Duke of Perth's Three Daughters- Kinloch 1827 Child E
[Below Child's text is the same text with notes from George Ritchie Kinloch's 1827 book, Ancient Scottish Ballads.]
Duke of Perth's Three Daughters- Child Version E
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p 212. From Mearnsshire.
1 THE Duke o Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Elizabeth's to the greenwud gane,
To pu the rose and the fair lilie.
2 But she hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
Whan up and started a Loudon lord,
Wi Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.
3 'Will ye be called a robber's wife?
Or will ye be stickit wi my bloody knife?
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free.'
4 'Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'll rather be stickit wi your bloody knife,
For pu'in,' etc.
5 Then out he's tane his little pen-knife,
And he's parted her and her sweet life,
And thrown her oer a bank o brume,
There never more for to be found.
6 The Duke o Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Margaret's to the greenwud gane,
To pu the rose and the fair lilie.
7 She hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
When up and started a Loudon lord,
Wi Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.
8 'Will ye be called a robber's wife?
Or will ye be stickit wi my bloody knife?
For pu'in,' etc.
9 'Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'll rather be stickit wi your bloody knife,
For pu'in,' etc.
10 Then out he's tane his little pen-knife,
And he's parted her and her sweet life,
For pu'in, etc.
11 The Duke o Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Mary's to the greenwud gane,
To pu the rose and the fair lilie
12 She hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
When up and started a Loudon lord,
Wi Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.
13 'O will ye be called a robber's wife?
Or will ye be stickit wi my bloody knife?
For pu'in,' etc.
14 'Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'11 rather be stickit wi your bloody knife,
For pu'in,' etc.
15 But just as he took out his knife,
To tak frae her her alit sweet life,
Her brother John cam ryding bye,
And this bloody robber he did espy.
16 But when lie saw his sister fair,
He kennd her by her yellow hair;
He calld upon his pages three,
To find this robber speediie.
17 'My sisters twa that are dead and gane,
For whom we made a heavy maene,
It's you that 's twined them o their life,
And wi your cruel bloody knife.
18 'Then for their life ye sair shall dree
Ye sall be hangit on a tree,
Or thrown into the poisond lake,
To feed the toads and rattle-snake.'
_____________________________
DUKE OF PERTH'S THREE DAUGHTERS [From Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p 212.]
Another version of this ballad, differing considerably from the present, has been published, under the singular title of Babylon, or the Bonnie Banks of Fordie, in the "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern;" 'where it is given as being popular in the Southern parishes of Perthshire. The present copy is from Mearns-shire, although it would seem to have acquired 'a local habitation and a name,' in the former county. It appears to relate to the family of Drummond of Perth; and though the title of 'Duke of Perth,' was unknown prior to the Revolution, the assumption of it here does not lessen the antiquity of the ballad, as it is a well known custom among the vulgar, from whom we have to glean our 'legendary lore,' frequently to alter the names of persons and places to suit their own fancy, or caprice: and this ballad, though really relating to the family alluded to, may have formerly borne a more humble name, and acquired its present title on the creation of the dukedom.
DUKE OF PERTH'S THREE DAUGHTERS
The Duke o' Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Elizabeth's to the greenwud gane
To pu'[1] the rose and the finr lilie.
But she hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
Whan up and started a Loudon Lord,
Wi' Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.[2]
"Will ye be called a robber's wife!
Or will ye be stickit wi' my bloody knife?
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free."
"Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'll rather be stickit wi' your bloody knife,
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free."
Then out he's tane his little penknife,
And he's parted her and her sweet life,
And thrown her o'er a bank o' brume,
There never more for to be found.
The Duke o' Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Margaret's to the greenwud gaue
To pu' the rose and the fair lilie.
She hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
When up and started a Loudon Lord,
Wi' Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.
"Will ye be called a robber's wife ?
Or will ye be stickit wi' my bloody knife?
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free."
"Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'll rather be stickit wi' your bloody knife,
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free."
Then out he's tane his little penknife,
And he's parted her and her sweet life,
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free.
The Duke o' Perth had three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and fair Marie;
And Mary's to the greenwud gane
To pu' the rose and the fair lilie.
She hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A double rose, but barely three,
When up and started a Loudon Lord,
Wi' Loudon hose, and Loudon sheen.
"O will ye be called a robber's wife?
Or will ye be stipkit wi' my bloody knife?
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them wie fair and free."
"Before I'll be called a robber's wife,
I'll rather be stickit wi' your bloody knife,
For pu'in the rose and the fair lilie,
For pu'in them sae fair and free."
But just as he took out his knife,
To tak' frae her, her ain sweet life,
Her brother John cam ryding bye,
And this bloody robber lie did espy.
But when he saw his sister fair,
He kenn'd her by her yellow hair,
He call'd upon his pages three,
To find this robber speedilie.
"My sisters twa that are dead and gane,
For whom we made a heavy maene,[3]
It's you that's twinn'd[4] them o' their life,
And wi' your cruel bloody knife.
Then for their life ye sair shall dree,
Ye sail be hangit on a tree,
Or thrown into the poison'd lake,
To feed the toads and rattle-snake."
1. pu'= pluck
2. Loudon sheen= Lothian shoes
3. maene= lamentation,
4. Twinn'd= deprived.
NOTES ON DUKE OF PERTH'S THREE DAUGHTERS
Or thrown into the poison d lake,
To feed the toads and rattle-snake.—p. 216, v. 18.
Those readers who are versant in tales of knight-errantry, will here be reminded of knights, who, in search of perilous enterprises, had often to cross noxious lakes teeming with pestilential vapours, and swarming with serpents, and other venomous reptiles, that opposed their baneful and offensive influence to impede or destroy these bold adventurers. Though the " poisoned lake" seems the fiction of romance, yet history in her record of human cruelty, shows that the use of venomous animals to inflict a lingering and painful death, was not unknown in Britain. The Saxon Chronicle, in detailing the cruelties exercised by the Normans upon the Anglo-Saxons, during the reign of king Stephen, relates that " They squeezed the heads of some with knotted cords, till they pierced their brains, while they threw others into dungeons swarming with serpents, snakes, and toads."—Henry's Britain, vol. 6, p. 346. This reminds us of the horrible fate of the warlike Lodbrog, a Danish king, who, after successfully waging predatory warfare for a long time against the Saxons, was at last taken prisoner by Ella, king of Northumberland, and thrown into a dungeon full of serpents. He is said to have composed amidst his torments, an heroic death song, in which he thus laments bis fate, and describes his sufferings:—
Aslanga's sons would soon draw nigh,
With utmost swiftness hither fly,
And arm'd with falchions gleaming bright,
Prepare the bitter deeds of fight,
If told, or could they but divine
What woe, what dire mischance is mine.
How many serpents round me hang,
And tear my flesh with poisonous fang;
A mother to my sons I gave,
With native worth who stamp'd them brave.
Fast to th' hereditary end,
To my allotted goal I tend.
Fix'd is the viper's mortal harm;
Within my heart, his mansion warm,
In the recesses of my breast
The writhing snake has form'd his nest.