Merry Green Fields- Sullivan (VT) c.1880 Flanders
[My date, based on photo. From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966 notes by Coffin follow. Sullivan learned this in her childhood days in County Cork, Ireland. I'd guestimate she was born around 1870 and I've given a date of c.1880 since she was bedridden and in her 70s at least in 1932 when Flanders collected this ballad.
In a 1957 lecture, Flanders recalled her early meetings with Sullivan:
“In around 1932 in my home town of Springfield, Vermont, I discovered Mrs. Sullivan, a bedridden woman whose Irish memories were pure poetry when recounted in prose, even more so when in the form of old ballads. She could slightly keep a tune and the tune she most clung to was used for many different ballads. Her digressions were as important as background to her singing. Mrs. Sullivan sang or recited over fifty-five songs and told several stories between 1932 and 1940.”
R. Matteson 2014]
The Broomfield Hill
(Child 43)
In the Child texts of this song, the girl plans a rendezvous with a knight which she is afraid to keep for fear of being seduced and afraid to miss for fear of enraging her lover. A witch suggests a solution by pointing out that her lover will be asleep. She can prolong this state by spreading magic blossoms on him, leave a token that she has appeared, and get away before he awakens. The knight is angry upon awakening, scolds his hawk and his horse for letting him sleep, and attempts to pursue the girl. The rare American versions preserve most of the story, even though the use of magic is not always clear. The Vermont text is closest to the Child C-E series in that the bet is actually made by the sweethearts at the start of the song, the knight makes no effort to chase after the girl, and he is so cross he is willing that "all the birds in the merry green field of her might pick their fill." This is not unlike the form of the story recorded by Mellinger Henry in Folk-Songs of the Southern Highlands ([New York, 1938], 53).
The story used as a basis for the song is commonplace, appearing in one after another merry medieval collection, Child I, 390 f., discusses the magic charms used by the girl, and treats runes and drugs as they appear in European folk tale tradition.
For bibliographical notes and commentary, see Coffin, 57-59 (American), dean-Smith, 56 (English); and Greig and Keith, 31-32 (Scottish). Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 438, found traces of the song.
The Merry Green Fields. Mrs. Ellen M. Sullivan of Springfield, Vermont, sang this song learned, during her youth in Ireland.
H. H. F., Collector; August 13, 1932. Structure: A1 B A2 Cb (2,2,2,2); Rhythm C; Contour: each half descending; Scale: hexachordal; t.c. F.
The Merry Green Fields
"I will lay down five hundred pounds,
Five hundred pounds and ten,
That a maid you won't go to the merry green fields
And a maid return again."
Then quickly speaks the pretty maid,
The maid was scarce sixteen,
Saying, "A maid I will go to the merry green fields
And a maid I'll return again."
When she came to the merry green fields
She found her love asleep,
With his hawk and his hounds and his stockings made of silk
And the green broom under his feet.
She took a bunch out of the broom,
The broom that smelt so sweet.
She laid a bunch down at his head,
Another at his feet.
When she had done what she had to do,
She slyly stole away,
And hid herself behind a bush
To see what her love'd say.
When he woke out of his sleep,
It's bitterly he cried,
:Saying, "If I was awake when I was asleep,
It's of her I would take my will,
And all the birds in the merry green field
Of her might her pick their fill.
"O where were you, my pretty hawk,
The hawk I love so dear,
That you did not wake me out of my sleep
When my true love was here?"
"It's with my nails I scratched, master,
And with my bill I rang.
It is often I cried 'Awake, master,
For your true love has come'."
"Where were my pretty hound
A hound I loved so dear
That you did not wake me our of my sleep
When my true love was near?"
"Sleep more in the day, master,
And wake more in the night,
For if you were awake when you were asleep,
It's of her you'd take your will,
And all the birds in the merry green field
Of her might pick their fill."
When she heard what he had to say
She quickly stole away
Saying, "I have saved my maidenhead
And won ten thousand pounds."