English & Other Versions 93. Lamkin
CONTENTS:
Lamkin- Brown (Falkland) c.1797 Child A
Lambert Linkin- (Scotland) 1827 Motherwell Child B
Lamerlinkin- (Scotland) c.1825 Motherwell; Child C
Bold Rankin- (Scotland) pre1845 Maidment; Child D
Lambkin- (Scotland) c.1826 Kinloch; Child E
[additional English ballads upcoming]
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Nick Caffrey, Lamkin, issue 48 of Living Tradition.
From the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):
"In Scots versions...the hero is a mason who builds a castle, is cheated of his payment, and makes a terrible retaliation. In the English versions this idea is lost, and Lambkin, Longkin or Lankin is merely a lawless ruffian. Yet he is no ordinary robber, for it is not booty that he is after, but revenge. Is he perhaps a runaway serf with a grudge against his master? Or is he, as has been suggested, a desperate leper seeking the old folk-cure of the blood of an innocent, caught in a silver bowl? It is hard to guess the age of this ballad. Bishop Percy printed a version from Kent in 1775, and in the following year Herd published a Scottish text. The two versions differ in several details, and it is likely that the ballad was already old then. The strongest Scots tradition names Balwearie Castle as the scene -and its building in 1464 as the occasion- of the crime. Tradition is not evidence, but the song is probably based on a real event...Further versions will be found in the Folk Song Journal from Surrey (I, pp 212-3), and Hampshire (II, pp 111-12). The ballad is studied in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society vol. I, pp 1-7." -R.V.W/A.L.L.
This version was collected by Cecil Sharp, from Sister Emma, a nun, at Clewer, Berkshire, in 1909.
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The ballad book: a selection of the choicest British ballads
edited by William Allingham
Lamkin. — A very popular ballad $ found in Herd as "Lammikin ": in Jamieson as "Lanekin ": in Finlay in two versions: in Motherwell as "Lambert Linkin ": also in A New Book 0/ Old Ballads as "Bold Rankin": and in the Drawing-Room Scrap Book, 1S37, as "Long Lonkin." All these we have collated (as usual, adding nothing to the traditionary matter), and with these a copy taken down from the mouth of an Irish nurse in the family of a relative of the editor. The murderer is called by various names, "Lamkin," "Lammikin," "Lankin," "Linkin," "Belinkin," "Balcanqual," "Lambert Linkin," "Lammerlinkin," "Rankin." One version begins: — "Belinkin was as gude a mason As ever pickt a stane; He built up Prime Castle But payment gat nane."
LAMKIN
1. LAMKIN was as good a mason
As ever hewed a stane;
He biggit Lord Weare's great castle,
But payment gat he nane.
2 "O pay me now, Lord Weare,
Come pay me out o' hand."
"I canna pay you, Lamkin,
Unless I sell my land."
3 "O gin ye winna pay me,
I here sall make a vow,
Before that ye come hame again,
Ye sall hae cause to rue."
4 The lord said to his lady, As he mounted his horse, "Beware, beware of Lamkin, That lieth in the moss."
5 The lord said to his lady,
As he rode away, "Beware, beware of Lamkin,
That lieth in the clay."
6
"What care I for Lamkin,
Or any of his gang?
I'll keep my doors weel guarded,
My windows all penned in."
7 When all the doors were guarded,
And all the windows shut,
There was still one little window,
And that one was forgot.
8 And the nourice was a fause limmer
As e'er hung on a tree;
And she laid a plot wi' Lamkin
When her lord went over the sea.
9 She laid a plot wi' Lamkin,
When the servants were awa',
Loot him in at the little window
And brought him to the ha'.
10 "O where's a' the men o' this house,
That ca' me Lamkin?"
"They're at the barn thrashing;
'T will be lang ere they come in."
11 "O where's the women o' this house,
That ca' me Lamkin?" "They 're at the well washing;
'Twill be lang ere they come in."
12 "O where's the lady o' this house,
That ca s me Lamkin 1" "She's up in her bower sewing,
But we soon can bring her down."
i3
"And how are we to bring her down?"
Says the Lamkin. "Pinch the babe in the cradle here,"
Says the fause nourice to him.
14 "O still my bairn, nourice,
Still him if you can." "He will not still, madam,
For a' his father's land."
>S
"O still my bairn, good nourice,
O still him wi' the keys." "He will not still, my lady,
Let me do what I please."
16 "O still my bairn, kind nourice,
O still him wi' the ring." "He will not still, dear mistress,
Let me do anything."
17
"O still my bairn, sweet nourice,
0 still him wi' the bell.""He will not still, my lady dear, Till ye come down yoursel'."
18
The first step the lady stepped,
She stepped on a stane;
The last step the lady stepped,
There she met Lamkin.
19
"O mercy, mercy, Lamkin!
Have mercy upon me!
O harm ye not my little son,
1 pray you let him be!"
20 "Now sall I kill her, nourice?
Or sall I let her be?" "Okill her, kill her, Lamkin,
For she ne'er was good to me."
21 "Then scour the basin, nourice, And mak' it fair and clean, For to keep this lady's heart's blood, For she comes o' noble kin."
22 "There needs nae basin, Lamkin;Let it run upon the floor; What better is the heart's blood O' the rich than o' the poor?"
n
Lord Weare he sat in England
A-drinking o' the wine; He felt his heart fu' heavy
At this very same time.
24 "I wish a' may be weel," he says,"Wi' my dear lady at hame; For the rings upon my fingers They've bursten into twain."
25 He sailed in his bonny ship
Upon the saut sea-faem; He leaped upon his horse,
And swiftly he rade hame.
26 "O wha's blude is this," he says,"That lieth in my ha'?" "It is your little son's heart's blude, The clearest ava'."
27 "O wha's blude is this," he says,"That lies in the bower 1" "It is your lady's heart's blude, Where Lamkin he slew her."
28 O sweetly sang the blackbird,
That sat upon the tree; But sair moaned Lamkin,
When he was judged to dee.
20
O bonny sang the mavis Out o' the thorny brake;
But sair grat the nourice, When she was tied to the stake.
"nourice," nurse.