US & Canada Versions: 53. Young Beichan (Lord Bateman) (Turkish Lady)
[Currently there are about 135 versions from North America in this collection (see Contents below). US & Canada local titles similar to Child's title "Young Beichan" include "Young Beeham" (Cox), "Young Behan" (Harmon) or "Young Beham" (Hicks). Some versions of this ballad are named after the heroine and are titled, "The Turkish Lady" (as is the Appendix, a ballad with a similar theme). "Lord Bateman" sometimes "Batesman" or "Bakeman" is the most common local title.
Certainly print versions as found in Harris Collection (Boston c.1790) Coverly broadside (Boston, c. 1810), the Forget-Me-Not Songsters of the 1840s (see image below), Wehman's Universal Songster and others are partially responsible for the dissemination of this ballad. Cf. Davis C, Wynkoop (VA) 1914, Flanders A-J, Mackenzie A and B.
One early print version, usually titled "Lord Bakeman," begins:
In India lived a noble Lord,
His riches were beyond compare,
This is the opening of the 26 stanza print version titled "The Coverly broadside" (Barry JAFL & BBM) which was printed in Boston as early as 1810 (a similar text, Barry C- BBM, is dated 1790). It has been found primarily in New England and Maritime Canada (see also Tink Tillett's version from Roanoke Island, NC - 1924). The Coverly broadside is not found in Child's ballads A-N and it may be assumed to be a distinct version taken or arranged at some point from tradition. Clearly it has been learned and copied (Creighton F) after being printed.
Another influential print version appearing in print in North America by the 1850s is Child L, "The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman" which was reportedly (Cruikshank) taken from a traditional source (Tripe Skewer) and further arranged and edited. It is the same text (in Cockney dialect) as the popular broadside "Lord Bateman" printed in Britain as early as 1815 and begins, "Lord Bateman was a noble lord." Child later (in Additions and Corrections) says to replace "The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman" with the broadside. Cf. Flanders K (1859), L and M and the Wehman Universal Songster version. The differences between these two early printed versions (Child L versus the Coverly) are obvious: 1) Child L has "Turkey" or "Turkish" instead of "India"; 2) "castle" instead of "palace"; 3) The heroine in Child L is Sophia and in the Coverly broadside it Susannah Fair (Susannah fair).
Most of the traditional versions collected in the US and Canada do not have "India" in the opening line or "Sophia" or "Susannah fair." Besides being printed in the US in c.1790, the ballad is very old, surely coming over with the first immigrants. An indicator of antiquity is the title with "Young" followed by Behan/Beechan/Began. In the older traditional versions the heroine is invariably named a variant of "Susan Pye." An early traditional Virginia version that migrated to the mountains is the Hicks/Harmon version titled "Susan Price" (Brown E, Aunt Betty Hicks and her daughter Nora Hicks), "Young Behan" (Sam Harmon, Mellinger Henry, 1928), "Lord Behan" (Jane Hicks Gentry from Sharp's MS), "Young Beham" (Rena Hicks; from Burton , Some Ballad Folks) and "Young Beeham" (Roby Monroe Hicks, on Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, The Warner Collection, Volume I; his wife Buna learned it from Roby and sang it- See Burton). How old is this version?
The Hicks family settled into the Tuckahoe Creek region (now Goochland County, Virginia) in the 1600s and Samuel Hicks (b. 1695) and members of his clan moved to North Carolina around 1760. By 1770 Samuel's son, David, received a land grant and with his son "Big Sammy," moved into Valle Cruses (Beech Mountain, NC) area, then called Tennessee. Big Sammy's grandson Council Harmon became a recipient of the family ballads and tales and his grandson Sam Harmon (Goulder's son who moved to across the border to Tennessee) gave the ballad to his daughter and Mellinger Henry collected it in 1928. The same ballad was taken from "Aunt Betty" Hicks and her daughter Nora Hicks by Emily Walker circa 1939 and is part of the Brown Collection (version E). Nora (b. 1886) Hicks got many of her ballads from her grandmother Fanny Hicks (1837-1914) who was Big Sammy's granddaughter on the father's side. Roby Monroe Hicks (son of Samuel and Rebecca) sang the ballad for Frank Warner in 1940. A fuller version of Roby Monroe's ballad was collected from his wife Buna in 1966 (see her text which she learned from him). Nathan Hicks was the son of Benjamin Hicks and Roby Monroe's brother. Nathan's wife Rena sang the Hicks ballad and I'm sure Nathan knew it. One of the regions best ballad singers, Jane Hicks Gentry, sang part of the ballad to Cecil Sharp (MS 3309) in 1916-- unfortunately he only got the first lines. And so, this family ballad was collected from five different family members by five different collectors and the ballad is essentially the same. The Hicks family, like "Young Beehan," came from a distant land far across the sea; they came when the land was shared by Indians (Roby Monroe even spoke some Cherokee dialect) and entered a place isolated by the mountains where they passed down the old ballads to their children. This ballad has remained in the Appalachians for hundreds of years.
One characteristic of the older traditional version is that when Lord Bateman/Young Beichan was thrown in prison, he was tortured. The torture technique, where the hole is bored in the shoulder and a wooden rod (a tree) is attached by a rope or pins so that he can pull carts like an oxen, is found in some US versions (See Hicks/Harmon version also Cf: Sharp A, D, Davis B, E). According to Child in ESPB Volume 2, 1886:
He becomes the slave of a Moor or Turk, A, B, D, E, I, L, N, or a "Prudent," F, who treats him cruelly. They bore his shoulders and put in a "tree," and make him draw carts, like horse or ox, A, B, D, [E], H; draw plough and harrow, F, plough and cart, N; or tread the wine-press, I.
Child L, the popular broadside, also has a tree growing in the prison but Bateman's shoulders are not "bored." He is chained to the tree in prison. It appears the meaning of this tree was not understood by the informant (Tripe Skewer) and broadside writer or the version was corrupt or missing details. It was also not understood by Buna Hicks in 1966 when interviewed by Thomas Burton. Perhaps Child N; Susan Py, or Young Bichen's Garland (printed by T. Johnston, 1815), is easiest to understand:
3 In every shoulder they put a pin,
To every pin they put a tree;
They made him draw the plow and cart,
Like horse and oxen in his country.
Here's more from the Brown Collection editors:
"There are certain interesting variations among these many texts. Kittredge, in the note above referred to, remarks that some of the American texts differ from the broadsides in retaining a detail of the Turks' barbarous cruelty: a hole is bored in Beichan's shoulder by means of which he is harnessed and becomes a draft-animal. Thus in Child A:
For thro his shoulder he put a bore.
An thro the bore has pitten a tree,
An he's gard him draw the carts o wine.
Where horse and oxen had wont to be.
Similarly in B D E H I N. The word "tree" here means "draught-tree," the pole of a wagon or cart by which it is attached to the draft animal. "Tree" in this sense was apparently not an acceptable locution, was not understood in America; Henry's Tennessee text and our version E change it to "key," two of the West Virginia texts and the only text in TBV that retains this feature change the word to "rope" and the other West Virginia text to "string." Other American texts that keep the word change the meaning; the "tree" is now that to which the captive is tied (chained, nailed, bound, fastened, sometimes around his middle), giving a quite different picture. So BBM D, TBV E, SharpK A E, JAFL xxviii 150, XXX 295, and our A version."
The transformation of the "draught-tree" into an actual tree, I believe, is one of faulty oral transmission. Certainly you wouldn't imagine a tree growing in a prison, and definitely not in a prison cell.
Some older US versions can be identified through their relative English counterparts by lines found in Child versions A-N. For example, Child B stanza 22 ends: "Now I'll send her hame in chariots three." Any US version that has "chariots three" instead of "coaches three" would be related to Child B. Some US versions end with "two marriages in a day" lines as found in Child H.
There are many details that can be compared. It's important to note that these details (chariots three- two marriages in a day) and others are not found in the two influential broadsides.
The first verse of the ballad was featured in the play Rosendale; or, The Rifle Ball (1863), a play by Lester Wallack [Wallack's Theatre, 125 performances] with incidental music. It was remembered (Flanders R) from an informant from a later run (c. 1886) of the play in Boston and collected in 1931 in Vermont. This single verse is the same as the broadside print versions (Child L, published first in England in 1815) found in various publications such as 'The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman" (1838).
