Lord Bateman- Hensley (VA) pre1911 Davis CC
[My date, I assume she learned this before she was married. Actually, it would be many years older through her grandmother. From: More Traditional Ballads of Virginia; Davis, 1960. Davis adds three more ballads after publishing A-I in Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929.
Priscilla R Yeatts Hensley (b. 1889) was married to Jasper Hensley on Feb. 12, 1911. She may be kin to Edna Eunice Yeatts McAlexander (b. 1909) who would be a generation younger. Several other versions were collected at Meadows of Dan (Sharp, Davis).
R. Matteson 2014]
CC. "Lord Bateman." Collected by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy, of Altavista, Va. Sung by Mrs. Priscilla Hensley, of Meadows of Dan, Va., who learned it from her grandmother, an Englishwoman by birth. Campbell and Patrick Counties. August 13, 1933. The number of verbal variants in this, the fullest of the new texts, seems to justify its retention, even without tune.
1 A rich man who lived in England,
He had but one only son;
He never could be contented
Until he taken a voyage on sea.
2 He sailed and he sailed the sea all over
Until he came to the Turkish shore,
And there he was taken and put in prison,
Where he could not neither see nor hear.
3 This old Turk had but one daughter,
She was beautiful and fair,
She stole the key for her father's prison
And did Lord Bateman go and see.
4. "Have you land or have you living,
Have you castles of any degree?
What would you bestow on to any fair lady
That out of this prison would set you free?"
5. "I have land and I have living,
I have castles of high degree,
Which I will bestow to any fair lady
Which out of this prison will set me free."
6. She put him on horse and saddle,
Taken him down to the sea shore,
She paid his way in gold and silver,
"Lord Bateman, I'll see you no more."
7. "Seven long years I'll wait with pleasure,
And one day over, and then, oh then,[1]
If you don't come over,
Some other fair lady I must adore."
8. Seven long years was past and over,
The eighth one swiftly rolling on,
When she gathered up her rich attire
And thought she'd cross the raging main.
9. She sailed and she sailed the sea all over
Until she came to Lord Bateman's gate.
Oh, she knocked so loud she made the valleys ring,
Then out came a proud young porter.
10. . . .
"Who knocked so loud, can not come in,
For I've just come out to tell you
That today he's his new bride in."
11. "Go ask him for three crumbs of his bread
And a bottle of his wine so strong,
Ask him if he does remember
Who loosed him from his iron bands."
12. Then back went this proud young porter,
Stooping on his bended knees,
Says, "At your gate stands the prettiest creature
That ever my two eyes did see.
13. "She wears I gold ring on every finger,
On her middle finger three,
The belt she wears around her middle
Would buy your bride and company."
14. He spread the gold all over the table,
Split the leaves in pieces three,
Says, "I forfeit all my land and riches
That Susan Fane has crossed the sea."
15. Then up steps this new bride's father,
"For today I wish you had 'a' died,
Just to think for another woman
That you'd forsake your lawful bride."
16. "It is true I married your daughter,
She's none the worse by me,
She come with me on horse and saddle,
She can go back in coachman free."
1. ". . . and then, one more," to rhyme