US & Canadian Versions: Child 17. Hind Horn
[This fine ballad story has had circulation in Maritime Providences of Canada (and also Ontario) and New England. Cf. Child No. 14- Babylon. In my collection there are 19 versions mostly from the Northeast including one excellent version from the Appalachian region which was acquired fairly recently (1970 recording) from Maggie Hammons Parker of the well-known West Virginia Hammonds family and one version from Oklahoma. The odd version is the cowboy song "Cowboy's Wedding ring" collected in an Ontario lumber camp by Fowke.
Most versions from the Northeast are loosely based on on Child G and are consistent enough to have stemmed from a single version. Of the nineteen or so traditional version from North America, the name Hind Horn is not present (although Barry A has "horn" and comes close). The hero is known only as "beggar man" or "old beggar man."
A single version collected the Moores in Oklahoma (dated c.1927) is clearly different from the standard US and Canada versions, with "Seven long years I've served the king," as found in Child D and F. If you compare the Hammons version from West Virginia, it resembles the standard Maritime Providences versions.
The characteristics of this standard Northeast version found in Scottish Child G are: 1. the ring that turns "pale an wan," (or Creighton has "pale and worn" haha), 2. the middle verse with "What news?" 3. the latter middle verse with "Peter and Paul" and 4. the ending verse with "between the kitchen and the hall." Here are corresponding verses in Child G:
Selected stanzas from 'Hynde Horn' Child 17- Version G; from Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 135. "From the recitation of my niece, M. Kinnear, 23 August, 1826:" the north of Scotland.
4 'My love gave me a gay gowd ring;
That was to rule abune a' thing.'
5 'As lang as that ring keeps new in hue,
Ye may ken that your love loves you.
6 'But whan that ring turns pale and wan,
Ye may ken that your love loves anither man.'
7 He hoisted up his sails, and away sailed he,
Till that he cam to a foreign countrie.
8 He looked at his ring; it was turnd pale and wan;
He said, 'I wish I war at hame again.'
9 He hoisted up his sails, and hame sailed he,
Until that he came to his ain countrie.
10 The first ane that he met wi
Was wi a puir auld beggar man.
11 'What news, what news, my silly old man?
What news hae ye got to tell to me?'
12 'Na news, na news,' the puir man did say,
'But this is our queen's wedding day.'
13 'Ye'll lend me your begging weed,
And I'll gie you my riding steed.'
14 'My begging weed is na for thee,
Your riding steed is na for me.'
19 He saught meat for St Peter, he askd for St Paul,
And he sought for the sake of Hynde Horn all.
35 But atween the kitchen and the ha,
There he lute his cloutie cloak fa.
In 1929 (BBM) Barry mentions some other changes from the British texts: These texts present a rather unusual version of the Scotch form, Child G. For the most part the tale runs true. Although "Scotland," is changed to "Ireland," the "begging-weed," of the original becomes a "begging-rig," and the "riding-steed" is now a "riding-stage," yet both Saints Peter and Paul are retained. The beggar's "cloutie cloak," patched and old, becomes a "diner's coat," whatever that may be, and the last two lines are different.
R. Matteson 2014]
CONTENTS: (to access individual versions, click on the title attached to this page on the left hand column or simply click on blue highlighted title below)
1) The Old Beggar Man- Nelson (NB) 1855 Barry A & B--From: British Ballads from Maine: Phillips Barry, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Mary Winslow Smyth - 1929. As recited (1927) and sung (1928) by Thomas Nelson of New Brunswick, Canada. Collected text by Eckstorm in 1927 (Version B); collected singing and text, 1928 (version A).
2) The Jeweled Ring- Melleneoux (KY) 1908 Niles B--Version 12 B from The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, 1961, a fragment. Niles says he collected this one stanza fragment titled, The Jeweled Ring, in 1908. It may be tradition, who knows?
3) The Beggarman- Endacott (NL) 1921 Greenleaf--From "Ballads and Seas Songs of Newfoundland" by Elizabeth Greenleaf and Grace Yarrow Mansfield, 1933 edition. This version of Hind Horn was collected from Dan Endacott, Sandy Cove, in 1921.
4) The Old Beggar Man- Fraser (ON) c1925; Fowke--Title from Traditional Singers and Songs from Ontario; Fowke. Text from: British Ballads in Ontario by Edith Fowke; Midwest Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 133-162. Mrs. Arlington Fraser was born in 1910. Mrs. Frasier's mother Johanna McGillis of Irish and Scotch descent, was born in 1871 in the Glengarry area. Mrs. Frasier learned these songs from her mother when she was a child, by 1925.
5) In Scotland Town- Hammons (WV) pre1926 Jabbour--Maggie Hammons Parker (1899-1987) learned "In Scotland Town" from her father Paris, who is reputed to have picked it up "on Cranberry." Recorded in 1970 by Jabbour, also collected by Gainer, Aug. 6, 1970.