Some of the published US/Canada collections are extensive, but none greater than Flanders (Ancient Ballads, 1966) who has versions A-X (24 versions) and 69 pages of texts and music. Cecil Sharp, who reported transcribing 19 versions in England has version A-L in the 1932 edition of English Folk Songs from the Appalachians. Bronson who perused Sharp's MS, found ten more versions-- bringing Sharp's total in the US (from 1916 to 1918) to 22 versions transcribed. Kyle Davis Jr. for the Virginia Folklore Society published a dozen versions: A-I in 1929 (Traditional Ballads of Virginia) and AA-CC in 1960 (More Traditional Ballads).
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Lord Bakeman from The Forget Me Not Songster 1840s New York
Woodcut based on an illustration by George Cruikshank, 1839 (see below)
CONTENTS: (Individual versions can viewed by clicking on the highlighted title below or on the version attached to this page on the left hand column)
1) Lord Bacon- Perkins (MA) c.1788 Barry MS -- Tune only, no lyrics from Whittier Perkins MS dated c. 1788. Barry copied it in his MS. Lord Bacon appeared in "A Collection of Dancing Tunes, Marches, & Song Tunes" now in possession of Mrs. Austin Holden, Boston, Mass.
2) Lord Bakeman- Harris broadside (RI) c.1790 Barry C -- No stanza divisions. From: British Ballads from Maine, 1929, version C. Barry gives the date as "around 1790" and is "perhaps an old Providence Rhode Island production" although clearly it was sold in Boston. Imprinted: "Sold wholesale and retail on Cross Street, near Mercantile Wharf, Boston."
3) Lord Bakeman- Coverly broadside (MA) 1810 -- Stanza divisions given by Barry. Barry gives the date as "not before 1810" (BBM, 1929). From: Traditional Ballads in New England II by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jul. - Sep., 1905), pp. 191-21.
4) Lord Bateman- Grindle (ME) pre1842 Barry E -- From British Ballads from Maine; Barry Eckstorm, Smyth; 1929, p. 119. Dr. Robert L. Grindle was born July 9, 1842 in Surry, Me. and died in 1930 in Somesville, Mount Desert, Me. He was married to Flora A. Milliken in 1868. Since this is his grandmother's version, this would date back to around the late 1700s assuming his grandmother learned this when she was a girl.
5) Lord Bakeman- The Forget-Me-Not Songster c.1845 -- The text of Lord Bakeman given by Belden (The Ballad of Lord Bakeman from 1904 issue of Modern Philology) was reprinted from The Forget-Me-Not Songster c. 1845.
6) Lord Bateman- Ward (VA) c.1854 Davis A -- From Traditional Ballad of Virginia; Kyle Davis Jr.; 1929. Reported by Miss Edith M. Payne. Collected by Miss Grace Ward. Sung by her grandmother, Mrs. L. G. Davis, as sung by her mother about sixty year ago, Princess Anne County. January 20, 1914.
7) Lord Bateman- Stanley (ME) c.1854 Barry B
Lord Bateman- Simpson (AR) c.1857 Randolph B
Lord Bateman- (NY) 1859 Uncle Frank's; Flanders K
Lord Bayham- Waterman (IN) pre-1860s Pound
Lord Bateman- Carr (ME-MA) c.1868 Barry A
Lord Bakeman- Doten (VT) c.1871 Flanders B
Lord Bateman- (VT) c.1875 Broadside; Flanders N
Susan Price- Hicks (NC) c.1878 Brown E; Walker REC
Lord Bateman- Copley (WV) c.1880 Cox A
Lord Bakeman- Young (VT) c.1880 Flanders A
Lord Bateman & the Fair Sophia- (NY) 1882 Wehman
Lord Bakeman- Bailey (VT) c.1886 Flanders R
Lord Bakeman- Davis (VT) pre1890 Flanders F
Young Beeham- Roby Hicks (NC) c1892 Warner REC
Lord Batesman- Hembree (Ark.) c.1899 Randolph E
Lord Bateman- Mulcahy (IR-VT) pre1900 Flanders U
Lord Beham- Simpkins? (NC) c.1900 Brown A
Sukey Fry- old lady (NE) pre1901 Eggleston
Lord Bateman- Rogers (NS) pre1902 Mackenzie B
Lord Bateman- Ballard (VT) pre1905 Flanders W
The Turkish Lady- Pettit (KY) pre-1907 Kittredge
Lord Bateman- Leach (MA) 1907 Barry MS
The Turkish Lady- Hylton (KY) pre-1909
Young Beham- Buna Hicks (NC) c1910 Burton
Lord Baseman- Workman (KY) c1910 Lomax REC
Lord Bateman- Hensley (VA) pre1911 Davis CC
Lord Bateman- mountain woman (VA) 1913 Davis F
The Turkish Lady- (NC) 1913 Perrow; Brown B
Lord Bateman- mountain woman (VA) 1914 Davis G
The Turkish Lady- Wynkoop (VA) 1914 Davis C
Lord Bateman- Chandler (NC) pre1915 REC
Lord Batesman- Adkins (WV) 1916 Cox B
Lord Bacon- "Granny" Banks (NC) 1916 Sharp A
Lord Bateman- Collected Martin (VA) 1916 Davis E
Lord Batesman- Wyman/Brockway (KY) 1916
Lord Batesman- Rice (NC) 1916 Sharp C
They Bored a Hole- Rice (NC) 1916 Sharp D
Lord Batesman- Sands (NC) 1916 Sharp E
Lord Beehan- Jane Hicks Gentry (NC) 1916 Sharp MS
Lord Bateman- Smith (WV) 1917 Cox C
A Gentleman from the Courts- Ray (TN) 1917 Sharp F
Lord Bateman- Smith/Patrick (KY) 1917 Sharp G
In London Lived- Williams (TN) 1917 Sharp H
A Gentleman- Carter (KY) 1917 Sharp J
Lord Baker- Jones (KY) 1917 Sharp I; Sharp MS
In England Lived- Creech (KY) 1917 Sharp L
Lord Bateman- schoolgirl (NC) 1917 Brown C; Sutton
A Gentleman of the Courts- Bagley (KY) 1917 Sharp
Young Bateman- Clapp (NY) 1917 Sharp MS
He Sailed East- Price (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
Lord Bateman- Stamper (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
I Sailed East- girls at Hindman (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
Lord Bateman- Vaughan (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
He Sailed East- Kilburn (KY) 1917 Sharp MS
She Wears a Gold Ring- Blackett (VA) 1918 Sharp K
The Turkish Lady- Leake (VA) 1918 Davis I
Lord Bateman- Huffman (VA) 1920 Davis B
Lord Bateman- Brown (NC) c.1920 Brown D; Sutton
Lord Bateman- Rich (VT) c.1920 Flanders L
The Turkish Lady- Hart (VA) 1921 Davis H
Young Beham- Rena Hicks (NC) c1921 Burton
A Turkish Lady- Dennis (KY) 1922 Cox
Lord Bateman- Pritt (VA) 1924 Davis D
Lord Bateman- Tillett (NC) 1924 Chappell
Lord Bateman- Graham (SC) 1924 Reed Smith
Turkish Lady- (AP) 1924 James Watt Raine
Lord Wetram- Hewitt (WV) 1924 Cox
Turkish Lady- Sutherland (KY) 1925 Cox
Lord Bateman- Evans (Mo.) 1927 Randolph A
Lord Bateman- Henneberry (NS) 1928 Creighton C
The Turkish Lady- Kincaid (KY) 1928 Kincaid WLS
Young Behan- Harmon (TN) 1928 Henry A
Lord Bakeman- Harrison (NS) 1928 Mackenzie A
Lord Akeman- Holloway (NL) 1929 Karpeles A
Lord Bateman- Murphy (NL) 1929 Karpeles B
Lord Ateman- White (NL) 1929 Greenleaf
Lord Bateman- Taylor (ME) 1929 Barry D
Lord Bateman- Piercey (NL) 1930 Karpeles C
Lord Bakeman- Kennison (VT) 1930 Flanders H
Lord Bateman- Sprague (VT) 1930; Flanders S
Lord Bacon- Farnham (VT) 1930 Flanders X
Lord Bateman- Townsend (AR-OK) pre1930 Moores
Lord Bakeman- McAlexander (VA) c.1930 Yates REC
The Turkish Lady- (KY) 1931 Jean Thomas
Lord Bateman- Pierce (VT) 1932 Flanders I
Lord Bakeman- Merrill (VT) 1932 Flanders M
Lord Batesman- Bowman (VA) 1932 Davis AA
The Turkish Lady- Morris (VA) 1932 Davis BB
Lord Bakeman- Shepard (VT) 1933 Flanders G
The Turkish Lady- Bagwell (TN) c.1933 Henry B
Lord Bateman- Jackson (KY) 1935 recording Lomax
Lord Bateman- Shiflett (VA) pre1936 Wilkinson A
The Jailer's Daughter- Morris (VA)1936 Scarborough
The Turkish Lady- Ashmore (MS) 1936 Hudson
Lord Bateman- Smith (NS) pre1937 Creighton B
Lord Bateman- Morton (VT) 1937 Flanders J
Lord Bakeman- Graham (CA) 1937 Robertson REC
Lord Batesman- (KY) pre1937 Wheeler/Bridge
Lord Batesman- York (NC) 1937 Brown F REC
Lord Bateman- Floyd (SC) 1939 Recording; Lomax
Lord Bateman- Mace (OH) c.1939 Eddy
Lord Bateman- Coville (NH) c.1939; Flanders O
Lloyd Bateman- Sullivan (CA) 1940 recording Todd
Lord Bateman- Baker (KY) c.1940s Niles
Lord Bateman- Lena Bourne Fish (NH) 1940 Warner
Lord Bateman- Hough (VT) 1940 Flanders V
A Gentleman of the Courts of England- (Ark.) 1941
They Bored a Hole- Perriman (Mo.) 1941 Randolph C
Lord Bateman- Short (Mo.) 1941 Randolph D
Lord Bateman- Walker (ME) 1942 Flanders C
Lord Bateman- Mobley (KY) 1943 recording Moser
Lord Bateman- Richards (NH) 1943 Flanders E
