Recordings & Info 223. Eppie Morrie
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
4) Mainly Norfolk
5) Notes and texts from Mudcat
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 2583: Eppie Morrie ( 12 Listings)
Alternate Titles
Eppie Moray
The Ballad of Eppie Moray
It Was Torn, Rippit, Tattered
Eppy Maury
Traditional Ballad Index: Eppie Morrie [Child 223]
DESCRIPTION: Willie and his gang steal away Eppie Morrie to make her his bride. The minister refuses to marry them without her consent. Willie forces her to bed and attempts to rape her; she fends off his attempts. In the morning she demands the right to return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: abduction rape rejection escape sex
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 223, "Eppie Morrie" (1 text)
Bronson 223, "Eppie Morrie" (1 version)
PBB 51, "Eppie Morrie" (1 text)
DBuchan 37, "Eppie Morrie" (1 text)
DT 223, EPPMORR*
Roud #2583
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Eppie Morrie" [fragment] (on FSBBAL2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lady of Arngosk [Child 224]" (plot)
cf. "Walter Lesly" [Child 296] (plot)
NOTES: Like Willie Macintosh [Child 183; see comment there], the only known tune for this song is that given by Ewan MacColl. - (AS)
Though we note the fragment collected from Jimmy McBeath, which was not known to Bronson.
The idea of rape as a method to secure a marriage is well-documented. Prestwich, pp. 156-157, tells of one Alice de Lacy who may actually have experienced this *twice* in the early fourteenth century:
"In 1317 she was abducted from her husband, the Earl of Lancaster, by one of [Earl] Warenne's knights, Richard de St Martin. He claimed to be her real husband, as he had slept with her before her marriage; a statement which Alice supported. In 1324 she married Eblo Lestrange in an undoubted love match and on his death took vows of chastity. Then in a dramatic scene in Bolingbroke Castle in 1336 she was again abducted, this time by Hugh de Frenes.... When she came down she was placed firmly on horseback. Only then did she realize the gravity of her situation, and she promptly fell off in an attempt to escape. She was put back, with a groom mounted behind her to hold her on, and led off to Somerton Castle. There, according to the record, Hugh raped her in breach of the king's peace. Since she was by then in her mid-fifties, it is likely that Hugh was attracted more by her vast estates than by her physical charms. As frequently happened in medieval cases of rape, the couple soon married."
Prestwich adds that de Lacy chose to be buried by Lestrange. Although this may say less about Lestrange than about the fact that Thomas of Lancaster was a complete and utter jerk (Hicks, pp. 48-49).
Abductions not ending in actual rape were doubtless even more frequent (consider, e.g., the ballads close to this one in Child's order, "Bonny Baby Livingston" [Child 222], "The Lady of Arngosk' [Child 224] and "Rob Roy" [Child 225]), and in one case involved a future Queen of England. Eleanor of Aquitaine, from the moment her father died and she became Duchess, was subject to kidnapping attempts to secure her inheritance (Owen, pp. 14, 31). For background on this, see the notes to "Queen Eleanor's Confession [Child 156]'"
There was also a curious inverse case, in which the a monarch was supposedly willing to rape a woman, but when she fought back, married her instead. Dockray, p. 45, gives Mancini's account of the marriage of King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville, which tells of Edward holding a knife to her throat and her refusing to sleep with him even then, with the result that he secretly married her. The incident with the knife probably didn't happen, but it shows the sorts of rumors that surrounded their surprise marriage (which assuredly *did* happen).
There is also a fairly significant case of a woman resisting the advances of her legal husband in order to have the marriage annulled. Frances Howard was married at age 13, clearly against her will, to the Earl of Essex; the year was 1606. Willson, p. 339, has little good to say of her after this time: "The Earl went abroad and Lady Frances grew up at court, where she received but an evil education. She became proud, headstrong and violent, capable of implacable hatred and of shameless immodesty."
Eventually it came time for the Earl to consummate the marriage. She fought him off with various excuses, and by physical means, for most of the three years required to obtain an annulment (Emsley, pp. 76-78).
