Yarrow- Small (OH) pre1939 Eddy
[From: Eddy, Ballads and Songs from Ohio; 1939. Eddy's version from Mrs. Jane Small (with music- upcoming) was learned form a cousin in Stonehouse Lanarkshire, Scotland. The heading is: Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow with Child No. 214? below it. The text compares to Child 215C and parts to 214.
See Coffin's analysis from The "Braes of Yarrow" Tradition in America below the Eddy text.
R. Matteson 2016]
Yarrow- Mrs. Jane Small (OH) pre1939 Eddy
1. My Willie's rare, my Willie's fair,
My Willie's wondrous bonny,
He promised he would marry me,
If ever he married ony,[1]
Ony, ony, if ever he married ony
He promised he would marry me,
If ever he married ony.
My Willie's tae the huntin' gane,
Afraid that he would tarry;
He sent a letter back to me
That he was too young to marry.
Last night I had a dreary dream,
It caused me pain and sorrow;
I dreampt I was pulling heather so green,
High up on the braes of Yarrow.
She wandered up, she wandered down,
High up on the hills of Yarrow,
And right beneath a rock she found
Her true love drowned in Yarrow.
Her hair it was three quarters long,
The color of it was yellow;
She turned it 'round her Willie's waist
And pulled him out of Yarrow.
My Footnote: 1. ony= any
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[Coffin's analysis from The "Braes of Yarrow" Tradition in America]
Actually, the Eddy text is quite similar to Child 215C, and the song undoubtedly crossed the ocean already corrupted by a large amount of material borrowed from the British 214 texts. To make my statement clear, let me discuss the stanzas one by one. The Ohio ballad [12] opens with the following lines:
My Willie's rare, my Willie's fair,
My Willie's wondrous bonnie,
He promised he would marry me,
If ever he married ony.
These lines are paralleled by both the A and C versions of Child's "Rare Willie." The first stanza of C reads as follows.
Willie's fair, an Willie's rare,
An Willie's wondrous bonny
An Willie's promised to marry me
If eer he married ony.
The second stanza of the Ohio song is not found in Child, but is of a conventional sort and turns up in similar forms in many love songs.
My Willie's tae the huntin' gane,
Afraid that he would tarry;
He sent a letter back to me
That he was too young to marry.
I am inclined to believe that these lines are little more than a corruption. However, the mention of the hunt is of interest, as almost all of the Child 214 texts include this feature. The third stanza,
Last night I had a dreary dream,
It caused me pain and sorrow;
I dreampt I was pulling heather so green,
High up on the braes of Yarrow.
is much the same as the second stanza of 215C, lines which Child claimed to have been borrowed from "The Braes." The British text reads,
O sister dear, I've dreamed a dream,
I'm afraid its unco sorrow,
I dreamed I was pu'in the heather green,
In the dowie dens o Yarrow.
Eddy's fourth stanza,
She wandered up, she wandered down,
High up on the hills of Yarrow,
And right beneath a rock she found
Her true love drowned in Yarrow.
relates to 214 in the girl's going up a hill to spy her lover and is closest to, 2I4J, Stanza 14 of all the Child stantas in the two ballads. The drowning however, is like 215, and thus like 2I4L also, while the use of a rock as the repository of the body is in 2I5A and B. The final Ohio stanza,
Her hair it was three quarters long,
The color of it was yellow;
She turned it 'round her Willie's waist
And pulled him out of Yarrow.
compares closely to 215C, Stanza 5 and 2I5B, Stanza 2. That from C is given below.
Her hair it was three quarters long,
Its colour it was yellow;
She tied it to his middle sma',
And pu'ed him out o Yarrow.
In summary, then, of the five stanzas in the Eddy text, three are closely paralleled by similar stanzas in Child 215C, one of these having crossed over from 214 in earlier British tradition.