Lord Darker- Grandey (VT) 1945 Flanders P
Lord Baton- Burke (RI) 1945 Flanders Q
Lord Bateman- Lewis (ME) 1947 Flanders D
Lord Bakeman- Tanner (NS) 1950 Creighton F
Lord Bateman- Hartlan (NS) pre1950 Creighton A
Lord Bateman- Sanford (NS) pre1950 Creighton D
Lord Bateman- Patterson (NS) pre1950 Creighton E
Lord Bateman- Slauterwhite (NS) 1950 Creighton REC
Lord Bakeman- Masters (FL) pre1950 Morris
Lord Bateman- Noseworthy (NL) 1950 Leach A REC
Lord Bateman- Curran (NL) pre1950 Leach B
Lord Bateman- Morry (NL) 1951 Peacock A
Lord Batesman- Couch (KY) 1952 Roberts
Lord Batesman- Henderson (WV) 1953 Musick B
Lord Batesman- Glasscock (WV) 1957 Musick A
Lord Bateman- Adams (VA) 1957 Paul Clayton REC
Lord Bateman- Ritchie Family (KY) 1958 recording
Lord Bateman- Sturgill (KY) 1958 Abrahams
Lord Bateman- Bennett (NL) 1958 Peacock B
Lord Batesman- Gilbert (Ark.) 1959 Wolfe
Lord Baker- Coyle (TN) 1966 Burton/Manning
Lord Bateman- Crites (WV) pre1975 Gainer
Lord Bateman- Harris (NL) 1976 Lehr B
Lord Bateman- Wilson (NL) 1977 Lehr A
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[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow.]
Young Beichan
(Child 53)
This ballad has an extensive Anglo-American tradition and still is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. The American songs all trace back to early broadsides[1] and song books and quite generally refer to the hero as Lord Bateman or Bakeman. These texts vary somewhat in minor detail, but follow the Child L pattern as to plot outline, significant facts, and length. Nevertheless, a good many scholars have devoted a good bit of time to the minor variations of the American versions and more particularly to identifying the printed sources of the ballad in the New World. George L. Kittredge JAF, XXX, 295-97) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" as a means of distinguishing texts closely akin to Child L from those related to the Coverly broadside in the Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 106 f., continues the probings and points out the "hole in the shoulder" stanza is characteristic of the South. There is also a good bit of information along similar lines in Jane Zielonko's Master's thesis, "Some American Variants of Child Ballads" (Columbia University, 1945), 83 f.
The Flanders versions below have been divided according to the findings of these researchers. Texts A-J seem to be similar to the Coverly broadside or to the version printed in the J. S. Locke of Boston Forget-Me-Not Songster (See A particularly) that goes back to an earlier broadside Coverly may have used. K-S are close to the text printed by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. F. Maitland in English Country Songs (London, 1893) and cited by Barry, op. cit., 116. This is a form of the song still known in Britain that evidently found its way into print in New England. In this series (see K-O) the hero's shoulder is not bored through as in many Child texts, but Bateman is tied to a tree[2]. T, it will be noted, contains further modifications and a compression
of the narrative. But, all in all, the Flanders texts are pretty typical of the northern findings for this ballad. Child, I,455 f., discusses the affinities of this song and the legend associated with Gilbert a Becket in the Middle Ages. However, analogous stories are known about Henry of Brunswick, Alexander von Metz, and a host of other heroes in Scandinavian and southern European balladry. A start on a bibliography can be had in Coffin, 63-65 (American); Dean-Smith, 5 (English) ; Greig and Keith, 40-43 (Scottish) ; and the notes in Child. Kittredge's JAF article contains a number of references, not easily available elsewhere, to printed American texts of "Lord Bateman" and its relative "The Turkish Lady." The latter, listed by Laws as O 26 and possibly derived from "Lord Bateman," is also immensely popular in America. Laws, AEBB,238, and Coffin, 65, give a
good many references for it.
The eight tunes for Child 53 are all related, and all correspond to tune group A in BC1. Two subfamilies appear: 1) the Davis, Kennison, Pierce, and Burke tunes, characterized by a triad at the beginning, this group corresponds to BCI group Aa. The other tunes together fit in with BCI group Ab, the Morton tune being relatively divergent from the others, however.
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1. In my opinion, this statement is simply inaccurate, "the American songs all trace back to early broadsides." Consider, for example, the Hick/Harmon version (Susan Price/Young Behan) which was collected from three different family members which they brought from Virginia (circa late 1600s) to the Carolina mountains probably around 1770 and has been passed strictly through oral tradition since then. [R. Matteson 2014]
2. It's likely that the "tied to a tree" reference is, in fact, an abbreviated form of the "hole in the shoulder" texts, where a piece of wood is inserted through the shoulder (see Child A, Brown notes. After all, there aren't many prisoners tied to a tree in a jail cell. [R. Matteson 2014]
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Lord Bateman and the Fair Sophia- Wehman's Universal Songster #7; c. 1882; Henry J. Wehman, publisher; New York. This is a US reprint of Child L; the 1815 broadside (Pitts; Catnach)
Lord Bateman be was a noble lord,
A noble lord of high-degree,
He shipped himself on board a ship,
Some foreign country he would go see.
He sailed East, and he sailed West,
Until he came to proud Turkey,
Where he was taken and put in prison,
Until his life was almost weary.
And in this prison there grew a tree,
It grew so stout and strong.
Where he was chained by the middle,
Until his life was almost gone.
This Turk be bad one only daughter,
The fairest creature my eyes did see,
She stole the key of her father's prison,
And swore Lord Bateman she would set free.
"Have you got houses, have you got lands,
Or does Northumberland belong to thee?
What would you give to the fair young lady,
That out of prison would set you free?" '
"I have got bouses, I have got lands,
And half Northumberland belongs to me,
I'll give it all to the fair young lady,
That out of prison would set me free."
Oh, then she took him to her father's hall,
And gave to him the best of wine,
And every health she drunk unto him,
"I wish Lord Bateman that you were mine."
"Now in seven years I'll make a vow,
And seven years I'll keep it strong.
If you'll wed with no other woman,
I will wed with no other man."
Oh, then she took him to her father's harbor.
And gave to him a ship of fame;
"Farewell, farewell, to you, Lord Bateman,
I'm afraid I ne'er shall see you again."
Now seven long years are gone and past,
And fourteen days well known to thee,
She packed up all her gay clothing,
And swore Lord Bateman she would go see.
But when she came to Lord Bateman's castle,
So boldly she rung the bell,
"Who's there, who's there?" cried the proud porter,
"Who's there, come, unto me tell?"
"Oh, is this Lord Bateman's castle,
Or is his lordship here within?"
"Oh. yes, oh, yes," cried the young porter,
"He's just now taken his new bride in."
"Oh, tell him to seud me a slice of bread,
And a bottle of the best wine,
And not forgetting the fair young lady
Who did release him when close confin'd."
Away, away, went this young proud porter,
Away, away, and away went ho.
Until he came to Lord Bateman's chamber,
Down on his bended knees fell he.
"What news, what news, my proud young porter.
What news bast thou brought unto me?"
"There is the fairest of all young creatures
That e'er my two eyes did see.
"She has got rings on every finger,
And round one of them she's got three,
And as much gay clothing round her middle
As all Northumberland would buy.
