US & Canada Versions: 233. Andrew Lammie
[The only verses collected in North America are the Nova Scotia fragment, which was taken from two informants and resembles the Child C text. The three verses found below are the only verses Mackenzie could find of a ballad he says was once current among the Scotch people in Nova Scotia.
R. Matteson 2013]
CONTENTS:
Andrew Lammie- (Anderson & Sullivan) pre1928 (NS) Mackenzie
1. In Mill o' Tiftie there lived a man,
In the neighborhood of Fyvie,
He had an only daughter fair,
And her name was bonny Annie.
2. Her father beat her wonderous sore,
With heavy strokes a many.
He mother did her daily scorn,
But woe be to her brother.
3. O mother dear make my bed,
And make it soft and bonny.
My true love died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow.
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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
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
Texts: MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc y 60.
Local Titles: None given.
Story Typts: A: A fragmentary story of a girl whose father beats her, and whose mother and brother scorn and mistrust her. Her love died for her today; she will die for him tomorrow.
Examples : MacKenzie.
Discussion: This Nova Scotia fragment, which was received in two parts from two singers, is closest to the Child C text. The story, as told there, is of a rich miller's daughter who falls in love with a trumpeter in the service of Lord Fyvie. She wants to marry him, but finds the match scorned by her father. When the trumpeter has to go to Edinburgh for a time, the girl Annie,
knowing she will die before he returns, plans a tryst with him at a bridge. (In Scotland, lovers who part at a bridge shall never meet again.) He says he will buy her a wedding gown while away, and they are to marry on his return. But she bids him farewell forever. The trumpeter goes to the top of the castle and blows a blast that is heard in the girl's home. Her parents beat her, and her brother breaks her back. Lord Fyvie passes and tries to convince the miller to change his mind, but to no avail. The father insists on a better match. The girl is put to bed where she dies of a broken heart. The father laments, and Andrew, on his return, dies of grief. However, in the New World fragment we have an example of a cliche ("make my bed") overriding the story to the extent that the lover is said to have died before his true love.