make my bed,
O make it soft and narrow!
Since my true love died for me to-day
I'll die for him to-morrow."