Mally Bann- (GLA) 1793 Robertson chapbook
[From a Scottish chapbook printed by J & M Robertson, Glasgow, 1799. Text transcribed by Steve Gardham, Reprinted in Long Room - Issues 11-29 - Page 39.
The same chapbook dated 1793 (without printer) on Google Books has the ballads: Logie O' Buchan, Mally Bann, Grigel Maccree, The Young Man's Love to the Farmer's Daughter, and The Braes of Ballanden. Garham's transcription (1799) is certainly a reprint of the 1793 edition.
A similar second version titled "Mally Bann" appears in The New Monthly Magazine and Universal register. Volume 67, 1843. Only the first 9 stanzas are given.
R. Matteson 2016]
MALLY BANN. BL 11606 aa 23 (24) J & M Robertson, Glasgow, 1793 and 1799. Item 2 on garland.
1. Jamie Randal went a hunting,
A hunting in the dark;
But to his great misfortune,
He did not miss his mark.
2. His love's apron being about her,
He took her for a swan;
But alas, and forever, alas!
It was sweet Mally Bann.
3. When he came up to her[1],
And found that she was dead,
Great abundance of salt tears
For his darling he shed.
4. He went home to his father
With his gun in his hand,
Crying, "Dear father, dear father,
I've shot Mally Bann."
5. His father looked upon him
(His hair being gray)
Crying, " Oh! my dearest son,
You must not run away:
6. "Stay at home in your own country—
Let your trial come on;
By the laws of sweet Ireland,
You shall never be undone."
7. Within two or three months after,
To her uncle she appear'd[2],
Crying " Dear uncle, dear uncle,
Let Jamie Randal go free.
8. "For my apron being about me,
He took me for a swan."
But it is, oh! and for ever, alas!
It was sweet Mally Bann.
9. All the Maidens in the country,
they are all very glad,
That this beautiful; this lovely,
this fair one was dead.
10. She was the flower of all the nation,
the flower of Colrain;
The flower of all the nation
was sweet Mally Bann.
11. When the fair Maids in the city,
were assembled in a row,
She appeared amongst them
like a mountain of snow.
12. The flower of all the nation,
the flower of Colrain
The flower of all the nation
was sweet Mally Bann.
1. "When he came up unto her" (version 2)
2. "appeared she" (version 2) an improvement