US & Canada Versions: 218. The False Lover Won Back
[The single known US version of The False Lover Won Back was first published in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 34, No. 134 (Oct. - Dec., 1921), pp. 395-397. It was subsequetly published by Belden (1940) and Golden Book, IX, p. 50.
R. Matteson 2013]
CONTENTS: (see text below)
The True Lover- Moore (MO) pre1921 Belden/JOAFL
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A Missouri Variant of "The False Lover Won Back"
by John Robert Moore
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 34, No. 134 (Oct. - Dec., 1921), pp. 395-397
A MISSOURI VARIANT OF "THE FALSE LOVER WON BACK." - No traditional example of the ballad of "The False Lover won Back" (Child, No. 218) seems as yet to have found its way into print from American sources.
Recently I have secured a variant of the Buchan version (Child's collection, No. 218, A) from the Ozark region of Missouri. The text was communicated in writing by Miss Gladys Moore, who learned the ballad in childhood from the singing of her grandmother, an Englishwoman from northern Cumberland, who was then resident in Galena, Mo. For assistance in obtaining this ballad, and several song-stories of the "vulgar ballad" type which I have secured from the same community, I wish to thank Miss Lillian Scott, a student in Washington University.
A comparison of the text with that of Buchan will show the accurate recollection of the proper names "young John" and "sweet Berwick town." Important differences are the systematic suppression of four stanzas (6, 8, 10, and 12); the simplifying of some archaic language, as "bower-door" to "front door;" the anglicizing of the Scottish dialect; and the confusion of certain terms as a result of inaccurate memory or imperfect understanding, as "fast tripping" to "fast stripping."
The two stanzas (4 and 5) which have been pointed out (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 4: 209-210) as belonging probably to another story survive here very much as in Buchan's collection.
For the sake of a more ready comparison, the four stanzas of the Buchan version not found in the present text are here inserted in brackets in the corresponding positions: -
The True Lover.
I. A fair maid sat in her front door
Wringing her lily hands.
And by it came a sprightly youth
Fast stripping o'er the sands.
2. "Where go you, young John," she says,
So early in the day?
It makes me think by your fast trip
Your journey's far away."
3. He turned about with an awful look,
And said, "What's that to you?
I'm going to see a lovely maid
More fairer far than you."
4. "Now, have you played me thus false
In summer amid the flowers,
I will repay you back again
In winter amid the showers.
5. " But never fear, dear love, for me,
You may come back again;
For if you look at other girls,
I'll look at other men."
6. [" Make your choice of whom you please,
For I my choice will have;
I've chosen a maid more fair than thee,
I never will deceive."]
7. But she took up her clothing fair,
And after him went she.
But all he said was, "Go back again!
No farther go with me!"
8. [" But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will ye never love me again?
Alas, for loving you sae well,
And you nae me again! "]
9. The first town that they came to,
He bought her a blazing ring;
And then he said, "Go back again,
And go no more with me! "
10. [" But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will ye never love me again?
Alas, for loving you sae well,
And you nae me again! "]
11. The next town that they came to,
He bought a muff and gloves,
And told her to go back again
And find some other love.
12. [" But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will ye never love me again?
Alas, for loving you sae well,
And you nae me again! "]
13. The next town that they came to,
His heart it grew more warm,
And he was deep in love with her,
And she was over again.
14. The next town that they came to,
He bought her a wedding-gown,
And made her lady of his own bowers
In sweet Berwick town.
JOHN ROBERT MOORE.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY,
St. Louis, Mo.
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Coffin, 1950 Edition:
218. THE FALSE LOVER WON BACK
Texts: Belden, Mo F-S, 78 / Golden Book, IX, 50 / JAFL, XXXIV, 395.
Local Titles: The True Lover.
Story Types: A: A girl watches her lover pass her door and asks him where he is going. He replies that he is on his way to woo a girl lovelier than she. She is philosophical about his fickleness, but warns him that she will turn to other men. Then she follows him, and at each town he buys her a present and tells her to go home. She persists, and finally he buys her a wedding gown.
Examples: Belden.
Discussion: This ballad is not easy to find in America. The Missouri text is like Child A. However, John Moore (JAFL, XXXIV, 396) points out that the Missouri version suppresses three stanzas in which the girl persistently asks her lover if he will not be fond of her again and one stanza in which he says she can turn to other men if she wishes but he will be true to his new love. These four stanzas all appear in Child 218 A.