"She bid you seud her a slice of bread.
And a bottle of the best wine,
And not forgetting the fair young lady.
Who did release you when close confin'd."
Lord Bateman he then in a passion flew,
And broke his sword in splinters three,
Saying, " I will give all my father's riches
If that Sophia has crossed the sea"
Then up spoke the young bride's mother,
Who never was heard to speak so free,
"You'll not forget my only daughter,
If that Sophia has crossed the sea."
"I own I made a bride of your daughter,
She's neither the better nor worse for me,
She came to me with her horse and saddle,
She may go back in her coach and three."
Lord Bateman prepared another marriage,
With both their hearts so full of glee;
I'll range no more in foreign countries,
Now my Sophia has crossed the sea."
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[Traditional Ballad of Virginia; Notes by Kyle Davis Jr., 1929.]
YOUNG BEICHAN
(Child, No. 53)
In Virginia the ballad is known as "Lord Bateman," "The Turkish Lady," or as "Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady." This would indicate, what is indeecl the case, that the Virgina variants are closely related to Child L, "The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman." The story is well known, Lord Bateman, an Englishman of high degree is discontented and must take a sea voyage. He is captured by the Turks and imprisoned. A lady, daughter of his Turkish captor, sees him in prison and is enamored of him. The attraction is mutual, and after they have vowed that for seven long years neither would wed another, she sets him free and he returns home. At the end of this period, having heard nothing of him, lover, she sets out to find him. Lord Bateman has just brought home his bride but when his Turkish love appears he bids the bride's mother take back her daughter, who is none the worse for him, and forthwith he marries the Turkish lady. The Virginia variants, in the main, follow Child L fairly closely, but often they show traces not found in the Child version, such as the hole bored in the captive's shoulder (see other child versions), the lady's statement that she wants not his gold and silver but only his body, and the naming of India rather than England as the home of the noble lord. There are also certain fairly persistent exclusions, such as the stanza about the tree in the prison (Child L3) and that about the harbor and the ship of fame (Child L 9). But the likenesses are quite sufficient to prove
a common source.
Child says that, " 'Young Beichan,' is a favorite ballad, and most deservedly. There are beautiful repetitions of the story in the ballads of other nations, and it has secondary affinities with the extensive cycle of 'Hind Horn,' the parts of the principal actors in the one being inverted in the other." The story of the ballad he points out, agrees in general outline, and also in some details, with a well-known legend about Gilbert Beket, father of St. Thomas, which legend he recounts at length. but his conclusion is, "That our ballad has been affected by the legend of Gilbert Beket is altogether likely. . . But the ballad is not derived from the legend."
For American texts, see Barry, No. 12; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin,Nos. 2, 3, 5-9, 12; Campbell and Sharp, No. 12 (North Carolina, Kentucky); Cox No.8; Hudson, No. 8 (Mississippi); Journal, XVIII, 209 (Barry, Mass.); XX, 251 (Kittredge, Kentucky); XXVI, 64 (Beatty, Kentucky), 78 (Barry, Pennsylvania, melody only) XXIII, 451 (Barry, Pennsylvania, melody; the Forget-me-not Songster text); XXVI, 353 (Pound, Nebraska, fragment); XXVII, 149, (Perrow, North Carolina); XXX, 294 (Kittredge, Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, all fragments); Mackenzie, p. 115; Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 5, p. 392 (melody); Pound, Syllabus, p. 9 (fragment); Pound Ballads no. 14; Shearin p. 4 (fragment); Shearin and Combs p. 7; Reed Smith No. 3 (text and melody) Reed Smith, No. 3; Wyman and Brockway, p. 54. For additional references, see Journal XXX, 294.
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From: Moore's Ballads and Songs from the Southwest 1964; English and Scottish Ballads
15 Young Beichan
The name "Susan Pye" appears in one of the Young Beichan (Child, No. 53) texts first recorded in Great Britain. It has been changed, invariably, to "Susan Pike," a name found rather frequently in songs of the California gold-rush era. The ballad seems to have a religious motive, of which Child writes (I,457); "This story. . . agrees in general outline . . . with the well-known legend about Gilbert Beket, father of St. Thomas. . . . The legend nevertheless goes back to a date not much later than a century after the death of the saint, being found in a poetical narrative preserved in a manuscript of about 1300. . . . That our ballad has been affected by the legend of Gilbert Beket is altogether likely . . . but the ballad, for all that, is not derived from the legend."
For other references, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, 106-22; Chappell, 18-20; Cox, 36-41 ; Creighton and Senior, 26-34; Davis, 158-71 ; Gardner and Chickering, 143-45; Greenleaf and Mansfield, 17; Hudson, 75-76; Jamieson, II, 1 17-26; Journal, Vol. XVIII, 208 (Barry), Vol. XX, 251 (Kittredge), Vol. XXII,64-78 (Barry), Vol. XXVI,353 (Pound), Vol. XXVIII, 149 (Perrow), and 451 (Barry), Vol. XXX, 294 (Kittredge); Mackenzie, No. 5; Mackenzie, Quest, 115; Morris, 259-62; Randolph, I, 80-88; Scarborough, Song Catcher, 210-13; Sharp, I, 77-88; Thomas,86; and Wyman and Brockway, 58-61.
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Schellings Anniversary Papers; By His Former Pupils- Page 215; 1923 - (Felix Emanuel Schelling)
Seven long years are past and over,
Seven long years and two or three ;
And she packed up her gold and diamonds,
And declared Lord Bateman she would go see.
When she reached Lord Bateman's castle,
She knocked so loud she made it ring
"She's a diamond ring on her little finger,
And on her others two or three,
And she wears more jewels about her neck [1]
Than does your bride and her company.
"She wishes a slice of Lord Bateman's bread,
And a bottle of his wine so strong,
And tells him never to forget that lady
That freed him from his prison strong."
Lord Bateman rose up from the table,
And split it into pieces three,
And said, "Farewell to this land of living,
Since my true love has crossed the sea.
"This day, sir, I married your daughter,
But she is never the worse for me,
She rode here on a ...
1. Gold about her middle.
2.
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LORD BAYHAM- From Pound; American Ballads and Songs
Lord Bayham was a brave young man,
He was as brave as brave could be;
He grew oneasy and discontented
Till he had taken a voyage to sea.
He was blown east, he was blown west,
He was blown to some Turkish shore,
Where the Turks they got him and sorely used him;
He vowed for freedom any more.
They bored a hole through his left shoulder,
And bound him fast unto a tree,
And gave him nothing but bread and water,
Bread and water once a day.
The Turks they had one only daughter,
She was as fair as fair could be;
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And vowed Lord Bayham she would set free.
"0 have you land, or have you living,
Or have you houses, many, free,
That you could give to a Turkish lady
If out of prison she'd set you free?"
"Yes, I have land and I have living,
And I have houses, many free,
I'll give them all to you, pretty creature,
If out of prison you'll set me free."
She led him down to her father's cellar,
And drawed to him the best port wine,
And drank a health; those words did follow,
"Lord Bayham, if you were but mine!"
O now the notes of love were drawn,
And seven years they were to stand;
He was to marry no other woman,
Unless she married some other man.
She led him down to the sea shore,
And sat him sailing on the main.
"Farewell, farewell, my own dear jewel,
When shall I see your fair face again!"
Seven years were gone and past,
And seven weeks and almost three,
She bundled up her silks and rubies,
And vowed Lord Bayham she would see.
And when she got to Lord Bayham's gate,
She knocked so loud she made it ring.
"Who's there? Who's there?" cried the young
proud porter,
"That knocks so loud and won't come in."
"Is this Lord Bayham's land and living?
Or is Lord Bayham himself at home?"
"This is Lord Bayham's land and living.
He has this day fetched a young bride home."
"I've a gold ring on every finger,
And on my middle finger three.
I'll give them all to you, young proud porter,
If you will do one thing for me. . . .
"Go down into your father's cellar,
And draw to me the best port wine,
And drink a health to a prince's daughter,
Who freed you from your prison bound."
He went unto his master dear,
And fell low down upon his knees.
"Rise up, rise up, you young proud porter,
What news have you brought unto me?"
"This seven weeks I kept your gates,
And seven weeks and almost three,
There's the fairest lady stands at your gates
That ever my two eyes did see.
"She has a gold ring on every ringer,
And on the middle finger three;
She has more fine gold around her waist
Than would buy old England, France, and thee."
Lord Bayham rose upon his feet,
And split his table in pieces three, Saying,
"I'll forfeit all my land and Irving
That the Turkish lady has crossed the sea."