Thus far we parallel "Eppie Morrie." The case gets stranger after that (read on only if you care about odd politics; the rest of this entry has nothing to do with "Eppie Morrie"), since Howard apparently claimed that her husband was possessed by demons (Kishlansky, p. 94). Eventually King James VI and I convened a church court to decide whether the marriage should be dissolved (Willson, p. 340), with the King himself actively supporting Howard's cause. Unfortunately, the case was intensely political, because Howard wanted to marry a high court official (Ashton, p. 222) -- according to Kishlansky, p. 94, "The love affair between Somerset and Lady Frances Howard was the scandal of the ate. Under the tutelage of her septuagenarian uncle Northampton, Lady Frances thrust her ample charms upon the favorite [i.e. Somerset]."
Although almost everyone seems convinced that the relationship was consummated, we can at least say that Howard did not become pregnant. And that she was examined by a group of midwives, who pronounced her a virgin. But there was much doubt about the validity of the examination (Emsley, pp. 82-83)
Davies declares that "James was so infatuated with Rochester [Somerset] that he must be held responsible for the success of the suit of nullity which the countess brought." When the first commission deadlocked 5-5, James added two more members, enough that the marriage was ended by a vote of 7-5 (Willson, p. 341. Scholars do not agree on whether to call the result a "divorce" or an "annulment.")
This should have been a happy ending, but it wasn't. The Byzantine politics of the age meant that a former co-worker of Somerset's, Thomas Overbury, could perhaps damage Somerset's relationship with the (bisexual) King James. A plot was hatched by Howard and others to kill Overbury with realgar, an arsenic compound (Emsley, p. 81). When those failed, they tried a mercury compound. "After a number of failures, Overbury was successfully poisoned" (Davies, p. 19; Emsley, pp. 81-84, counts four attempts in total). A few years later, the truth came out. A number of the conspirators were hanged. Frances Howard admitted guilt and was sentenced to death; Someset denied involvement but was convicted and sentenced to hang also. King James commuted their death sentences, but they remained in the Tower until 1621 and were under a sort of house arrest for the rest of their lives (Emsley, p. 88); it sounds as if, by this time Howard had grown tired of Somerset. - RBW
>>BIBLIOGRAPHY<<
Ashton: Robert Ashton, _Reformation and Revolution 1558-1660_, 1984 (I use the 1985 Paladin edition)
Davies: Godfrey Davies, _The Early Stuarts: 1603-1660_ (Oxford, 1937)
Dockray: Keith Dockray, _Edward IV: A Source Book_, Sutton, 1999
Emsley: John Emsley, _The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison_, Oxford Univeristy Press, 2005
Hicks: Michael Hicks, _Who's Who in Late Medieval England (1272-1485)_, (being the third volume in the Who's Who in British History series), Shepheard-Walwyn, 1991
Kishlansky: Mark Kishlansky, _A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714_, Penguin, 1996
Owen: D. D. R. Owen, _Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen & Legend_, Blackwell, 1993
Prestwich: Michael Prestwich, _The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272-1377_, Weidenfeld, 1980 (I use the 2001 Routledge paperback edition)
Willson: D[avid] Harris Willson, _King James VI and I_, Holt, 1956?
