US & Canada Versions: 65. Lady Maisry
[This ballad is rare in the US and not found in Canada. Of the 7 extant versions, all in my collection (see below), two are from Niles so they may be discounted as traditional until perhaps his MS is presented and documented. Some of Niles' versions are clearly recreations. The Davis versions are fragments and Davis B could certainly be another ballad. So-- we are left with three representative ballads and the two strongest are Sharp A and B. Scarborough's version is watered down and not only is sung to the tune of Barbara Allen-- but several end stanzas are from Barbara Allen.
R. Matteson 2014]
CONTENTS: (to access the individual texts, click on highlighted title below)
1) Lady Margaret (Lady Maisry)- Knuckles (KY) 1917 Sharp A -- My title. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, I; 1932, Sharp/Karpeles. Sung by Mrs. Delie Knuckles at Barbourville, Knox Co., Ky, May 16, 1917; Sharp A.
2) Lady Margrie (Lady Maisry)- Bishop (KY) 1917 Sharp B -- My title. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, I; 1932, Sharp/Karpeles. Sung Mrs. Dan Bishop, KY, 1917; Sharp B.
3) Little Margerie- Nicewander (VA) 1923 Davis A -- Little Margerie is my title of this fragment; the title given, Lady Maisry, is the generic title by Davis. From Traditional Ballad of Virginia; edited Davis, 1929. Sung by Mrs. Nicewander, of Bland, VA, Sept. 3, 1923. Davis A
4) When He Got to the River- Tickle (VA) 1923 Davis B -- My title. From Traditional Ballad of Virginia; edited Davis, 1929. Sung by Rosa Tickle (Bland, VA) 1923. This one verse fragment was collected by Miss Alfreda Peel in the same area of Virginia she collected the other fragment of this ballad. This same verse appears in other ballads so it's certainly speculation as to which ballad this is taken from.
5) Sweet Maisry- Telighthul 1934 Niles A -- From: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles; 1961. No state, last name or location is given by Niles, other than its in the Southern Appalachian mountains.
6) Lord Dillard and Lady Flora- Wilmer (KY) 1934 Niles B -- From: Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, 1961, as sung by Anna Wilmer; Rockcastle County, Ky., 1934.
7) Lady Maisry- Lovingood (NC) pre1936 Scarborough -- From: A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains; Scarborough, 1937. The title is not a local title and no names are mentioned in this version collected by Rachel Slocumb from Mrs Charity Lovingood of Murphy, NC, who lived at the head of Owl Creek on the Hanging Dog Road. Sung to the tune of Barbara Allen
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LADY MAISRY (BBM, 1929, Barry and all whining because they haven't found a version in Maine- or the North.)
(Child 65)
Mrs. Fred W. Morse of Islesford could recall that when she was a young child, old Andy, the strolling singer of ballads in Ireland, used to sing a song which she had overheard by stealth through the floor or when her grandparents were nodding by the fire, about a brother who called his sister a whore. There was something in it about a mother, or father, and a brother and sister, but she could recall nothing but the one objectionable word and she never could understand why the song was barred to the children and could only be heard surreptitiously.
There can be no question but this must have been the old ballad of "Lady Maisry" whose family burned her at the stake because she had loved too well an English lord, who arrived too late to save her and who took dire vengeance upon her kindred. We have no other trace of it as yet. The ballad is traaitional in the south (Virginia Folk-Lore society, Bulletin, XI, p. 5) ; we should expect, therefore, to find it in the North, where "The cruel Mother" and "Little Matthy Groves" have survived in forms identical with those recorded in the Appalachian Highlands. There are in "Lady Maisry," moreover, certain stanzas which appear also in "Little Matthy Groves." In both, the little page comes running at top speed to his lord, with news, bending his breast
end swimming at the rivers, running otherwhere. In both he is greeted with the question:
"O, is my biggins broken, boy?
Or is my towers won?
Or is my lady lighter yet
Of a dear daughter or son?"
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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
65. LADY MAISRY
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 448 (trace) / Davis, Trd Bid Va. 180 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 137 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns I, 97 / Va FLS Still, # 11.
Local Titles: Lady Maisry.
Story Types: A: A girl is with child, and her parents are planning to burn her at the stake. She sends her oldest brother's son to tell her lover what has happened and to get him to attend the burial. The boy goes and informs the lover who hurries to the girl's house blowing his bugle. The girl, hearing, is tied to the stake unafraid. The hero rushes up just in time to tear her
dying form from the flames and kiss her. He then wills his land to the oldest brother's son. Examples: SharpK (A).
B: The same story is told. However, it is abbreviated and has a cliche ending added so that the man is late and can only stop the funeral, kiss the corpse, and die himself.
Examples: Scarborough.
Discussion: The American versions remain pretty close to the Child story, although the complete tale does not exist over here. Child (II, 112)'s summary of the story, as quoted by Davis, Trd Bid Va. 180, gives the action as follows: It is discovered that Maisry goes with child. Her brother or father demands that she renounce the lord who is the English lover, but she refuses.
Her father offers her the choice of marrying an old man or burning at the stake. In some versions the family (in keeping with romance practice) begins preparations to burn her without mention of choice. Maisry is warned of her fate and sends a devoted young messenger to carry word to her lord. The English lord, on learning what has happened, saddles his best steeds and hurries off. Maisry, in the flames, hears the bugle. She scorns her family's efforts. In some texts she cries out to her lover that she would cast his son from the fire if her hands were free. He leaps into the blaze for a last kiss as her body crumbles. On seeing her dead, the Englishman threatens cruel retaliation on the family, deeds to be followed by his suicide.
The Type A text seems to substitute the will-writing for the revenge threats, though one can not be sure. Certainly the ending of this incomplete version is less severe. The Type B story is not in Child and is quite conventional (See Lord Lovel and Barbara Allen).