Then up bespoke the young bride's mother,
Those words in anger she did say;
"Would you forsake my own dear daughter,
And marry a Turkish lady?"
He says, "Here is your daughter as I got her.
I'm sure she is none the worse of me.
She came to me on a horse and saddle,
I'll send her home in her coach and three."
He took Susan by her little white hands,
And led her down the golden stream,
And changed her name from lovely Susan,
And called her Lord Bayham's queen.
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Cratis Williams 1945; Abrams collection; Recorded on July 5, 1945, Dr. Cratis Williams performs 'Young Beichan.'
http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/bafdcacdcd9c61229151dd18cc1fc4b5.mp3
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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
53. YOUNG BEICHAN
Note: For further references to the large number of printed texts in the tradition of Young Beichan and its derivative The Turkish Lady consult JAFL, XXX, 2967.
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 106 / Berea Quarterly, XVIII, 12, / Brown Coll / Butt Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 68 / Bull V SC# 162, #3 / ChappeU, F-S Rnke Alb, 18 / Cox, F-S South, 36 / Cox, Trd Bid W Fa, 16 / Cox, W. Fa. School Journal and Educator, XLVI, 20 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 158 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 38 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 28 / Edward Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, 137 / Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 204 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 143 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 16 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newjdldy 17 / Harper's Mgz (May, 1915), 903 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 58 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 75 /
Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #8 / Hummel Oz F-S / JAFL, XVHI, 209; XX, 251 ; XXII, 64; XXVI, 3535 XXVIII, 1495 XXX, 294; XLI, 585; XLII, 259 / Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 26 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 16 / MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 115 / Minish Mss. / Morris, F-S Fla, 292 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 33 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 9 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 2 / Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 109 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 80 / Randolph, OzMtFlk, i^\ Elizabeth M. Roberts, The Great Meadow (N.Y., 1930), 645 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 210 / Scott, Sing of Am, 40 / Sewanee Review, XIX, 316 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, # 12 /
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 81 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, jj SFLQ, VIII, 144 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 104 / Thomas, Devil's Ditties, 86 / Va FLS Bull, #3 2, 3, 59, 12 / Wheeler, STy Mt F-S, 89 / Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 58.
Local Titles: A Gentlemen of the Court of England, Lord Ateman, Lord Bateman (Bakeman, Baitsman, Batesman, Behan, etc.), Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady, Lord Bateman's Castle, Lord Wetram, The Jailer's Daughter, The Noble Lord, The Turkish Lady, Young Behan.
Story Types: A: Lord Bateman, an English nobleman, is captured by the Turks while on a sea voyage. Put in prison, he wins the heart of a Turkish maid who sees him there. She frees him, after a mutual pact that neither will marry for seven years is agreed upon. At the end of that time, having no word from her lover, she sets out to find him. In England, Lord Bateman
has just brought home a bride, but when he learns that his true-love has appeared on the scene he sends the bride home again (none the worse for him) and plans a marriage with the Turkish girl.
Examples: Barry (A); Davis (A); Randolph, OzF-S (A).
B : The story is basically the same as that of Type A. However, the girl's father builds her a ship to sail after her lover, Lord Bateman attempts to marry the Turkish girl to his elder and younger brothers when she appears in England, and she continually reminds the Lord of a 90,000 forfeit he must pay if he doesn't marry her.
Examples: Henry (A).
Discussion: Most American versions of this song compare closely with Child L as to length, detail, and story outline. Some of the minor points vary: for example, the mention of the hole bored in the hero's shoulder (see Child H, etc.), the lady's desire for the Lord's body rather than material reward, and a home such as India, etc. for the hero. The miraculous voyage
(Child C, etc.) has been excluded in America, as is generally the case with such matter, and no traces of the supernatural Billy Blin remain.
Kittredge (J4FL, XXX, 295) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" as a means of distinguishing the texts akin to Child L from those of the Coverly broadside (Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Mass,) group. It is possible the Indian home of Beichan comes from this broadside, although Barry (Brit Bids Me, 109) is doubtful. It is also noteworthy that the great majority of the New World texts use a variation of the English Bateman name, rather than the Scottish Beichan.
The name of the hero is subject to a great number of spellings in America: Bacon, Ateman, and Beechman being particularly unusual. The girl, as in Child, always has a singularly un-Turkish name such as Suzanne, Sophia, Honey, Silky, Friar, Susie Free, Susie Pines, Susanna Spicer, etc.
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns (F) prints an interesting American ending that relates how the Turkish girl "was put on the house enrolment, Lord Beechman's landlady", which seems unbelievable in view of the fact that one stanza before he has returned the bride to her mother. The Wyman and Brockway (Lnsme Tunes, 58 and JAFL XXII, 64) Kentucky texts do not include the return of the bride, but in them the Lord swears hell give up all his lands and dwellings for his Turkish love. See also Scott, Sing of Am, 40. The Henry {JAFL, XLII, 259) text finds Behan (note the Scottish name) living in Glasgow and the jilted bride a brown girl. In the Cox, Trd Bids W VCL, Lord Wetram version the length of time is four rather than seven years and the bride's father and not her mother takes the daughter home.
The story has been subject to confusion and corruption in America. Thomas (Devil's Ditties^ 86) prints a text that is obscured as to narrative through the misplacement of a stanza. In addition, there is a large group of derivative songs that go under the name of The Turkish Lady in this country. Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc 9 26 and MacKenzie, Bids Sea. Sgs N Sc, 66 and
Quest Bld y 130 publish examples, while Barry reprints a Forget-me-not Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N. Y., c. 1845) 169 text in JAFL, XXIII, 450. Other illustrative examples of the derivatives of this song can be seen in the Forget-me-not Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia and N. Y.), 248; Marsh's Book of a Thousand Songs for the Million,- 171 ; The Old Forget-me-not Songster (Locke & Dubin, Boston), 171 ; and the Washington Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia andN. Y.), 13 1. The JAFLTtet (XXX, 296 ff.) cited in the note includes the "Lord Bateman" broadsides in the Harvard University Library and some Turkish Lady references. The song also appears in children's book form. See Me Loughlin, N. Y., c. 1877.
Child (I, 455 ff.) discusses the affinities of this song and the Hind Horn romance and the Gilbert a Becket legend. For remarks on the seven-year pact and the traditional common law on presumption of death see Wheeler, Ky Mt F-S, 89, headnote. The version printed here is one of the more complete of the American texts. Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child
Ballads, 83 ff. treats the whole American tradition through an extensive study of selected texts.
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YOUNG BEICHAN (Child, No. 53)
"Young Bakeman" was reprinted by Barry in I905 from a Coverly broadside (Boston, early nineteenth century; JAFL 18 : 209-21). This same version occurs in two American broadsides of the first part of the nineteenth century in the Harvard College Library, - (I) "Sold, wholesale and retail, by L. Deming, No. 62, Hanover Street," Boston;[17] (2) "Printed and sold at No. 26, High Street, Providence," R.I.[18] It is found also in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish [about 1840]), pp. 171-174, from which Belden reprinted it in "Modern Philology," 2: 30I-305.[19] A version in a much more popular tone (resembling Child's L) has been found in oral circulation in this country, and has been several times published: see JAFL 20 : 251-252 (Miss Pettit); 22: 64-65 (Beatty); 26: 353 (Pound: cf. 27 : 59); 28: 149-151 (Perrow); Cox, 46: 20, 22; Wyman and Brockway, "Lonesome Tunes," I : 58- 61 (with music). This version is like the regular English broadside (Child's L) [20]in some points in which both differ from A and B, but cannot (at least in the forms collected by Pound, Perrow, and Cox) be derived from any broadside that I have seen. The test is the boring of the hero's shoulder (as in Child's A, B, D, E, H, I, N), which has disappeared from the broadside version, but is retained in Pound, Perrow, and Cox. Miss Pound's text reads, -
They bored a hole through his left shoulder
And bound him fast unto a tree
And gave him nothing but bread and water.
Bread and water once a day.[21]
Perrow has, -
They bored a hole in his left shoulder
And nailed him down unto a tree
And gave him nothing but bread and water
And bread and water but once a day.[22]
Cox, -
They bored a hole through his left shoulder,
And through the same a rope did tie,
They made him load cold calks of iron,
Till he took sick and like to a died. [23]
The regular broadside text reads (with variations), -
All in the prison there grew a tree,
Oh! there it grew so stout and strong,
Where he was chained by the middle,
Until his life was almost gone. [24]
And this turn re-appears in the version now in oral circulation in England: see Kidson, "Traditional Tunes," pp. 32-36; Broadwood and Fuller Maitland, "English County Songs," pp. 62-63; Sharp and Marson, " Folk Songs from Somerset," No. 65, 3 : 28-31; "Journal of Folk-Song Society," I :240-241; 3 : 192-200; Sharp, "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 6, pp. 17-19. Broadwood and Keynardson's No. 22 ("Sussex Songs," p. 43) is a fragment. For Scotland, see Gavin Greig," Folk-Songs of the North-East," lxxviii (not the broadside).
