The Maid of Coldingham- (Glenbuchat) c.1818
The Maid of Coldingham, a version of The Maid and the Palmer, is from Glenbuchat manuscripts, dated as c. 1818. The ballad first appeared in print in 1994 in Emily Lyle's Scottish Ballads. It's also found on pages 89-90 in David Buchan and James Moreira's The Glenbuchat Ballads, University Press of Mississippi, 2007. It originally appeared in volume 2 of the Glenbuchat folios. These manuscripts were written out, probably around 1818, by Rev. Robert Scott of the parish of Glenbuchat. Scott does not say if he got the song directly from oral tradition (from a singer or reciter), but the editors make a good case that he probably got most of the songs that way. Scott provided no tunes. This is considered one of the most important ballad manuscript collections that Child did not have access to when compiling the Child Ballads.
The ballad singer seems to have been inconsistent on whether to sing "maid" or "maiden," and Scott inconsistent on whether the contraction for "ye are" should be "ye're" or "yere."
Glenbuchat MSS Vol II:5, pp 17-18; Corrections:
Stanzas numbered and left aligned.
3[1]: Of my scored out at beginning of the line.
5[3]: frae or fare scored out, were inserted above.
8[1]: well poss. changed from wall.
10[1]: craw written above a deleted word, poss. crow.
David Buchan and James Moreira, eds., The Glenbuchat Ballads. University Press of Mississippi in association with the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. 2007, pp 89-90. The editors note that the refrain suggests a relationship with the fragment that Sir Walter Scott sent to C K Sharpe (Child 21B)
The Maid of Coldingham- Rev. Robert Scott of the parish of Glenbuchat; circa 1818
The May's to the well to wash and to wring
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
An' ay so sweetly did she sing
I am the fair maid of Coldingham
O by there cam' an eldren man
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
O gie me a drink o' your cauld stream
An' ye be the fair maiden of Coldingham
My golden cup is down the strand
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
Of my cold water you shall drink nane
Tho' I be the fair maiden of Coldingham
O fair may bethink ye again
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
Gie a drink o' cauld water to an auld man
If ye be the fair maid of Coldingham
O she sware by the sun and the moon
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
That all her cups were flown to Rome
Yet she was the fair maid of Coldingham
O seven bairns hae ye born
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
An' as many lives hae ye forlorn
An' ye're nae the fair maiden of Coldingham
There's three o' them in your bower floor
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
It gars ye fear when you wouldna fear
An ye're nae the fair maiden of Coldingham
There's ane o' them in yon well stripe
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
And twa o' them in the garden dyke
An' yere nae the fair maiden of Coldingham
There's ane o' them in your bed feet
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
It gars ye wake when ye should sleep
An' yere nae the fair maid of Coldingham
Ye'll be seven lang years a stane in a cairn
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
An' seven years ye'll go wi' bairn
An ye're nae the fair maiden of Coldingham
Ye'll be seven years a sacran bell
The primrose o' the wood wants a name
An' ither seven the cook in hell
An ye're nae the fair maiden of Coldingham