US & Canadian Versions: 43. The Broomfield Hill
[Despite its popularity in England, this ballad is rare in the United States and not found in Canada. The 1924 version from Woofter is clearly based on the text found in the Pearl Songster, a text he may of obtained from Barry's JAFL article.
The more popular ballad in North America is the related ballad titled "The Sea Captain" and also "The Maid on the Shore" which is listed by Bronson as an Appendix and in my collection (on a different page) as an Appendix.]
The text below from Graham's Illustrated Magazine for September, 1858 was given as footnote 2 by Child and the book printed in NY has still not been recovered.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
CONTENTS: The individual versions may be accessed by clicking on the blue below or clicking on the version attached to this page attached on the left hand column.
1) Green Broom Field- Pearl Songster (NY) 1846 --From: The Ballad of the Broomfield Hill by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 24, No. 91 (Jan. - Mar., 1911), pp. 14-15. The Pearl Songster (New York, C. P. Huestis, Publisher, 104 Nassau St., corner of Ann, 1846), p. 34.
2) The Hard-hearted Young Man- Jepson (Utah) 1870 -- From: Traditional Ballads from Utah by Lester A. Hubbard and LeRoy J. Robertson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 251 (Jan. - Mar., 1951), pp. 37-53. James Jepson of Hurricane was nearly 93 years old when he sang this and 48 other ballads and songs in August, I947. He learned this ballad while freighting from southern Utah to Salt Lake City in 1870.
3) The Broomfield Hill- Hubbard (Utah) 1871 -- From: Traditional Ballads from Utah by Lester A. Hubbard and LeRoy J. Robertson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 251 (Jan. - Mar., 1951), pp. 37-53. Sung by Salley A. Hubbard, age 86, of Salt Lake City. She learned it from "Doc" Lish, who worked on her father's farm in Willard in 1871.
4) Merry Green Fields- Sullivan (VT) c.1880 Flanders
5) Green Broom- Waugh (VW) 1924 Woofter-Combs
6) The Broomfield Hill- Harmon (Tennessee) 1930
-----------------------
Text from Graham's Illustrated Magazine for September, 1858 (Child Footnote 2):
Talking of ballads reminds us of a singular fact not known perhaps to antiquarians, that many old English songs—three or four hundred years old— are reprinted in this country in a mutilated form. Take the following verse from a four cent song book, published in Nassau St., N. Y. The extract is from the Green Broom Field—the gray gosa-hawk being sadly changed.
"Then when she went to the green broom field,
Where her love was fast asleep,
With a gray goose-hawk and a green laurel bough,
And a green broom under his feet.
"And when he awoke from out his sleep,
An angry man was he;
He looked to the East and he looked to the West,
And he wept for his sweetheart to see.
"Oh! where was you, my gray goose hawk,
The hawk that I loved so dear,
That you did not awake me from out my sleep
When my sweetheart was so near!"
Isn't that old enough English?
------------------
The Broomfield Hill; Notes by Coffin, Flanders 1966
(Child 43)
In the Child texts of this song, the girl plans a rendezvous with a knight which she is afraid to keep for fear of being seduced and afraid to miss for fear of enraging her lover. A witch suggests a solution by pointing out that her lover will be asleep. She can prolong this state by spreading magic blossoms on him, leave a token that she has appeared, and get away before he awakens. The knight is angry upon awakening, scolds his hawk and his horse for letting him sleep, and attempts to pursue the girl. The rare American versions preserve most of the story, even though the use of magic is not always clear. The Vermont text is closest to the Child C-E series in that the bet is actually made by the sweethearts at the start of the song, the knight makes no effort to chase after the girl, and he is so cross he is willing that "all the birds in the merry green field of her might pick their fill." This is not unlike the form of the story recorded by Mellinger Henry in Folk-Songs of the Southern Highlands ([New York, 1938], 53).
The story used as a basis for the song is commonplace, appearing in one after another merry medieval collection, Child I, 390 f., discusses the magic charms used by the girl, and treats runes and drugs as they appear in European folk tale tradition.
For bibliographical notes and commentary, see Coffin, 57-59 (American), dean-Smith, 56 (English); and Greig and Keith, 31-32 (Scottish). Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 438, found traces of the song.