The Harvard College Library has the following broadsides of "Lord Bateman," all substantially identical in text:-- 25242.2, fol. I44 (Pitts); 25242.4, i, 196 (J. Catnach, = 25242.10.5, fol. 3); same, i, 208 (no imprint); 25242.17, iii, 49 (J. Kendrew, York); same, iii, 143 (Forth, Pocklington); iv, I9 (no imprint); vi, 137 (Bebbington, Manchester, No. 31, = ix, 31); Child Broadsides (H. Such, No. 472); 25242.18, No. 15 (R. Evans, Chester); Child MSS., xxiii, 53 (E. Hodges; [25] Catnach); also an eighteenth-century chapbook, "A Favourite Garland" (25276.43-58, No. 17: Preston, E. Sergent), which contains "Young Beckman" in a text resembling that of the broadsides. Founded on the broadside version is "The grand serio-comic opera of Lord Bateman, and his Sophia. By J. H. S.[26] late J. H. P. (Jas. Rogers, Middle Hill Press, 1863). Further American references are Shearin and Coombs, p. 7; Pound, p. 9; F. C. Brown, p. 9; Virginia Folk-Lore Society, Bulletin, No. 2, P. 4; No. 3, P. 3; No. 5, p. 6; JAFL 22 : 78; 27 :61-62; 28 :200- 202; Cox, 45 : 16o (JAFL 29 :400); "Berea Quarterly," October, 1915 (18: 12). Professor G. L. Hamilton has called my attention to the fragments in Edward Eggleston's "Transit of Civilization" (New York, 1901), pp. 137-138 (cf. p. 119). The ballad was printed as a child's book some forty years ago by McLoughlin Brothers, New York, the famous publishers of picture-books in colors.
"The Turkish Lady" sometimes appears as the title or sub-title of "Young Beichan." There is, however, another ballad (or song) called "The Turkish Lady,"- in a cheap literary style, - which has often been printed, and has obtained some oral currency. It tells substantially the same tale, but briefly, and names no names. Barry has reprinted this "Turkish Lady" (JAFL 23 : 449-451) from "The Forget Me Not Songster" (New York, Nafis & Cornish), pp. 169-I70 (where it immediately precedes "Lord Bakeman"). It occurs also in "The Forget Me Not Songster" (Philadelphia and New York, Turner & Fisher), pp. 248-249, and in the "Washington Songster" (same publishers), pp. 131-132 (Brown University, Harris Collection). "The Turkish Lady" may be found in an eighteenth-century chapbook, "Jockie to the Fair" (etc.), in the Boswell collection, 28, No. 43, and 29, No. 41 (Harvard College Library). It begins,
"You virgins all I pray draw near;" and ends, "By this you see what love can do."
See also the following broadsides in the same library: Child Broadsides, 25242.5.6, No. 3 (Pitts, early riineteenth century); 25242.5.7, p. 82 (early nineteenth century; no imprint); 25242.10.5, fo.. II9 ("The Turkish Rover," a slip; "Swindells,
Printer"); 25242.5.13 F (282) (Devonport, Elias Keys, two editions). There is a copy in Kinloch's MSS., I : 263-266; 5:53-56 ("The Turkish Lady and English Slave"), which Child transcribed in full, but afterwards rejected (Child MSS., xxiii, 53, article 4). Child notes (ibid.) that Kinloch's version is nearly the same as that in Logan, "A Pedlar's Pack," pp. 11-18 (from a garland of 1782), and that there is a text from singing in Christie's "Traditional Ballad Airs," I : 246- 247.[27] For a small fragment (with tune) see "Journal of the Folk- Song Society," I 1:113. Compare Campbell's poem, "The Turkish Lady" (" Poetical Works," 1828, 2: 133-135)
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Lord Bateman- The Best Loved Poems of the American People - Page 233; Hazel Felleman 1936. [See also Barry D]
He sailed East, and he sailed west,
Until he came up to Sentipee,
Where he was taken and bound in irons,
Until his life was quite wearee.
And in this prison there grew a tree,
And there it grew so stout and strong,
They took and chained him round his middle,
Until his life was nearly gone.
Now this Turk he had an only daughter,
As fair as any two eyes did see,
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And said Lord Bateman she would go see.
Lord Bateman, have you got houses and lands,
And doth Northumberland belong to thee?
What will you give to the fair young lady
Who out of prison sets you free?
Oh yes, I have houses and lands,
And half Northumberland belongs to me,
I'll give it all up to the fair young lady,
Who out of prison sets me free.
7. Then she took him to her father's cellar,
And gave to him the very best wine,
And every health she drank unto him,
Seh said, "Lord Bateman, I wish you were mine."
Then they a vow for seven long years,
For seven years they would keep strong,
That he would marry no other woman,
And she would marry no other man.
Then she took him to her father's harbour
And gave to him a ship of fame,
"Farewell farewell, farewell Lord Bateman,
I fear I ne'er shall see you again!"
When seven long years had passed and gone,
And fourteen days well known to me,
She packed up all her gay gold clothing,
And said Lord Bateman she would go see'
And when she reached Lord Batemants castle,
She boldly then did ring the belL
"Who's there, who's there?" cries the proud young porter,
"Who's there, who's there? come quickly tell."
12 "And what is this? Lord Bateman's castle?
And is his lordship here within?"
tto yes, O yes !" cried the proud young porter,
'ille's just taking his fair bride in."
"Go bid him send me a slice of bread,
And eke a bottle of his very best wine,
And not forget the fair young lady
Who did release him from close confine."
And away and away sped this proud young porter,
And away and away, and away flew he,
Until he reached Lord Bateman's chamber,
He then fell down on his bended knee.
"What news, what news can you tell to me?"
"O, there is one of the finest ladies
That ever my two eyes did see!"
"She has diamond rings on every finger,
And on one she has got three,
And enough gay gold about her clothing
That would buy all Northumberlee!
"She bids you send her a slice of bread,
And a bottle of your very best wine,
And not forget the fair young lady
Who did release you when in close confine."
Then Lord Bateman he flies in a passion,
And he split his sword in splinters three,
"I'll roam no more in foreign countries,
Now my Sophia's crossed the sea !"
Then up spoke the young bride's mother,
Who'd never been known to speak so free,
"You'll not forget my only daughter
If a Sophia's crossed the sea."
"I'll own I've made your daughter a bride,
But she's none the better or the worse for me,
She came to me on a, horse and saddle,
She may go back in her coach and three!"
Then Lord Bateman fixed another wedding,
And with his heart so full of glee,
He roamed no more in foreign countries,
Now his Sophia's crossed the sea.
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Longman's Magazine, Volume 45
edited by Charles James Longman
The wisdom of the proof-reader is sometimes ill-inspired! In an article published in Harper's Magazine for November, I wrote something about Queen Mary, and Joseph Riccio, and a secret between them. The date was June 1566. To my horror, in the printed article, David appeared, not Joseph. It seems that the proof-reader 'queried' Joseph, of whom he had never heard, and someone having authority substituted ' David.' But the authority was not historical authority, for David died, in painful circumstances familiar to all, on March 9. He could not be receiving mysterious diamonds and a secret mission from the Queen in June; it was one of- the blunders that I do not make.
The University of Chicago does 'make culture hum.' Her University Press has a right to be proud of Dr. Howard's History of Matrimonial Institutions; here is learning of a broad and disinterested kind. More popular is an article in the University's Modem Philology (October 1904) in which Mr. Belden publishes a great find. In an imperfect American chapbook of songs and ballads, probably about 1840, he has found the American version of The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman. The ballad is as old as the hills; the curious may find the learning about it in my ValeSs Tragedy, with a few additions to what Professor Child wrote on the subject in his great ballad collection. Bateman, we know, in our street version, is a lord of the North Countrie. Asked by the Turk's daughter whether he owns the whole earldom of Northumberland, he candidly admits that he possesses 'half Northumberlee." But the American version, most erroneously, begins:
'In India lived a noble lord.'