6) Drowned Man's Hand- Nesbitt (NB) 1927 Barry C
7) Gay Gold Ring- Wilkerson (OK) pre1927 Moores
8) The Beggar Man- Quann (NL) 1930 Karpeles A
9) The Beggar Man- Courage (NL) 1930 Karpeles B
10) The Pale Ring- Duff (KY) 1932 Niles A
The Jolly Beggar- Murphy (ME) 1942 Flanders
Old Beggar Man- Henneberry (NS) 1943 Creighton D
Old Beggar Man- Walsh (NS) 1950 Creighton A
Old Beggar Man- Bray (NS) 1950 Creighton B
Where Was You Bred? Sanford (NS) 1950 Creighton C
Old Beggar Man- Hoskins (NS) 1950 Creighton E
The Old Beggar Man- Doucette (PE) 1958 Ives
The Old Beggar Man- Brown (NB) 1960 Manny
Cowboy's Wedding Ring- Cavanagh (ON) 1962 Fowke
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Notes by Kittredge (1933): The Hind Horn story is an old favorite. The earliest text is a twelfth-century romance. For particulars, see the critical study by Walter R. Nelles in Journal, XXII, 4J fr. The ballad has been printed only once before from North America in two texts (one a fragment) from New Brunswick, by Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 13-80, d. pp. 471)-481 (with discussion of the air, p. xxv). These correspond very closely to the Newfoundland ballad, and it is a source of satisfaction to be able to compare the airs as well as the words. The two are undoubtedly related, as they are similar in mood, general rhythm, and certain intervals. Mr. Endacott said be had forgotten the beginning of the ballad. Cf. Keith, No. 10.
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Coll. by Mrs. Virginia Langley For M.C. Parler (rensembling Hind Horn)
Sung by Mrs. Langley's Mother Gruver, Texas March 1958 Reel 353, Item 2
Willie and Mary
As Willie and Mary stood by the sea shore,
Their last farewell to take,
If you return no more, little Mary she said,
My heart it surely will break.
Oh be not dismayed, unto her he said,
As he kissed the dear girl by his side,
My absence don't mourn, for when I return,
I'll make little Mary my bride.
Three years passed by without any news.
One day as she stood by the door,
A beggar came by with a patch on his eye,
All ragged was he and poor.
Have compassion on me, your friend
I' will be, Your fortune I'll tell you beside,
The lad that you love will never return
To make little Mary his bride.
She startled, she trembled, and then she did say,
Your fortune I have would I give (?)
If what I ask you you tell me is true,
Oh say does my Willie yet live?
He lives it is true, in poverty too,
If you're threatened, he's suffered beside
Returning mo more because he's too poor
To make little Mary his bride.
No tongue can tell the joy that I fell
Although his misfortune I mourn,
He's welcome to me, though in poverty be,
His jacket all tattered and torn.
I love him so dear, so true and sincere,
No other I'll have beside,
Though rich, and rolled and covered in gold
Can make little Mary their bride.
The beggar then throwed the patch from his eye,
His crutches he lay by his side,
Coat, trousers, and jacket cheeks redder than rose,
'Twas Willie stood by Mary's side.
Forgive me, dear maid, and do not be sad,
'Tis only your love I have tried,
He hastened away at the close of day
To make little Mary his bride.
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
17. HIND HORN
Tezts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 73 / Greenleaf and Mansfeild, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 12.
Local Titles: The Beggarman, The Old Beggar Man.
Story Types: A: Horn gives his love a watch and in return is given a ring that will shine when she is true and turn pale when she is in love with another. He sets sail for foreign shores. On arriving abroad, he notices the ring to be pale, and so he returns home at once. He meets a beggar who tells him his sweetheart is to be married on the morrow. Then he borrows the beggar's clothes and listens to instructions on how to act in his disguise. (He can beg from Peter or Paul, but need not take anything from anybody except his bride.) After gaining admittance to the wedding feast, he gets a glass of wine from the bride and slips the ring into it. She, of course, wants to know where he got it. He tells her the truth, and she swears to be his fore-
vermore, even though he is a beggar. They flee, and he reveals his disguise.
Examples: Barry (A), Greenleaf and Mansfield.
B : (from recollection, but no text) The story follows the narrative outline of Type A, but Horn takes the beggar with him and sends him on errands Horn does not wish to handle himself. Horn finds his lady married and kills her husband in a duel. She goes abroad to forget her sorrows and dies there*
Examples: Barry, p. 79 (no text).
Discussion: The Type A texts represent an unusual form of Child G, a ballad of Scottish origin that is well-known in Ireland. Type B is noted without text in Barry, Brit Bids Me, 79 as an extended version recalled by a sea-captain as having been sung by his men. If his memory is reliable, there seems to be both corruption from an outside source and degeneration present.
This man also claims to have heard another, and now lost, ballad based on a different portion of the Horn legend and called The Beggar Man. See Barry, addenda, BBM, 479.
Note Walter R. Nelles (JAFL, XXII, 42 ff.) for a critical study of the Hind Horn story in balladry. This article also deals with Kitcbie-Boy (252) on p. 59ff. Child and Nelles both consider the latter to be an offshoot of the Horn legend. Check the chart on p. 59.
Missing versions:
Burton and Manning Archives
Creighton, Maritime Folk Songs (1961) p.5. Performer, Macumber, Leander
Stanley MacDonald's quite complete version in his Folksongs of New Brunswick (Fredericton, NB, 1989),