Child Collection- Child Ballad 223: Epie Morrie
Child --Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
223 Alix Dobkin Eppie Morrie Living with Lavender Jane 1998 No
223 Andrew Calhoun Eppie Morrie Telfer's Cows: Folk Ballads from Scotland 2003 4:32 Yes
223 Black Donald Eppie Morrie + Cooley's Reel Dancing Hazards - A Musical Portrait of the Scottish Highlands 1985 3:47 Yes
223 Ceolbeg Eppie Moray Cairn Water 1999 6:20 Yes
223 Corrina Hewat The Ballad of Eppie Moray The Ballad of Eppie Moray 2005 No
223 Ewan MacColl Eppie Morrie Sir Patrick Spens + Eppie Morrie 1951 2:44 Yes
223 Ewan MacColl Eppie Morrie Blood and Roses - Vol. 3 1982 3:47 Yes
223 Ewan MacColl Eppie Morrie The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 2 [Reissue] 196? No
223 Ewan MacColl Eppie Morrie The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 1 1956 No
223 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger Eppie Morrie Popular Scottish Songs [Scottish Traditional Songs] 1960 3:31 Yes
223 Ewan MacColl Eppie Morrie The Amorous Muse - Amatory Folksongs from England, Scotland and North America 1968 3:36 Yes
223 Fotheringay Broomfield Hall (Eppy Moray) Poems from Alexandria 1970 4:48 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppy Moray Live at the Plumpton Festival 1970 4:50 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppy Moray Wild Mountain Thyme - BBC Sessions & Live 1970 3:54 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppy Moray Rarities Vol 2 3:33 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppy Moray Sandy at the BBC 1973 3:34 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppy Moray Farewell Fotheringay 1970 4:42 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppie Moray Fotheringay 2 2008 4:44 Yes
223 Fotheringay Eppie Moray Essen 1970 2011 No
223 Fotheringay Eppie Moray Studio Outtakes, Home Demos, Unheard Songs, Complete Studio Recordings 2010 4:47 Yes
223 Frank McLaughlin & Gillian MacDonald Eppie Morrie + The New Starter Motor Out of the Wood 1998 3:35 Yes
223 Isla St. Clair Eppie Morrie Murder & Mayhem 2000 3:22 Yes
223 Isla St. Clair Eppie Morrie Highland Songs 2004 3:28 Yes
223 Isla St. Clair Eppie Morrie Great Songs and Ballads of Scotland 2009 No
223 Janet Russell Eppie Morrie Love Songs and Fighting Talk 2008 No
223 Jessica Haines & Mark Kaiser Eppie Morrie So Here's to You 2006 4:17 Yes
223 Jessica Haines & Mark Kaiser Eppie Morrie Off She Goes 2006 No
223 Jimmy MacBeath Eppie Morrie Classic Ballads of Britain & Ireland - Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales, Vol 2 2000 :23 Yes
223 Jimmy MacBeath Eppie Morrie McCaffery & McPherson - Jimmy MacBeath 3 1975 No
223 Jimmy MacBeath It Was Torn, Rippit, Tattered Two Gentlemen of the Road 2003 No
223 Jimmy McBeath Eppie Morrie The Green Wedding - The Classic Ballads 3 1976 No
223 Karan Casey Eppie Morrie The Winds Begin to Sing 2003 3:59 Yes
223 Kim Hughes Eppie Morrie Cattywampus 1998 3:15 Yes
223 Lori Holland Eppie Morrie Scottish Folksongs for Women 1958 No
223 Robin Roberts Eppy Maury Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies 1959 3:03 Yes
223 Sìleas Eppie Morrie Delighted with Harps 1993 5:19 Yes
223 Tempest Eppy Moray The Double-Cross 2006 2:48 Yes
223 The Shee Eppie Morrie Decadence 2010 4:48 Yes
223 The Wild Oats Eppie Morrie .. Weed 'em and Reap.. 1998 3:02 Yes
223 Walter Allan Eppie Morrie Songs from the Folk Music Revival in Scotland - Ailie Munro 1984 2:57 Yes
Mainly Norfolk: Eppie Moray / Eppie Morrie
[Roud 2583; Child 223; Ballad Index C223; trad.]
Ewan MacColl sang the North-east Scottish abduction ballad Eppie Moray in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd's Riverside album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume I. This and most of his other ballads from this series were re-issued in 2009 on his Topic CD Ballads: Murder—Intrigue—Love—Discord.
Fotheringay recorded Eppie Moray for their second album which was never finished due to the band's break-up. They recorded it too on two BBC Radio 1 sessions: on November 12, 1970 for “Folk on the BBC” and on November 15, 1970 for “Sound of the Seventies”, both with Trevor Lucas and Sandy Denny singing. At these sessions they also recorded Bold Jack Donahue, Gypsy Davey, Lowlands of Holland and Wild Mountain Thyme.
