May Colvine & Fause Sir John- (Aber) 1881 Christie
[From Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, Volume 2, 1881. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2018]
This Air was noted from the singing of a native of Aberdeenshire. "Jenny Meesle's" Air is given in the Appendix. The Ballad was first published in Herd's "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs" I. 153. Mr Sharpe gives a fuller copy taken from recitation. There was a stall copy "The Western Tragedy," dated 1749, which MV Motherwell saw; as also a later stall print called "The Historical Ballad of May Corzean," who was, according to local tradition, the heroine, and of the family of Kennedy of Colzean, now represented by the Earl of Cassilis, and the hero an Ecclesiastic of the Monastery of Maybole. In the parish of Ballantrae, on the sea-coast there is a frowning precipice, called at one time "Fause Sir John's Loup'.' According to Mr Buchan, Binyan's Bay, mentioned in his copy of the Ballad, was at the mouth of the river Ugie near Peterhead which was anciently called Binyail. The Annotator of "Scottish Traditional Versions of ancient Ballads" says that the tale is well known and popular in England under the title of "The Outlandish Knight" of which stall copies of considerable antiquity are in existence. Dr Robert Chambers states that "Carlton Castle," two miles to the south of Girvan, a tall ruin overhanging the sea, is said by the populace there to have been the residence of "Fause Sir John." A tall rocky eminence two miles farther south, called "Gamesloup," is pointed out as the place where Sir John drowned his wives. It would appear, therefore, that the story of the Ballad is localized to several places. See Motherwell's Introduction to his "Minstrelsy," p. LXX, note 24, Buchan, II. 309. Chambers' Scottish Ballads p. 232.
May Colvine, and Fause Sir John.
Heard ye ever of a bluidy knight,
Liv'd in the West Countrie,
Whit did betray eight virgins fair,
And drown them in the sea?
All ladies of a good account,
As ever yet were known:
This traitor was a baron knight,
They call'd him fause Sir John.
Then fause Sir John a wooing came
To a maid of beauty rare;
May Colvine was this lady's name,
Her father's only heir.
He courted her baith but and ben,
And urgently did pray,
That May Colvine would give consent
To mount and ride away.
Frae below his arm he pull'd a charm,
And stuck it in her sleeve;
And he has made her gang with him,
Without her parents' leave.
From her father's coffers she took out
Of gold five hundred pound;
And from his stable she took out
The best steed could be found.
Then privately they rade away,
They made nae stop nor stay,
Nor curb'd nor drew the bridle rein
Till they reach'd Binyan Bay.
This bay lay in a lonely place,
Nae habitation nigh;
And girt by rocks baith high and steep,
Where nane could hear her cry.
"Light down, light down, fair May Colvine,
Your bridal bed you see;
For here I've drown'd eight virgins brave,
And you the ninth maun be."
"Are these you're bow'rs and lofty towers,
Sae beautiful and gay?
Or is it for my gold," she said,
"You take my life away?"
"Cast aff, cast aff your jewels fine,
Sae costly, rich, and brave;
They are too costly and too fine
To sink in the sea wave."
But as Sir John he turn'd him round,
She threw him in the sea;
Says, " Lye ye there, ye fause Sir John,
Where you thought to lay me.
"Oh, lye ye there, ye traitor fause,
Where you thought to lay me;
You wou'd ha'e stript me to the skin,
But get your claise with thee."
"Oh, help! oh, help now, May Colvine!
Oh, help! or else I drown!
I'll take you to your father's gate,
And safely set ye down."
"Nae help, nae help, thou fause Sir John,
Nae help to such as thee;
You lye not in a caulder bed
Than that you meant for me!
Lye there, lye there, thou traitor fause,
Your bed the gurgling sea;
If you have bedded eight damsels there,
The ninth has bedded thee."
Then she mounted on her father's steed,
And swiftly rode away,
Arriving at her father's house
At breaking of the day.
Then first she tauld her mother dear
Concerning fause Sir John;
And next she tauld her father dear
The deed that she had done.
"If that be true, fair May Colvine,
That ye ha'e tauld to me,
To day, ere I do eat or drink,
This fause Sir John I'll see."
Then aff they went, with one consent,
At dawning of the day,
Until they came to Carline sands,
And there his body lay.
His body tall, with that great fall,
On waves toss'd to and fro,
The diamond ring that he had on
Had broke in pieces two.
And they ha'e taken up his corpse
To yonder pleasant green;
And there they buried fause Sir John,
For fear he shou'd be seen.