Recordings & Info 63. Child Waters
[In the attached article, The Motif of Young Waters (Modern Language Notes, Vol. 20, No. 4; Apr., 1905, pp. 115-116), William Wistar Comfort argues that Young (Child) Waters has a similar motif as the Voyage de Charlemagne, a point not taken or noticed by F. J. Child.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Folk Index
4) Child Collection Index
5) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 43: Child Waters (45 Listings)
2) The Motif of Young Waters
Alternative Titles
Fair Margaret
Lord William and Lady Margaret
Burd Ellen
Traditional Ballad Index: Child Waters [Child 63]
DESCRIPTION: Ellen tells Child Waters she bears his child. Offered two shires of land, she would prefer one kiss. He rides; she runs, swims; as his page, she brings a lady for his bed, gives birth in the stable. He hears her wish him well and herself dead; he relents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: courting pregnancy love disguise childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Child 63, "Child Waters" (11 texts, 1 tune)
Bronson 63, "Child Waters" (3 versions)
GordonBrown/Rieuwerts, pp. 142-151, "Burd Ellen/Lord John and Bird Ellen" (2 parallel texts)
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 58-65, "Child Waters" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1229, "Fair Ellen" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 76-81, "Child Waters" (1 text, titled "Earl Walter," from the 1818 "Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Randolph 13, "The Little Page Boy" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune, which Randolph places here though it also has lines from the "Cospatrick" version of "Gil Brenton" and which is so short it might go with something else) {Bronson's #3}
BrownII 17, "Child Waters" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 201-205, "Child Waters" (1 text)
OBB 46, "Childe Waters" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 122, "Child Waters" (1 text)
PBB 47, "Child Waters" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 241-246+354-355, "Child Waters" (1 text)
DBuchan 10, "Child Waters" (1 text)
TBB 4, "Child Waters" (1 text)
DT 63, CHDWATER
Roud #43
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Fair Margaret
Lord William and Lady Margaret
Burd Ellen
Folk Index: Child Waters [Ch 63]
At - Lord William and Lady Margaret
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p122
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p201
Cameron, Isla. Best of Isla Cameron, Prestige International INT 13042, LP (1950s), trk# A.05 (Little Page Boy)
Carlisle, Irene. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 89/# 13 [1942/04/25] (Little Page Boy)
Cook, Judy. Far from the Lowlands, Cook CEI-JC02-0005, CD (2000), trk# 18
Seeger, Peggy. Blood and Roses, Vol. 1, Blackthorne ESB 79, LP (1979ca), trk# A.04
Child Collection Ballad 063: Child Waters
Child --Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
063 Alex Robb Fair Ellen (1) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
063 Alex Robb Fair Ellen (2) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
063 Det Syng! Liten Kirsten Som Stalldreng Ballader På Vandring 1996 2:39 Yes
063 Elizabeth Robb Fair Ellen (1) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
063 Elizabeth Robb Fair Ellen (2) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
063 Ewan MacColl Fair Ellen The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Child Ballads) - Vol. 3 1964 5:59 Yes
063 Frankie Armstrong Child Waters 'Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn - A Collection of Traditional Ballads 1996 11:17 Yes
063 Gordeanna McCulloch Lord William and Lady Margaret Folk Songs of North East Scotland - Songs from the Greig Duncan Collection 1995 4:28 Yes
063 Judy Cook Child Waters Far from the Lowlands 2000 4:28 Yes
063 Katherine Campbell Fair Margaret The Songs of Amelia and Jane Harris - Scots Songs and Ballads from Perthshire Tradition 2004 8:23 Yes
063 Peggy Seeger Child Waters Blood and Roses - Vol. 1 1979 6:50 Yes
063 Phønix Liden Ingeborg Pigen & Drengen (The Girl and the Boy) 2002 5:13 Yes
063 The Gaugers Fair Ellen No More Forever 2001 4:22 Yes
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
63. CHILD WATERS
Texts: Brown Coll / Randolph, Oz F-S I, 89.
Local Titles: Fair Ellen, The Little Page Boy.
Story 7ypes: A: (As given to Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 89 from Fayetteville, Ark.) A young man deserts a poor girl to court a rich. lady. The girl disguises herself as a page and accompanies him to the castle. She cares for his horse and even rides behind him unrecognized. Eventually her sex becomes known through pregnancy. She gives birth to a son in a stable, and the lover, hearing this, comes to her and decides to marry her.
Examples: Randolph.
Discussion: The American version gives a more practical reason for the lover's cruelty than those implied in Child, and the disguised identity of the girl makes the story slightly different. This latter change may well be due to American chivalry.