After a long time of being available on bootlegs only, in 2008 Fledg'ling Records published Eppie Moray from Fotheringay's 1970 Sound Techniques studio recordings on the Fotheringay 2 CD.
Sileas (Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster) sang Eppie Morrie in 1996 on their album Delighted with Harps. Their liner notes comment:
This ballad comes from the North-east of Scotland.
A Highlander abducts an heiress and tries to force her to marry him. When she refuses in front of the minister he carries her off and tries to rape her. She successfully fights him off and in the morning scornfully demands a horse so that she may ride home to her mother “a maiden as she cam”.
The melody was transmitted to Ewan MacColl by William Miller.
The Shee sang Eppie Morrie in 2010 on their CD Decadence. This video shows them performing Eppie Morrie in The Cumberland Arms, Byker in October 2009:
Lyrics
Fotheringay sing Eppie Moray
Four-and-twenty Highland men
Come from the Carron side
To carry away Eppie Moray for
She would not be a bride, a bride,
She would not be a bride.
Then out it came her mither for
It was a moonlit night,
She couldn't see her daughter for
The moon it shone so bright, so bright
The moon it shone so bright.
Hold away from me, mither,
Hold away from me!
There's not a man in all Strathdon
Should married be with me, with me,
Should married be with me.
They've taken Eppie Moray,
And a horse they've bound her on,
And they had rid to the minister's house
As fast as horse could run, could run,
As fast as horse could run.
[ Then Willie he's taken his pistol out
And set it to the minister's breast,
O marry me, marry me, minister,
Or else I'll be your priest, your priest
Or else I'll be your priest.
Hold away from me, Willie,
Hold away from me,
I not avow to marry you
Except she's willing as thee, as thee,
Except she's willing as thee.
They've taken Eppie Moray then,
She'd better could not be,
And they have rid over Carron side
As fast as horse could flee, could flee,
As fast as horse could flee.
Then mass was sung and bells were rung
And they're away to bed,
And Willie and Eppie Moray,
In ane bed they were laid, were laid
In ane bed they were laid. ]
He's taken the sack from off his back
And kicked away his shoes,
And thrown away the chamber key,
And naked he's lay down, lay down
And naked he's lay down.
Hold away from me, Willie,
Hold away from me,
Before I lose my maidenhead
I'll try my strength with thee, with thee.
I'll try my strength with thee.
He's kissed her on the lily breast
And held her shoulders twa
But aye she grat and aye she spat
And turned to the wall, the wall,
And turned to the wall.
All through the night they wrestled there
Until the light of day,
And Willie grat and Willie swat
But he could not stretch her spey, her spey
He could not stretch her spey.
Weary fa' you, Willie, then,
For you could not prove a man,
For if you gained her maidenheid,
She would have held your hand, your hand,
She would have held your hand.
Go away from me, Lady,
Go away from me!
There's not a man in all Strathdon
Shall married be with me, with me,
Shall married be with me.
Go fetch me a horse,
And fetch it like a man,
And send me back to my mither
A maiden as I came, I came
A maiden as I came.
------------------------------
Notes from Mudcat:
Subject: RE: Eppie Morie: What does it all mean?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Typically, "spey" or "spae" is "the opening or slit in a gown or petticoat, etc." Willie didn't even manage to get into her underwear if we are to take the definition usual in Scots dictionaries; though perhaps MacColl or his source had other ideas.
"Hire" here is probably "to accept, welcome"; particularly in the context of a dealing or trading transaction (see for example Alexander Warrack, Scots Dialect Dictionary), which is essentially what the Scottish custom of marriage-by-abduction was.
So far as other interpretations go, remember that the text under discussion here is Ewan MacColl's. He published it in The Singing Island, 1960, 32; saying that it came "from the singing of William Miller of Stirling and Samuel Wylie of Falkirk, Stirlingshire." William was Ewan's father, of course; and the Miller family do seem to have been unusually fortunate in their possession of rare ballads, and melodies for them, unknown elsewhere.
