Captain Wedderburn's- Richards(NH) 1942 Flanders F
[From Flanders; Ancient ballads; 1966. Notes by Coffin follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
(Child 46)
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" tells an old tale of the ingenious suitor who must answer riddles to obtain his maid. The situation, as one can easily learn from Child's notes, I, 414 f., goes well back into the Middle Ages. The riddles used are known without the situation at least as far back as the fifteenth century. But the ballad combining the two is relatively modern and urbane-probably no earlier than the 1600's. The American texts are clustered in the northeast, close to the Child versions, and, according to Phillips Barry who includes the song in British Ballads from Maine, 93-99, probably from an Irish source. The
song is rare in England, but not long ago was easy to discover in Scotland.
There are three complications concerning the riddle portion of the ballad. First, it has been general practice by scholars to assume the popular riddle lyric, "I Gave My Love a Cherry," to be a portion of "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." Even where the music is similar and the informant calls the lyric "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" this seems a dangerous practice, and it is far more likely that the riddle lyric is not only older than the ballad but attached itself to the ballad while maintaining an independent tradition of its own. "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is known all over America and the British Isles and, unless fused into the "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" pattern, should be treated as a separate song. Second, the riddles can also be found in a nursely song called "The Four Brothers" or "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee." This song is also more popular than the Child ballad, has been confused with the ballad by scholars and informants alike, and tells a love story quite different from the ballad tale. Its popularity in this country was no doubt stimulated by its inclusion in such songsters as MacCaskey's Franklin Square Song Collection and Mother Goose's Melodies during the post-Civil War period. Third, in New England, it has been common
practice for Child l, "Riddles Wisely Expounded," and 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" to intermingle. The fragments from Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Hough printed here under Child I, Version F below, and the lyrics given by Barry, op. cit., 95-98, offer illustrations of the confusions. The problem with citations for further study, was touched in the headnote to Child I above. Suffice it to say here that once a song has lost its situation and been reduced to mere riddling it has really lost its identity too and will drift easily.
The Flanders A text follows the normal English pattern in that the couple marries before the "girl lies next the wall." However, this is not always the case in Scotland and America. As with B-F, such formalities need not be observed. The B text, with its footnote, offers a good example of what an informant may change in a song on re-rendering it. C-F are riddle fragments. And the "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" texts (I and II), at the end of the "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" variants, offer adequate illustration of the nursery rime as it is known in this country.
Bibliographical references to "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship," "I Gave My Love a Cherry," and "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" can be had through the listings in Coffin, 59-60. Each song is treated separately there. Dean-Smith, 100, confusing "Perry Merry Dictum Dominee" and the "I Gave My Love a Cherry" lyric, gives English citations. And Greig and Keith, 33-36, opens up the Scottish tradition of the song. Child's remarks, I, 414 f., on old nursery rimes are also useful.
The relationship of riddling to courtship, discussed in the headnote to Child 2, should be recalled here.
The five tunes for Child 46 are parts of three groups: 1) the Burditt tune, which may be a distant relative of BCI group A; 2) the Burditt, Richards, and Fish tunes, which are themselves fairly diverse, but which definitely belong to BCI group A; and 3) the Norcross tune, which is part of BCI Appendix (to Child 46) group C. For the Burditt tune, BCI group B is also a possibility, especially his tune No. 20 on Page 371.
F. "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (Title Unknown) Sung by Mrs. Belle Richards of Colebrook, New Hampshire.
M. Olney, Collector; April 22, 1942. Structure: A B B A (4,4,4,4); Rhythm C; Contour: approaching an arc; Scale: hexatonic (but G only appears at end; otherwise pentatonic)
This fragment, like the ones from Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Hough given under Child I, has mingled with the tradition of "Riddles Wisely Expounded." The traditions of both songs are weak in New England and it is natural that the riddling patterns would become confused. See the discussion concerning the Flanders B version in the headnote to Child I. t.c. A-flat. For mel. rel. see GCM, 139; BP, 35 (both distant); possibly BES, 97.
"O what is rounder than the ring?
What's higher than the tree?
O what is meaner than womankind?
What's deeper than the sea?
What bird sings first? What bird sings best?
Where does the dew first fall?
Before I lie one night with You
In either stock or wall."
"The earth is rounder than the ring,
Heaven's higher than the tree,
The Devil is meaner than womankind,
Hell's deeper than the sea,
The nightingale sings first and best,
On earth the dew first falls,
So now stir up your old straw bed
And I'll lie next the wall."