Bakeman may thus have been viceroy, or may have held some other distinguished official position. The Turk's daughter (who, in our version, is curious as to the extent of Bateman's real property) says:
'All that I want to make me happy
And all that I crave is your fair body,'
To be sure she says this after Bakeman has satisfied her that he has a competence. She does not 'make a wow and keep it strong,' but ' a bargain,' which is less poetical than a ' vow.' After seven years she looks for her Bakeman in an Indian city, where she finds his 'palace.' On hearing of her arrival, Bakeman, who has just brought home a bride 'broke the table in pieces three.' In our version he breaks his sword in flinders three, which we think more mediaeval and appropriate. Why he thus destroyed the faithful companion of his glory is not ascertained. The old commentator suggests that he was not superior to the superstitions of his age (that of the crusaders), and that he did it 'for luck.' In place of the moving lines, so rich in knowledge of feminine nature,
'Then up and spoke the bride's mother
That never before had spoke so free,'
the American rhapsode has:
'Then up spoke his new bride's mother,
And she was a lady of high degree,
"'Tis you have married my only daughter."'
Here our version ends,
'If so be Sophia has crossed the sea,'
a circumstance interesting, nay, touching, but not of a nature to invalidate a marriage which has just been solemnised by the Church. Our version, though Mr. Belden, misled by patriotism, thinks otherwise, is certainly the more worthy and dignified. In both versions Bakeman, or Bateman, sends the new bride home ' in a coach and three,' and, conscious of possessing wealth enough to remove the scruples of the Church (Romce omnia venalia), 'ordersanothermarriage.' In the American version the religious difficulty is vaguely hinted at. The Oriental lady's name is given as Susannah, not a Turkish name, but our version tells us that it was ' Sophia'; in the Scots ballad it is 'Susie Pye." The old commentator thinks that Sophia is derived from the mosque of St. Sophia, the lady's father having professed the Mohammedan religion. There are difficulties in this hypothesis, and a learned lady critic wishes, for ' Sophia,' to read 'Zobeide,' to which emendation I incline. In any case, the Oriental lady is an Islamite; that is the religious objection. Moved by love, or by the arguments of Bakeman (who was deeply versed in the controversies between the two creeds), Zobeide renounced the Arabian prophet.
'He took this fair lady by the hand,
And, led her over the marble stones,
He changed her name from Susannah fair,
And she now is the wife of Lord Bakeman.'
Mr. Belden plausibly suggests that ' the marble stones' represents 'the baptismal font of Child's A.E.—i.e., the baptismal font. The English broadside has lost every trace of this element of the story, and is by so much further removed than the American version from the primitive ballad.' But in the Scots version Bateman's ancestral mansion is
'Among the stately steps of stone,'
which suggests the possibility of another interpretation. In any case, while substituting India for Northumberland, the American version lends itself to the Indian theories of Benfey and Cosquin, by an undeniable departure from the English 'Northumberlee.' The style of the stanza last quoted is either very primitive or very degraded, the latter for choice
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BBM 1929
We have two other texts of this unusual form of "Lord Bateman," each consisting of twenty-five quatrains, or one less than the Coverly broadside, the loss coming in a reduplicated slanza at the close, represented in the B-text by the line we have inserted above. One of these texts was sent in by Mrs. Annie V. Marston, and is certainly traditional. The other one, sent in by Justin DeCoster, is just as certainly
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Child comments: In a Canadian version, 'Entre Paris et Saint-Denis,' Gagnon, p. 303, the deserted woman is a king's daughter, and the new love,
Elle fait neiger, ell' fait grêler,
Elle fait Ie vent qui vente.
Elle fait reluire le soleil
A minuit dans sa chambre.
Ell' fait pousser le romarin
Sur le bord de la manche.
She is snow, she is hail,
She is the wind blowing.
She makes the sun shine
At midnight in his room.
She grows rosemary
On the edge of her sleeve. [Mt transcription- haha]
----------------
Missing Versions:
Balis Ritchie, "Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady" (assume this is the Ritchie family version 1959)
Harold and Abe. Sweet Sunny South, Heritage (Galax) 043, LP (1984), trk# 12 (Susan Pines) Abe Horton of Fancy Gap, Virginia born in 1917: " 'Susan Pines' That dar probably goes back to the 1600's at least. My dad knowed it. 'Little Darlin' seldom heard, but I've knowed it for years. Learnt it from Hazel Webb Delp. She's about 74 or 75 now. '
Pitt, Everett. Up Agin the Mountain, Marimac 9200, Cas (1987/1944), trk# 8 [1946/01/06] (Lord Beekman)
Everett Pitt Lord Beekman Up Agin the Mountain - Traditional Ballads and Songs from the Eastern Ramapos 1987 No
E.H. Napier Lord Batesman The Library of Congress
J.E. Mainer & Morris Herbert Turkish Lady The Legendary J.E. Mainer - Vol. 15 - with Morris Herbert 1971 2:52 Yes
Joan O'Bryant Lord Batesman Folksongs and Ballads of Kansas 1957
Marion Stoggill Young Beichan The Library of Congress
Munroe Gevedon Lord Batesman The Library of Congress
Peggy Seeger The Turkish Rover [American] The Long Harvest, Vol. 8 - Some Traditional Ballads in Their English, Scots and North American Variants 1968 3:59 Yes
Elizabeth M. Roberts, The Great Meadow (N.Y., 1930)?
LORD BATEMAN
Source Morris: Southern Folklore Quarterly 8 (1944) pp.144-145
Performer , Mrs. Georgia Civilty Griffin
Place collected USA : Florida : Newberry
Collector Morris, Alton C.
LORD BATEMAN
Source Library of Congress recording 958 B2
Performer Griffin, Mrs. G.A.
Place collected USA : Florida : Newberry
Collector Lomax, John A.
LORD BATESMAN
Source Bush, Folk Songs of Central West Virginia 3 pp.98-103 (version a)
Performer Wilson, Aunt Jenny
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Peach Creek
Collector Bush, Michael E.
Source Bush, Folk Songs of Central West Virginia 3 pp.98-103 (version b)
Performer Miller, Mary C. Skeen
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Kenna
Collector Bush, Michael E.
YOUNG BEHAM
Source Folk-Legacy FSA 22 (`Traditional Music of Beech Mountain 1')
Performer Hicks, Buna
Place collected USA : N. Carolina : Beech Mountain
Collector Paton, Sandy
Roud number 40 | Roud number search
LORD BATEMAN WAS A NOBLE LORD [unavailable]
Source Combs, Folk-Songs of the Southern United States (1967) p.201 item 14(c)
Performer
Place collected USA : Kentucky?
Collector Combs, Josiah H.
LORD BATEMAN WAS A NOBLE LORD
Source Kentucky Folklore Record 6:4 (1960) p.127 item 2
Performer
Place collected USA : Kentucky?
Collector Combs, Josiah H.
LORD BATESMAN
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version g)
Performer Robbins, Mrs. Neely
Place collected USA : Virginia : Wise
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
Roud number 40 | Roud number search
Roud number 40 | Roud number search
TURKISH LADY, A
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version c)
Performer Ison, Mrs. Sarah
Place collected USA : Virginia : Norton
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
TURKISH LADY, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version a)
Performer Hamilton, Mrs. Goldie
Place collected USA : Virginia : Esserville
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
TURKISH LADY, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version b)
Performer Hubbard, Uncle Joe
Place collected USA : Virginia : Esserville
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
TURKISH LADY, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version d)
Performer Hunsucker, Mrs. Menda
Place collected USA : Virginia : Norton
Collector Adams, John Taylor
TURKISH LADY, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1594 (version h)
Performer Wells, Joe
Place collected USA : Virginia : Wise
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
Roud number 40 | Roud number search
LORD BANYAN
Source Library of Congress recording 857 A1
Performer Dusenberry, Mrs. Emma
Place collected USA : Arkansas : Mena
Collector Lomax, John A. / Laurence Powell
LORD BATESMAN
Source Library of Congress recording 1552 B2
Performer Napier, E.H.
