Billy, My Son- (Suffolk) 1814 Child G
[Below Child's Version G text is the original text from the 1814 book, Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, with some additional information and a corresponding German text. R. Matteson 2011]
BILLY MY SON- Child 12; Lord Rendal; Version G
Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 319. Originally from a clergyman's daughter, in Suffolk.
1 'Where have you been today, Billy, my son?
Where have you been today, my only man?'
'I've been a wooing; mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm sick at heart, and fain would lay down.'
2 'What have you ate today, Billy, my son?
What have you ate today, my only man?'
'I've ate eel-pie; mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm sick at heart, and shall die before noon.'
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Excerpt from; Illustrations of Northern Antiquities edited by Henry William Weber, Robert Jamieson, Sir Walter Scott
As I have lately heard it insinuated, upon authority that ought to have had some weight, that nothing was known of the tragical fragment beginning, "O whare ha'e ye been, Lord Ronald, my Son?" (Bord. Min. vol. ii. p. 263. ed. 1810,) till the publication of Johnson's Scots Musical Musaeum, I am happy to be able to furnish the reader (along with the assurance, that there are many persons in Scotland who learnt it long before it was printed) with two curious scraps, the genuineness of which is unquestionable. An English gentleman, who had never paid any attention to ballads, nor ever read a collection of such things, told me, that when a child, he learnt from a playmate of his own age, the daughter of a clergyman in Suffolk, the following imperfect ditty: *
"Where have you been to-day, Billy, my son?
Where have you been to-day, my only man?"
"I've been a wooing, mother, make my bed soon,
For I'm sick at heart, and fain would lay down."
"What have you ate to-day, Billy, my son?
What have you ate to-day, my only man?"
"I've ate eel-pie, mother, make my bed soon;
For I'm sick at heart, and shall die before noon."
In the above fragment I have put the word only in italics, not so much on account of the singularity of the expression, as of its resemblance to the following German popular ditty, inserted in the Knaben Wunderhern, of which, as it is too humble to be attempted in verse, we have given a verbatim English prose translation.
GROSSMUTTER SCHLANGENKCECHIN.
"Maria, wo bist du zur Stube geweten?
Maria, mein einziges kind?"
"Ich bin bey meiner Grossmutter gewesen;
— Ach weh! Frau Mutter, me weh!"
"Was hat sie dir dann zu essen gegeben,
Maria, mein einziges kind!
"Sie hat mir gebackne Fishlein gegeben;
— Ach weh! Frau Mutter! wie tteh! fyc"
GRANDMOTHER ADDER-COOK.
"Maria, what room have you been in,
Maria, my only child?"
"I have been with my grandmother ;
— Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"What then has she given thee to eat,
Maria, my only child?"
"She has given me fried fishes ;
— Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"Where did she catch the little fishes,
Maria, my only child?"
"She caught them in the kitchen-garden ;
— Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"With what did she catch the little fishes,
Maria, my only child?"
"She caught them with rods and little sticks;
Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"What did she do with the rest of the fishes;
Maria, my only child?"
"She gave it to her little dark-brown dog:
Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"And what became of the dark-brown dog,
Maria, my only child?"
"It burst into a thousand pieces:
Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
"Maria, where shall I make thy bed,
Maria, my only child?"
"In the church-yard shalt thou make my bed,
Alas! lady mother, what pain!"
That any one of these Scotish, English, and German copies of the same tale has been borrowed or translated from another, seems very improbable; and it would now be in vain to attempt to ascertain what it originally was, or when it was produced.
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Footnote:
* Every child knows the nursery tale of the " Crowdin' Dow."