Recordings & Info 48. Young Andrew
[There are no tradtional US or Canadian versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection
4) Wiki
5) Mainly Norfolk
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 6740: Young Andrew (6 listings)
Alternative Titles
Death of Young Andrew
Traditional Ballad Index: Young Andrew [Child 48]
DESCRIPTION: Andrew woos a lady. He bids her to steal her father's money for their wedding. She brings the money; he takes her clothes and sends her home naked. Her father refuses to let her in without the gold; she dies. (Her brothers hunt Andrew down.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1750 (Percy ms.)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Andrew woos a lady. They have sex. He bids her to steal her father's money for their wedding. She brings the money; he takes her clothes for his own lady and sends her home naked. Her father refuses to let her in without the gold; she dies. (Her brothers hunt Andrew down, break his bones, and leave him to be eaten alive by a wolf.)
KEYWORDS: courting theft family abandonment infidelity greed hardheartedness sex betrayal manhunt revenge death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 48, "Young Andrew" (1 text)
OBB 59, "Young Andrew" (1 text)
Roud #6740
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" [Child 9] (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Death of Young Andrew
NOTES: Child refers to similar ballads in Poland. - PJS
Child Collection
048 Andrew King Young Andrew The Bitter Harvest 1998 11:25 Yes
048 Martin Carthy Death of Young Andrew Because It's There 1979 8:36 Yes
048 Phil Cooper & Margaret Nelson The Death of Young Andrew Across the Water 1991 6:25 Yes
048 Prydwyn The Death of Young Andrew At the Feet of Mary Mooncoin 1995 8:25 Yes
Young Andrew: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Young Andrew" is Child ballad 48.[1]
Synopsis
Andrew seduces Helen and tells her he will fulfill his promise to marry her only if she brings him her father's gold. She does. He robs her not only of it but all her clothing. She goes home, naked. Her father is furious. Her heart breaks, killing her, and her father regrets it. Meanwhile, Andrew encountered a wolf in the woods, and it killed him; the gold still lies by his body.
Variants
This ballad contains motifs from both "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight" (Child 4) and "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" (Child 9).[2]
This tale is found in German, Polish, and Danish variants.[3]
References
1.^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Young Andrew"
2.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 432, Dover Publications, New York 1965
3.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 432, Dover Publications, New York 1965
Mainly Norfolk: Death of Young Andrew
[Roud 6740; Child 48; Ballad Index C048; trad.]
Martin Carthy sang Death of Young Andrew on his 1979 album Because It's There. He commented in the record's sleeve notes:
(…) The exceptions are Long John, Old John and Jackie North which is a reworking of Long Johnny Mor, full of swash and buckle, and the Death of Young Andrew, a reworking of a severely holed set of words, and both songs are to be found in F.J. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
Lyrics
One night as I lay on my bed
A dreadful draught of sleep I drew
For I dreamed as all the trees turned brown
That I saw the death of young Andrew
For the moon shone bright and it give good light
Welcome she rise my honey my sweet
For seven long years you have been gone
I thought chance was we'd never more meet
And he's ta'en her all in his arms
And there they kissed both cheek and chin
And they loved sweet and they loved long
Before that one was two again
And O my love and sweet my love
And dear my love if you love me
Go fetch me some of your father's gold
The time has come that we was away
Now she's run down to her father's hall
For well she knew where his good gold lay
So swiftly she's returned again
She's counted it out all down by his knee
For he's ta'en her by the lily-white hand
And he's led her up the hill so high
But oh the smiles they fell from his mouth
As dark and grim there grew his eye
Take off take off your velvet gown
Deliver it here over to me
For I've a love in a far far land
That I love far far more than thee
Take off take off your silken robe
Deliver it here over to me
For I've a love in a far far land
And I've been too long gone from she
But O my love and sweet my love
And love Andrew that lay with me
You loved me sweet and you loved me long
So why do you now love betray
But he's drawn out his good long sword
And he's placed it twixt her nose and her chin
Cries You may die on the point of this
Or you may run naked home again
And oh the bitter tears down fall
As down her clothes fell at his feet
And her body lately so deep in love
A hiding place from shame did seek
And there she's stood at her father's door
She's naked as the day she's born
Oh rise rise and let me in
For the night winds whip me to the bone
But up and spoke her own father
All where he lay in his high bedroom
Oh that thief and whore is at my door
Let no-one rise and let her in
But when he's waked in the bright morning
And all the birds began to sing
He's spied his daughter lying dead
She's dead and cold as any stone
And oh the bitter tears down fall
And seven sons stood all around
Crying Why's our sister lying dead
And why did you not let her in
And they have sworn a solemn oath
And they have sworn by earth and sky
That they would take this young Andrew
That he would wish for the day he'd die
And up they rose these seven brothers
And they chased him deep into Wales
There they caught him by such a wile
That now he must tell no more such tales
For there he stood this young Andrew
Like any fox they ringed him round
Crying We've not come for our father
But for the sister you done down
Two of them they broke his legs
And two of them broke his collar bone
And two of them broke his two arms
They leaned him back all against a stone
And up and rose the eldest one
Saying See the pity we show thee
For you ne'er shed our sister's blood
So we'll not do that unto thee
And they took up their father's gold
And they laid it out in young Andrew's sight
Saying, Guard this well ye young Andrew
Defend it well from the wolves tonight
And they have left this young Andrew
As naked as the day he's born
Saying Men will strip you to the skin
But the wolves will strip you to the bone