Place collected USA : Kentucky : Hazard
Collector Lomax, Alan & Elizabeth
LORD BATESMAN
Source Library of Congress recording 1549 A1
Performer Young, Mrs. Mary
Place collected USA : Kentucky : Hazard
Collector Lomax, Alan & Elizabeth
LORD BATESMAN
Source Library of Congress recording 1556 A1
Performer Gevedon, Munroe
Place collected USA : Kentucky : West Liberty
Collector Lomax, Alan & Elizabeth
YOUNG BEICHAN
Source Library of Congress recording 1724 B
Performer Stoggill, Marion
Place collected USA : Indiana : Elkinsville
Collector Lomax, Alan & Elizabeth
Roud number 40 | Roud number search
LORD BATEMAN
Source Helen Creighton collection (Nova Scotia Archives) AR 5447 / AC 2309 / 2027
Performer Hatt, Nathan
Place collected Canada : Nova Scotia : Middle River
Collector Creighton, Helen
LORD BATESMAN; or, THE TURKISH LADY
Source Song Ballads & Other Songs of the Pine Mountain Settlement School (1923) pp.51-53
Performer
Place collected USA : Kentucky : Pine Mountain
TURKISH LADY, THE
Source Duncan, Ballads & Folk Songs Collected in Northern Hamilton County (1939) pp.37-41
Performer Hughes, Mrs. Rosa
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Flat Top
Collector Duncan, Ruby
YOUNG BEICHAN
Source Anderson: Tennessee Folklore Soc. Bulletin 8:3 (1942) p.68
Performer Russell, Oronona
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Blount County
LORD BATEMAN
Source MacArthur, Country Dance & Song 11/.12 (1981) p.19
Performer Atwood, James / Atwood, Mary
Place collected USA : Vermont : West Dover
Collector MacArthur, Margaret C.
LORD BATEMAN
Source Bobbing Around Songster (c1860?) pp.215-218
LORD BATEMAN
Source Edith Fowke Coll. (FO 22)
Performer Fraser, Mrs. Arlington
Place collected Canada : Ontario : Lancaster
Collector Fowke, Edith
LORD BATEMAN AND THE FAIR SOPHIA
Source Johannsen, The House of Beadle and Adams 3 (1962) p.76
Performer
Place collected USA
Collector
LORD BATEMAN
Source A Collection of the Publications of J. Kendrew of York and Others (BL 1870 c 2) [No.638]
LORD BATEMAN
Source Helen Creighton collection (Nova Scotia Archives) AR 5194 / AC 2287 / 1653
Performer Boutilier, Louis
Place collected Canada : Nova Scotia : Tantallon
Collector Creighton, Helen
--------------
The Humming Bird Songster - 1858
---------------
Hughs, Claude
Title Young Beichan (Child 53)
Lord Bakeman
Lord Bakeman was a noble lord
Published 780727
01/17/1992
Document source Hughs, John Sr.
Gholson, Rachel
4 volume paper index of song recordings held in the MUNFLA Archives. The index was compiled by the Memorial University Folklore Archives; and the digital database created by the Research Centre for Music, Media and Place.
Notes Green Island Brook
Great Northern Penninsula
Memorial University Folklore Archive Song Title Index
Contributor Memorial University of Newfoundland
Description The lord ends up in Turkey where he was chained to a tree. The girl of the house set him free. They drink a promise to each other: not to marry for 7 years 3 months. When the time is near its end she goes to find him. She finds him ready to wed another, but he weds the girl instead.
Mercer: Child 53; Greenleaf 1968:17; Karpelas (sic) 1934:88, 1934a:24, 1971:42, 44, 46 (Lord Akeman, Lord Bakeman); Peacock 1965: 210, 212; Mackenzie: 1963: 16, 19 (Lord Bakeman, Lord Bateman)
-------------------
Collected by Irene Carlisle Mrs. Rachel Henry (Compare to Randolph, who collected it first)
Transcribed by Mary C. Parler Spring Valley, Ark.
Feb. 15, 1951
Reel 91, Item 1
(Child 53, Young Beichan. See Randolph, Ozark Folksong: Vol. 1 pp. 80-88,)
Learned as a girl near Goshen, Arkansas.
Lord Batesman
A gentleman of the courts of England,
A gentleman of high degree,
He grew on earth and discontented,
All for to sail all on the sea.
He sailed east and he sailed west;
He landed on Turkey's shore,
And there was caught and put in prison;
No hope of freedom for him any more.
The jailer had one fair young daughter,
A daughter of high degree;
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
Saying, "Oh, Lord Batesman I will set free."
She took him to her father's cellar,
And there drew cups of portry wine,
And with every health that she drunk unto him
Saying, "Oh, Lord Batesman, I wish you was mine!"
And there they drew each other's love;
Seven long years, and he
Was not to marry to other woman
Unless she married some other man.
Seven long years have passed and gone;
Seven long years and two or three;
She gathered up her gold, her diamonds,
Saying, "Oh, Lord Batesman I will go and see."
She gathered up her gold, her diamonds,
And away she went and crossed the sea.
She rode till she come to Lord Batesman's castle,
And there she hollered till she made it ring,
"Is this Lord Batesman's castle,
And has he brought his new bride in?"
"Yes, yes, yes," cried the port proud porter,
He's just this day brought his new bride in!"
"Go tell him that I'd like to see him,
And tell him to remember me,
And never to forget the fair young lady
That set him free from prison."
Up got Lord Batesman from the table;
"This fair lady I will go and see!"
And he cried out to the land of the living,
"My fair Suzanne has crossed the sea!"
"'Twas but this day I married your daughter;
I'm sure she's none of the worse by me;
She come to me on a horse and saddle;
She can return in the coach with thee."
---------------------
Collected by Merlin Mitchell Reel 33
Transcribed by Kyle Perrin Item 3
Mrs. Mary Briscoe
High, Ark,
April 15, 1950
Lord Bateman
Lord Bateman was a handsome feller, he sailed East to some Turkish shore,
And there he's caught and bound in prison, no more freedom for him any more.
They bored a hole in his left shoulder and locked him up in a dungeon high,
And made him haul a cord of iron ' til he was sick and liken to die.
The j a i l e r had one lovely daughter, she was f a i r as f a i r could be,
She stole the keys of her father's prison and vowed Lord Bateman she'd set free,
She took him to her father's arbor, there she treated him on wine so strong,
And ever glass that she drank with him crying, Oh, Lord Bateman, I ' d . . . if you were mine.
She took him to her father's arbor, there she engaged a ship for him,
A-saying, oh, my best beloved ore, I'm afraid I ' l l never see you again.
But seven long years I'll make this bargain, seven long years and here's my hand,
I f you will court no other lady, I'm sure I want no other man.
Seven long years had passed and over, seven long years, one, two, and three,
And this fair lady stacked up her jewels and vowed Lord Bateman she'd go see.
She rode and rode ' t i l she came to the castle, there she knocked 'til she made it ring,
Go out, go out, my poor old servant, and see who's there that will come in.
Seven long years I've been you're servant, seven long years, one, two, an three,
But at your gate stands the fairest damsel, the fairest my two eyes ever have seen.
She wears a gold ring on her forefinger and on the rest, one, two, and three,
She wears more old around her neck, Sir, than would buy your bride and company.
She said to send her a s l i c e of your bread and a glass of your best wine so strong,
And ask you i f you'd forgotten the lady that set you free when you was bound.
Oh, he jumped up, all from the table, there he crashed one, two, and three,
Saying, That f a i r damsel at my gate, Sir, that f a i r damsel I ' l l go to see.
Today I married you're only daughter, she is none of the worst to me,
She come to me on a horse and saddle, now she can ride back and court so free.
--------------------
Collected & Transcribed by M. C. Parler
Reel 179
Item 1
Mrs. Miner Griffin
Conway, Arkansas
December 12, 1953
Lord Bateman
A gentleman of the courts of England,
A gentleman of high degree,
Grew uneasy, discontented,
And went his way across the sea.
He sailed east and he sailed west,
He sailed to the Turkish shore,
And there was caught and put in prison,
No hopes of freedom anymore.
Now this king had a lovely daughter,
The prettiest creature eyes did see,
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
Saying, Lord Bateman she would set free.
She led him to her father's cellar,
And there drew cups of Port wine,
And every health they drank together,
Was, Oh Lord Bateman, I wish you were mine.
For seven long years.........
For seven long years he made a vow,
That he was to wed no other woman,
Unless she married some other man.
Seven long years had passed and over,
Seven long years and two and three,
'Til she gathered up her gold and diamonds,
And went her way across the sea.
At length she arrived at Lord Bateman's castle,
So boldly there, she rang the bell,
. . . .
. . . .
Is this, is this Lord Bateman's castle,
And is your Lordship here within?
Oh yes, yes, yes, cried the bold proud porter,
He has just this day brought his new bride in.
Go tell him that I want to see him,
Tell him to remember me,
And never to forget the lady,
That freed him of his jailery.
Lord Bateman in a passion flew,
He broke his sword in splinters three,
Saying, he would wed no other woman,
If Sopha had come across the sea.
Then up, up spoke the young bride's mother,
Who was never known to speak so free,
Saying you must not forget my only daughter,
If Sopha has come across the sea.
But she is none the worse by me,
She rode here on a horse and saddle,
She may return in a coach and three,
She rode here on a horse and saddle,
She may return in a coach and three.