Lamkin- Little (IO-IN) 1935 Brewster B
[From Ballads and Songs of Indiana by Paul G. Brewster; Indiana University Publications Folklore Series 1940. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
16 LAMKIN (Child, No. 93)
This ballad is rare in Indiana. Only two variants have been recovered, one of eight stanzas, the other of three. Both appear to belong to the F version of Child, stanzas 21, 22, and 23 of the latter being almost identical with corresponding stanzas of Indiana A. Much has been lost from the Indiana texts. They lack the lord's parting injunction to his lady to beware of Lamkin, "who lives in the wood," the planning of Lamkin and the nurse for revenge, the torturing of the baby, the attempt of the lady to "buy off" Lamkin, the scouring of the basin to catch the lady's blood, the question of Lamkin as to whether he shall kill the lady, and the nurse's reply: "Kill her, dear Lammikin, she was never gude to me."
For American texts, see Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 23; Jones, p. 301 (fragment); Journal, XIII, 117; XXIX, 162; XXX, 318; XXXV, 344 (fragment and melody); XLIV, 61; Sandburg, pp. 72, 385; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 91; Henry, Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, p. 62.
British: JFSS, I, 212; II, 111; V, 81; Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 61. Additional references are to be found in Journal, XXX, 318.
B. [Lamkin] No title given. Contributed by Mrs. Helen B. Little, of Knoxville, Iowa. Learned in Warrick County, Indiana. June 23, 1935.
1. Lady Betty was lying
In her chamber so high,
When she heard her dear daddy
Come riding hard by.
2. "0 Daddy, O Daddy,
You need not blame me,
For Falseness[1] and Lamkin
Have killed your lady!"
3. Falseness was hanged
On yon gallows so high,
And Lamkin was burned
In a fire near by.
1. false nurse