We Gave Him Breast Milk- Vest (VA) 1922 Davis D
[Title taken from first line. Single stanza from Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929. His notes follow. This stanza is found as Child D 13.
R. Matteson 2015]
LAMKIN (Child, No. 93)
The first evidence that this ballad survived in America came from Virginia. Child's Additions and Corrections (III, 515) report that "the negroes of Dumphries, Prince William County, Virginia, have this ballad, orally transmitted from the original Scottish settlers of that region, with the stanza,
Mr. Lammikin, Mr. Lammikin,
Oh, spare me my life,
And I'll give you my daughter, Betsy,
and she shall be your wife."
It is to be noted that all the Virginia variants, except, of course, the fragment D, have the stanza which makes this unnatural offer (A 14, B 7, C 5). Of the twenty-six versions printed by child, this stanza.is found in only three (I 19, T 15, K 16), but the resemblance is not otherwise close to any one of these three, or indeed to any Child version. The Virginia texts seem to represent at least two separate version, (A and B) not found in Child.
The story, however, does not differ materially from that of the Child versions, thus summarized by Child: " A mason has built a castle for a nobleman, cannot get his pay, and therefore seeks revenge. The name given the builder is Lamkin [in Virginia, also Lampkin, Ward Lampkin, Beaulamkins, or Bow Lamkins] . . .The Lord, having occasion to leave his family fears mischief from the man whom he has wronged, and enjoins his wife to keep the castle well fastened. Precautions are taken, but nevertheless his enemy effects an entrance through some apperture that has not been secured or by connivance with a nurse. Most of the servants are away. To get at the lady, Lamkin, as we may call him, by advice of the nurse afflicts some hurt on the babe in the cradle stabbing it, or 'nipping' it, and the cries bring the mother down. The lady proffers large sums of gold to save her life, but Lamkin does not care for gold now. [She also offers her daughter. See above.] He gloats over his opportunity, and bids the nurse, or maid-servant, or even one of the daughters of the house, to scour a silver basin to hold the lady's noble blood. The lord has a presentment of calamity at home, and returning, finds his house red with the blood of his wife and child. Lamkin is hanged, or burned, or boiled in a pot full of lead. The nurse is burned, or hanged, or boiled in a cauldron." In Virginia texts, Lamkin is always hanged, the nurse always burned.
The tale has been localized in various parts of Scotland, as pointed out by Motherwell in his Minstrelsy, p. lxx, note 27, and p. 291. The name Lamkin Child explains a either (1) a soubriquet applied in derision of the meekness with which the builder had submitted to his injury," or (2) "a simply ironical designation for the bloody mason, the terror of countless nurseries."
Four Virginia texts and one tune are here, given. Of these, A and B are new and different versions, C is a badly mangled variant of A, and D is a fragment corresponding to Child D 13. The tune to B is conjecturally interpreted, but the original notation is also given.
D. "We Gave Him Breast Milk." collected by Mr. John.stone. Recited by Mrs. Sarah Vest, of Deerfield, Va. Augusta County. July 31, 1922. "Mrs. Vest years ago could sing 'Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, but she had forgotten it. Also she heard 'Johnny Scot' sung in Highland County, years ago. She heard her husband sing 'Lamkin', " (Mr. Stone).
"We gave gave him breast milk
We have gave him pap,
So come down, dearest madam,
And rock him in your lap."