Bronson, Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, III, 361-2, quotes text and tune, adding: "Mr Ewan MacColl is the sole authority for a tune of this very spirited, if brutal, ballad of bride-stealing. He learned his tune from his father; the text has come mostly from Maidment" [North Country Garland, 1824, 40)] "by way of Child, with some help from Samuel Wylie of Falkirk" [presumably the three extra verses]. "I am unable to point to any analogues for the melody, which does splendid service in MacColl's vigorous rendition."
Of Maidment's text, Child notes "He does not tell us where the ballad came from, and no other editor seems to know of it."
Maidment felt that the ballad was "evidently founded on fact", but failed to trace it to any historical event. It's unsurprising if there are inconsistencies in names and so on, and there may not be much mileage in worrying about them. As like as not it is pure fiction, though, as Maidment also observed, the circumstances which gave rise to it were common enough.
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Subject: RE: Eppie Morie: What does it all mean?
From: GUEST, Steve Byrne
Whilst researching this song for the digitisation project of the School of Scottish Studies material, I have come across some key elements to the places and people in the story that may not have been mentioned thus far, certainly doesn't seem so in this thread. Forgive me if I am repeating what's already known elsewhere.
The "Carrie side" given by Child from Maidment, is, as Child suggests himself, possibly Carvie side. The Water of Carvie is a stream which joins the River Don southwest of Strathdon, near Candacraig.
The maid of Scalletter et al, refers to Skellater, the name of a farmstead and house of the Jacobite Forbes' of Skellater, built in 1727, a little further west along the Don. It's just possible that these Forbeses were related somehow to the Forbeses of Edom o Gordon.
Carron could be a local Falkirk interpolation by MacColl or his source(s), given the town and river nearby.Carvie and Skellater are difficult to find on modern maps now.
-----------
Jeff B
I am sure that the line about the "Maid of Scalleter" was mis-heard by Child, and perpetuated by everyone who came after. "In came the Maid of Scalleter/ with a gown and shirt alone" (to render it in standard English) is a poor line in an otherwise splendid piece. Why should we care about the birthplace of the chambermaid? Does it add anything to the story to know that she came from a little farmstead 10 or 20 miles away? Why is it necessary to say she came on her own? Would it matter if a whole chorus-line of maids trooped in? The line is a dud and detracts from the momentum of the narrative.
Scots and border ballads tend to have lyrics which are direct and succinct, with little or nothing in the way of extraneous or even descriptive matter. I believe the line should be :-
"In came the maid to scallet her/ with a gown and shirt of lawn."
"To scallet" is a Lallands verb with the primary meaning of "to divide" and the secondary derivative sense of "to comb hair". The maid came in, possibly alone, but certainly with a shirt "of lawn", which is fine linen. So :- The maid came in, bringing with her a gown and shirt of fine linen. She has come to get Eppie ready for the bridal breakfast with her new in-laws.
There is some difficulty as well with the line "If ye had ta'en her maidenhead she would have hired your hand." I beleieve MacColl sang "would have hired your horn", which makes sense. "If you had had sex with her, she would have paid you for the pleasure".
----------------
Malcolm Douglas
In his own transcription, MacColl (Singing Island, 1960, 32) quotes the words as 'hired your hand', not 'hired your horn'; and 'aye she grat', not 'aye she scrat'; so presumably that is what he thought he was singing. The former he apparently got from Maidment, the latter presumably from Samuel Wylie or perhaps William Miller.
That take on 'Scallater' / 'scallet her' is interesting. The word isn't one I've come across in the usual Scots dictionaries. Where do you know it from? When you say 'Lallans', do you mean the Lowland dialect or the literary construct drawn from wider sources? Although Maidment identifies no source for his text, Aberdeenshire seems likely enough; though MacColl's oral sources (and we don't know whether either or both of them had that verse) were both rather further south, in Stirlingshire. If there is a mis-hearing involved, then it was Maidment's, or his unknown source's, and dates to before Child was born
--------------
In 1953 Alan Lomax got two verses from Jimmy MacBeath.
