The Dowie Dens of Yarrow- Fraser (ON) 1962 Fowke
[This version is one of two versions from Edith Fowke's article British Ballads in Ontario, Midwest Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 133-162. I've left the title supplied by Fowke but it should be a more appropriate title, "The Dewy Dells Of Yarrow."
The informant was born in 1910 and learned part of her version from the MacDonalds (see Fowke 1961) and notes below. Its hard to give much credence to this version because Fraser used printed material (see notes below).
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
From: British Ballads in Ontario; Edith Fowke
TEXT 5: THE DOWIE DENS OF YARROW
Sung by Mrs. A. Fraser, Lancastor, Ontario, 1962.
1. Late at e'en drinking wine
And e'er they paid the lauring
They set a combat them between
To fight it in the dawning.
2. "What tho' ye be my sister's lord,
We'll cross our swords tomorrow,"
"What tho' my wife your sister be,
I'll meet you then on Yarrow."
3. When he gae'd up the Tennies bank
As he gae'd many a morrow,
Nine armed men lay in a den
On the dewy banks of Yarrow.
4. "If ye attack me nine to one
That God may send ye sorrow,
Yet will I fight while stand I may
On the bonny banks of Yarrow."
5. Two has he hurt and three has slain
On the bloody braes o' Yarrow,
But a stubborn knight crept in behind
And pierced his body through.
6. "Go home, go home, ye false young man,
Go tell your sister sorrow,
She's bidden come take up her lord
On the dewy dells of Yarrow."
7. "I dreamt a dream last night," she says,
"I wish it be not sorrow,
I dreamt I pu'd the heather green
Wi' my true love on Yarrow."
8. "I'll read your dream, sister," he said,
"I'll read it into sorrow,
You're bidden go take up your love,
He's sleeping sound on Yarrow."
9. She's torn the ribbons from her hair
That were both broad and narrow,
She's kilted up her long clothing
And she's away to Yarrow.
10. She kissed his cheek, she combed his hair
As oft she'd done before 0,
And there with grief her heart did break
On the dewy dells o' Yarrow.
11. "O father, father, make my bed,
And make it long and narrow,
For the one who died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow."
12. "O hold your tongue," her father said,
"And put aside your sorrow.
I'll wed ye to a better lord
Than the one who died on Yarrow."
13. "O hold your tongue, father," she cried
"For worse you make my sorrow,
A better lord could never be
Than the one I lost on Yarrow."
Notes: While still current in Scottish tradition, "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow" is rare in North America. Coffin lists only three texts, one of which is a variation on the Child Q-S series; one from the William Hamilton poem, and one a detached fragment (pp. 129-131). The Ontario texts are closer to the Child versions than any of these.
The second version, from Mrs. Fraser, is puzzling. Mrs. Fraser told me she had learned it from Mr. MacDonald, who is her brother-in- law, but there is obviously too much difference for this to be so. When I questioned her further, she said that she might have seen a printed text, but could not remember where or when. If her memory of Mr. MacDonald's singing was supplemented by reference to a printed text, she seems to have melded the two into a new form. The text she saw must have been from Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (iii, pp. 182-6), for the "Tennies' bank" phrase was Scott's own, and her first stanza corresponds to his, as well as such lines as "On the bonny banks of Yarrow," "On the bloody braes o' Yarrow," and "Wi' my true love on Yarrow." However, much of her version cannot be accounted for by reference to either Scott's or Mr. MacDonald's version. As a whole it has more in common with either Child F to I (stanzas 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 14 correspond roughly to F, and stanzas 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, and 14 to I). I have found nothing resembling her second stanza elsewhere. Unless more thorough checking turns up a printed version closer to Mrs. Fraser's text, I can think of only two explanations: at some time she may have heard another oral version which she confused with Mr. MacDonald's, or she herself reshaped the ballad considerably.