Lord Ronald- Jean Barclay (Aber) c.1931 Carpenter
[From: James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/2/2/K, p. 05616. This fragmented Carpenter version is only the ending with the "will" stanzas. The transcription is sketchy so I've added (in brackets) a few missing lines, which I assume were sung but not written down. There is no recording.
R. Matteson 2018]
Lord Ronald- sung by Jean Barclay of Braefoot Cottage, Ythen Wells, collected about 1931.
"What'll ye leave to your father, Lord Ronald my son
What'll ye leave to your father, my handsome young man,"
"I'll leave my gray mare, mother mak my bed soon
[For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain would lie doon."]
"What'll ye leave to your mother, Lord Ronald my son,
[What'll ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man,"]
"I'll leave her my gowd watch, Mother mak my bed soon
[For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain would lie doon."]
What'll ye leave to your sister, Lord Ronald my son,
[What'll ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man,]
"I'll leave her my gowd ring, Mother mak my bed soon
[For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain would lie doon."]
What'll ye leave to your sweetheart, Lord Ronald my son
[What'll ye leave to your sweetheart, my handsome young man,]
I'll leave her arsenic and water, the thing she left me,
An' if that disna please her, she'll be hanged on a tree.