US & Canadian Versions: 27. The Whummil Bore
[The plot is related to the parlor song, "The Keyhole in the Door" attributed to Eugene Field in 1879. The US version published by Davis may be based on the "Keyhole in the Door," not "Whummil Bore." Barry's reported (Coffin, BBM) a recollection of the ballad by sea Captain Donovan of the chorus with no differing text. He also reported John Sprague of New Brunswick had heard the chorus.]
The two versions collected in the US are below (Barry mentions two informants who heard the ballad after being prompted with the text). The first, "Eighteen Lang Years," was collected in the US in Wisconsin in 1906. Since the informant was from Dumfries, Scotland it doesn't really count as a US version, since my criteria is the ballad from a US citizen. I'm including it here and also in the English and Other versions- since traditional versions of this ballad are very rare.
Here's a report on the second version from E. K. W. in the Journal of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 11 (1959), pp. 116-117. It's a review of the Southern Folklore Quarterly. Vol. XXI, No. 4 by Alton C. Morris.
Of peripheral connection with folk music are two articles in this number. A. K. Davis, Jr., and Paul Clayton Worthington publish a Virgiania text of "The Whummil Bore" (Child 27), known in this country so far only in the memory of a Maine sea-captain and a version collected from a visiting Scottish woman. The Virginia text, listed by Coffin in his British Traditional Ballads in North America as "King Orpheo," shows associations with Child 19, and the authors suggest that the two ballads may once have been one.
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Some New Ballad Variants
by Arthur Beatty
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 20, No. 77 (Apr. - Jun., 1907), pp. 154-156
THE four ballad variants here printed for the first time were collected in the month of December, 1906, from Mrs. McLeod of Dumfries, Scotland, when she was on a visit to her relatives at Lake Mills, Wisconsin. The versions are undoubtedly traditional, as the reciter could not read or write, nor could her parents before her. She said that she had learned the ballads from her parents, but that she was not always sure of the words in particular cases.
All four are readily classified as variants of ballads already printed in F. J. Child's " English and Scottish Popular Ballads." I is a new version of Child, No. 26 ("The Three Ravens," and "The Twa Corbies"); II is Child, No. 27 (" The Whummil Bore"); III is the first intelligible version known to me of Child, No. 40 ("The Queen of Elfan's Nourice"); and IV is a variant of Child, No. i8i ("The Bonny Earl of Murray").
The collector of these variants, Mr. Claude H. Eldred, an undergraduate of the University of Wisconsin, deserves great praise for the pains and tact necessary for the accomplishment of his task in so thorough a manner.
CHILD, NO. 27.
Eighteen lang years hae I sarved the king,
Fa la limpy fa, dilly down day,
And my ee on his daughter but once did I fling,
Wi' leedle do, willy am, tally down day.
I saw her that once through the needle's sma ee,
An' glad that I am that she dinna see me.
Her maids were a-wrapping her up in a plaid:
I canna tell why, but she looked verra sad.
A little brown tike was a-biting her shoon,
But the maids they will drive him away from her soon.
With a comb she was combing her bright golden hair,
Her comb it was silver, her hands they were fair.
The rings on her hands, they were bright in the sun,
An' I would be happy if I had but one.
Her bosom was white as a moor under snow,
But more of this lady I never can know.
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[A ballad titled "Orpheo" or "King Orpheo" reported by R. E. Lee Smith and his brother Thomas P. Smith learned in Zionville, NC, 1912 was at one time considered to be a version of "King Orpheo." Although the name "King Orpheo" appears in the first verse of the text, the song has identified by Davis and Clayton as "The Whummil Bore." (see text in US versions).
It should be noted that Thomas P. Smith formerly of Zionville, NC was a frequent contributor to the Brown Collection of NC Folklore and had some knowledge of folk songs and ballads. It has also been shown that the Smith brothers have arranged or recreated Child ballads and attributed them as sung locally. Some of the ballads contributed by the Smiths have been published by Kyle Davis Jr. in More Traditional Ballads of Virginia.
R. Matteson 2012]
Here is the information as presented in the Digital Tradition:
The Virginia "King Orfeo" was reported as such in the 1930s, but the identification was retracted in "More Traditional Ballads," citing a 1957 article by Arthur Kyle Davis and Paul Clayton Worthington. Although the name "King Orpheo" appears in the first verse of the text, the song is identified as "The Whummil Bore" in the article and the book. Among its descendants in spirit are "The Keyhole in the Door" (I've heard two excellent versions of this by singers who refused to be recorded singing such material!) and the Allen Brothers' "Window Shade Blues."
KING ORPHEO
For eight long years I have served the great King Orpheo
La fol da lil lilum
O fa da la lil lilio
And I have seen his daughter Estelle only once
(chorus as before)
She was fairer than the sun that shines
And she wore gold and diamonds rare
From the bottom of her feet to the top of her head
I saw her through the key hole of the door
Five was combing her hear [sic] golden hair
And four was buckling on her shoes
And three was putting on her clothes
Contributed Nov. 15, 1934 by R E Lee Smith of Palmyra and Bumpass, VA, as sung by himself and brother Thomas P Smith; learned in Zionville, NC, 1912, from his grandmother and others. Smith calls the song "Orpheo" or "King Orpheo" in different communications and adds that two stanzas have been lost since he learned it. No melody seems to have been preserved.