Haud awa frae me Willie, haud awa frae me
An before ah'll loss ma maidenhead, ah'll try ma strength wi thee, wi thee
Ah'll try ma strength wi thee
He kissed her on the shoulder's blade an held her shoulders twa
An aye she grat an aye she spat an turnt tae the wa, the wa
An turnt tae the wa
The tune is similar to MacColl's but differs particularly in the last line.
Jimmy might have got it from MacColl's singing. I'm not the only one who laments that Lomax seemed disinterested and did not follow it up, but maybe he already knew Jimmy did not have more.
The recording is on Two Gentlemen of the Road, Rounder 82161-1793-2.
-----------
Translation: It occurs to me that we keep translating single terms here only. Lemme give you my full guess, in plodding detail rather than elegance, and other folk can correct me.
> EPPIE MORRIE
> Four-and-twenty Hielan' men
> Cam' frae the Carron side
> To steal awa' Eppie Morrie
> For she wadna be a bride, a bride, She wadna be a bride.
Twenty-four Highland men came from the Carran side (mountain? riverbank? This comes up other ballads such as Gil Morrice) to steal away EM because she refused to be a bride.
> Then oot it's cam' her mither then,
> It was a moonlicht nicht,
> She couldnae see her dochter
> For tbe water shine sae bricht,
Then her mother came out, (but) because it was a moonlit night, she couldn't see her daughter because the water shone so brightly.
> Haud awa' frae me, mither,
> Haud awa' frae me!
> There's no' a man in' Strathdon
> Shall wedded be with me,
Stay back from me, mother, stay back from me. There's not a man in Strathdon who shall be wedded with me. (= I won't marry any of them.)
> They've taken Eppie Morrie, then,
> And a horse they've bound her on,
> And they hae rid to the minister's hoose
> As fast as horse could gang,
Then they took EM and tied her to a horse, and rode to the minister's house as fast as a horse can go.
> Then Willie's ta'en his pistol oot
> And set it to the minister's breist,
> O marry me, marry me, minister,
> Or else I'll be your priest,
Then Willie took out his pistol and set it against the minister's chest, (saying) "Marry me (to her), minister, or else I'll be your priest (=bury you = kill you).
> Haud awa' frae me, Willie,
> Haud awa' frae me,
> I daurna avow to marry you
> Except she's willin' as thee,
(The minister says): Hold away from me (leave me alone), Willie, hold away from me. I dare not promise to marry > you unless she is as willing as you are.
> Haud awa' frae me, good sir,
> Haud awa' frae me,
> There's no' a man in a' Strathdon
> Shall married be by me,
(EM says to minister) Leave me alone, good sir, leave me alone. I'm not going to marry any man in all Strathdon.
> They've taken Eppie Morrie then,
> Sin' better couldna' be,
> And they hae rid o'er Carron side
> As fast as horse could flee,
Then they took EM and rode back (home) over Carran side as fast as a horse could flee, because they couldn't do any better (=they couldn't force the marriage, so rape would have to do...)
> The mass was sung and bells were rung
> And they'r awa' to bed,
> And Willie and Eppie Morrie,
> In ane bed they were laid,
Mass was sung and bells were rung (=evening, or a form of marriage?) and they went to bed together, and Willie and ER were laid in one bed.
> He's ta'en the sark frae aff his back
> And kicked awa his shoon
> And thrawn awa the chaulmer key,
> And naked he lay doon,
He took the shirt off his back and kicked away his shoes, and threw away the chamber key and laid down naked.
> "Haud awa frae me, Willie,
> Haud awa' frae me,
> Before I lose my maidenheid
> I'll try my strength wi' thee,
Leave me alone, Willie, leave me alone. Before I lose my maidenhead, I'll test my strength against yours.
> He's kissed her on the lily breist
> And held her shouthers twa
> But aye she grat and aye she spat
> And turned tae the wa',
He kissed her on the lily(-white) breast, and held her two shoulders, but she kept yelling, and kept spitting, and turned to the wall (a more defensible position...)
