US & Canada Versions: 226. Lizie Lindsay
[Albert H. Tolman and Mary O. Eddy list The Blaeberry Courtship as a version of Lizie Lindsay. Coffin says The Blaeberry Courtship is derived from Lizie Lindsay. For now I'm listing The Blaeberry Courtship, which should properly be an appendix, with versions of Lizie Lindsay.
As pointed out by Barry in 1929 (BBM) the versions from North America do not tell the story of the ballad and are a secondary tradition.. This tradition, as pointed out by Coffin/Flanders (Ancient Ballads), centers on the opening lines of The Blaeberry Courtship (The Quest of the Ballad by William Roy Mackenzie; 1919),
"Will ye gang to the Highlands, my jewel, wi' me?
Will ye gang to the Highlands my flock for to see?
which is also found in most of the Child ballad versions and nearly all of the US/Canada versions. The Blaeberry Courtship is a re-write of the basic story as told by Coffin/Flanders:
A girl whose noble suitor, disguised as a shepherd, requests that she "go to the Highlands" with him. Lizie is most reluctant, for she knows nothing of the man or his home. Her maid, however, is much impressed by the lover and wishes she were in a position to take his offer. Lizie finally gives in, dresses up, and leaves upon her arrival at her new home, she is quite homesick and regretful, but it is not long before she learns her lover is rich and she has indeed married well.
The secondary ballad is rare in North America with 6 extant versions --all found in my collection. The rewrite of the ballad, The Blaeberry Courtships is also very rare-- with three version collected in Maritime Canada and one in the US.
Although no record of the ballad has been reported from Pennsylvania, in American Notes and Queries, Volume 1 by Henry Collins Walsh (1888) he says: "Hundreds of Scotchmen in Philadelphia have heard this song in Caledonian Hall on Pine street, as well as the song (not the ballad) 'Lizie Lindsay.' "
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
CONTENTS: (Individual ballads on left hand column- click to open, or, click the highlighted blue title below)
1) The Blaeberry Courtship- Macdonald (NS) 1919
2) New Yealand- Hayes (AR) 1920 Randolph
3) The Blaeberry Courtship- McAllister (IL) 1922 Eddy
4) Leezie Lindsay- McGill (NB) 1927 Barry
5) Leezie Lindsay- McClure (WV) 1928 Cox II
6) The Blaeberry Courtship- Henderson (NS) pre1928
7) The Blaeberry Courtship- Sutherland (NS) pre1928
8) Leezie Lindsay- Jardine (IN) 1935 Brewster
9) Lizzie Lindsay- Kilbride (MA) 1953 Olney/Flanders
10) Leezie Lindsay- Hendon (OK) pre1964 Moore
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American Notes and Queries, Volume 1 by Henry Collins Walsh 1888
In relation to the note on "The Lord of Burleigh" (A. N. and Q., p. 112) I may mention that in addition to the Scottish pieces cited, there are also the well-known ballad "Lizie Lindsay " (Black's Book of Scottish Ballads, p. 49) and the beautiful and popular dialogue song "Huntingtower." Hundreds of Scotchmen in Philadelphia have heard this song in Caledonian Hall on Pine street, as well as the song (not the ballad) "Lizie Lindsay."
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Notes from Flanders; Ancient Ballads III, 1963:
Lizie Lindsay
(Child 226)
The story of Lizie Lindsay is the story of a girl whose noble suitor, disguised as a shepherd, requests that she "go to the Highlands" with him. Lizie is most reluctant, for she knows nothing of the man or his home. Her maid, however, is much impressed by the lover and wishes she were in a position to take his offer. Lizie finally gives in, dresses up, and leaves upon her arrival at her new home, she is quite homesick and regretful, but it is not long before she learns her lover is rich and she has indeed married well.
The tradition of this ballad in America is muddled by the fact that a derivative song, "The Blaeberry Courtship" (Laws N19), has borrowed stanzas from it and given stanzas to it and by the fact that it has become a storyless lyric in most areas. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 297-300, discusses the problems associated with Child 226 quite thoroughly in connection with a New Brunswick text that is almost exactly like the Massachusetts one below. He comes to the conclusion that his text contains material from both the Child ballad and from the derivative. However, the Child version may not be completely free from the influence of "The Blaeberry Courtship" either.
Coffin, 135-136, gives an American bibliography and a summary of the problems associated with Child 226. See also Greig and Keith, 164 (Scottish). There are a few references to "The Blaeberry courtship" in Coffin, 135 (American), and in Dean-smith, 53 (English), but the best bibliography (Anglo-American) is in Laws, ABBB, 212.
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Missing Versions:
Leezie Lindsay "Aurora advertiser" Missouri May 22, 1941. Should be on microfilm. Coffin didn't look at it since he mentioned no details. It may or may not be traditonal- since Coffin listed the version- it should be traditional.]
Tennessee folk songs by George W. Boswell - 1950 [Not found in Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee]
Jennifer Armstrong's recording: I learned it from my parents, George and Gerry Armstrong and I'm sorry but I don't remember who they learned it from. They loved singing "Lord Ronald MacDonald"! [George and Gerry Armstrong could have got their version from England or here in the US- not telling the source.]
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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
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
Texts: Advertiser (Aurora, Mo.), 5-22, 1941, 2 / Barry, Brit Blds Me, 297/ Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 135 / Cox, Trd Bld W Va, 36 / Randolph, Os F-S, I, 164.
Local Titles: Leezie Lindsay, New Yealand.
Story Types: A: There are a few extremely abbreviated versions of the Child story in America. A man asks a girl to go to the highlands with him. She refuses, for she knows neither him nor his home. However, the girl's maid wishes she were in a position to accept the man's offer. The girl then dresses up und leaves with her suitor. Upon their arrival at his home, she is
shown the land into which she has married. The real story seems forgotten.
Examples: Brewster, Randolph.
B: A little lyric request of a lover, in which he asks a girl "to go to the highlands", exists as a song. She refuses.
Examples: Barry.
Discussion: A derivative of Lizie Lindsay is to be found in this country. But, because of the fragmentary nature of some of the texts, it is difficult to be certain just how much of the traditional song is and has been in America. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 298 9 discusses this point in some detail in connection with his northern fragments. It seems certain that a few stanzas of the traditional ballad have come over in the derivative form of the song, and the incomplete Indiana, West Virginia, and Arkansas texts appear to be genuine.
In the Child B version we are told how a young nobleman goes to get a wife in Edinburgh under the disguise of being a shepherd. The girl selected is reluctant to leave home and go with a poor stranger, but is persuaded to do so by her maid. She goes and is homesick, but learns the next day on getting up to milk the kye that she has married a rich man.
The Blaeberry Courtship, the song derived from Lizie Lindsay, exists in a number of American versions. See JAFL, XXXV, 345 from Illinois and MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 69 from Nova Scotia. This story tells of an educated and disguised Highlander who convinces a lowland girl to go with him against her parents' advice and who makes her a great lady. The "milk
cows" refrain allies it closely to Child 226.
The New Brunswick text, which may be influenced by both the tradition of the Child ballad and the derivative song, has lost the story and retains only a four-stanza request "to go to the highlands". The Arkansas version consists of a single stanza of request and a second stanza concerning the departure which is somewhat similar to Child C, Stanza 12. Nor can the Indiana fragment be allied directly to any Child version, although it resembles Child, IV, 524 in the first stanza and the name of the hero, Donald MacDonald. The West Virginia text is quite similar to this one.