> "Haud awa frae me, Willie,
> Haud awa' frae me,
> Before I lose my maidenheid
> I'll fecht wi' you till day,
Leave me alone, Willie. Before I lose my maidenhead, I'll fight with you until day.
> A' through the nicht they warssled there
> Until the licht o' day,
> And Willie grat and Willie swat
> But he couldna' streitch her spey,
All through the night they wrestled there, until daylight, and even though Willie yelled and sweated (worked hard), he couldn't stretch her hymen.
> Then, early in the morning
> Before the licht o' day
> In came the maid o' Scallater
> Wi' a goun and shirt alane,
Then early in the morning before daylight, the maid of Scallater(?) came in alone with a gown and shirt.
> Get up, get up, young woman
> And drink the wine wi' me,
> You nicht hae ca'd me "maiden",
> For I'm sure as hale as thee,
(The maid says) "Get up, young woman, and drink the wine with me. (EM says) "You called me a maiden last night, because I'm certainly as whole as you are." (EM's saying, "Don't call me a "woman" now; I'm still a virgin!")
> Weary fa' you, Willie, then,
> That ye couldna' prove a man,
> Ye micht hae ta'en her maidenheid,
> She would hae hired your hand.
(The maid says) "Goddamn you, Willie, for not proving yourself to be a man. You could have taken her maidenhead, and then she would have ?paid to marry you?.
> "Haud awa' frae me, lady,
> Haud awa' frae me!
> There's no' a man in a' Strathdon
> Shall wedded be with me,
(EM says) "Leave me alone, lady, I'm not gonna marry any man in all of Strathdon."
> Then in there came young Breadalbane
> Wi' a pistol on each side,
> O, come awa', Eppie Morrie,
And I'll mak' you my bride,
(Abrupt rescue scene; is it borrowed from another ballad?) Then young Breadalbane came in with a pistol on each side, saying "Come away, EM, and I'll make you my bride."
> Gae (go) get to me a horse, Willie,
> Get it like a man,
> And send me back to my mither
> A maiden as I cam',
(EM to her kidnapper) Go get me a horse, Willie; get it like a man, and send me back to my mother as virginal as I was when I came here.
> The sun shines ower the westlin hills
> By the lamplicht o' the moon,
> Saddle your horse, young John Forsythe,
> Just whistle and I'll come soon
(Another disjoint piece, probably from another song. Here presumably EM to her rescuer) "The sun's shining in the west (and will set soon) by the moon's lamplight. Saddle your horse, young John Forsythe. When you whistle, I'll come to you soon."
I'll have to rummage around in the DB for those two interpolated verses, but it looks to me like in the core of the song, EM refuses to marry anyone, fights off her kidnapper, and demands a ride home in the morning. With the two verses that don't fit into the rest, she turns out to be saving herself for a different man, who rescues her and she goes with him willingly.
If it isn't clear WHY I think those verses are added: the rest of the song has clear, linear action and consistent names, and transitions like "So since the minister turned 'em down, they went back home." None of the other pieces are disjointed or unexplained.
And then suddenly there's a man with two different names who comes (unheralded from nowhere) to rescue her, after she already fought off her attacker. Ignoring her rescuer, she demands from her ATTACKER a ride home to her mother, and then tells her boyfriend to whistle at night and she'll come out to him (which suggests a willingness to put aside her well-defended virginity pretty casually). Meanwhile, even though it's just before dawn, she goes all poetic about the setting sun. I'm not convinced.
And all of this in a song that emphasises her virginity and her unwillingness to marry any man in the area, INSTEAD of "I won't marry you; I'm already betrothed to Breadalbane!" or "I love John better!"
Ewan MacColl sang the song on the old Riverside label on the Child ballad series, then the whole series was reissued on the Washington label. It is noted there that MacColl's learned a version from his father and added verses from Samuel Wylie of Falkirk and from Child's text (that from James Maidment's North Countrie Garland).
I can't recall where I saw it, but I once read that MacColl's tune was the only traditional tune to ever have been turned up, so however someone else sings it has to do with art, not folksong. MacColl's is the only text with A traditional Tune.
EPPIE MORRIE
Four-and-twenty Hielan' men
Cam' frae the Carron side
To steal awa' Epple Morrle
For she wadna be a bride, a bride,
She wadna be a bride.
Then oot it's cam' her mither then,
It was a moonlicht nicht,
She couldnae see her dochter (daughter)
For tbe water shine sae bricht, sae bricht
The water shine sae bricht.
Haud awa' frae me, mither, (hold)
Haud awa' frae me!
There's no' a man in' Strathdon
Shall wedded be with me, with me,
Shall wedded be with me.
They've taken Eppie Morrie, tben,
And a horse they've bound her on,
And they hae rid to the minister's hoose
As fast as horse could gang, could gang,
As fast as horse could gang.
Then Willie's ta'en his pistol oot (taken)
And set it to the minister's breist,
O marry me, marry me, minister,
Or else I'll be your priest, your priest
Or else I'll be your priest.
Haud awa' frae me, Willie,
Haud awa' frae me,
I daurna avow to marry you
Except she's willin' as thee, as thee,
Except she's willin' as thee.
Haud awa' frae me, good sir,
Haud awa' frae me,
There's no' a man in a' Strathdon
Shall married be by me, by me,
Shall married be by me.
They've taken Eppie Morrie then,
Sin' better couldna' be,
And they hae rid o'er Carron side
As fast as horse could flee, could flee,
As fast as horse could flee.
The mass was sung and bells were rung
And they'r awa' to bed,
And Willie and Eppie Morrie,
In ane bed they were laid, were laid
In ane bed they were laid.
He's ta'en the sark frae aff his back ("sark" = "shirt?")
And kicked awa his shoon (shoes)
And thrawn awa the chaulmer (chamber?) key,
And naked he lay doon, lay doon (down)
And naked he lay doon.
"Haud awa frae me, Willie,
Haud awa' frae me,
Before I lose my maidenheid
I'll try my strength wi' thee, wi' thee.
I'll try my strength wi' thee:"
He's kissed her on the lily breist
And held her shouthers twa (2)
But aye she grat (fought him off?) and aye she spat
And turned tae the wa', the wa', (wall)
And turned tae the wa'.
"Haud awa frae me, Willie,
Haud awa' frae me,
Before I lose my maidenheid
I'll fecht (fight) wi' you till day, till day
I'll fecht wi' you till day.
A' through the nicht they warssled (wrestled) there
Until the licht o' day,
And Willie grat and Willie swat (sweated)
But he couldna' streitch her spey, her spey (maidenhead/hymen?)
He couldna' streitch her spey
Then, early in the morning
Before the licht o' day
In came the maid o' Scallater
Wi' a goun and shirt alane, alane (gown & shirt)
Wi' a goun and shirt alane
Get up, get up, young woman
And drink the wine wi' me,
You nicht hae ca'd (called) me "maiden",
For I'm sure as hale (whole) as thee, as thee,
For I'm sure as hale as thee.
Weary fa' you, Willie, then, (don't know :-) )
That ye couldna' prove a man,
Ye micht hae ta'en (taken) her maidenheid,
She wuuld hae hired (don't know :-) )your hand, your hand,
She would hae hired your hand.
"Haud awa' frae me, lady,
Haud awa' frae me!
There's no' a man in a' Strathdon
Shall wedded be with me, with me,
Shall wedded be with me.
Then in there came young Breadalbane
Wi' a pistol on each side,
O, come awa', Eppie Morrie,
And I'll mak' you my bride, my bride,
And l'll mak' you my bride.
Gae (go) get to me a horse, Willie,
Get it like a man,
And send me back to my mither
A maiden as I cam', I cam'
O a maiden as I cam'.
The sun shines ower the westlin hills (westward)
By the lamplicht o' the moon,
O --- saddle your horse, young John Forsythe,
Just whistle and I'll come soon, come soon,
Just whistle snd I'll come soon.
from Blood & Roses vol.3 MacColl & Seeger