The Banks of Fordie

On Autumn Harvest AH 004
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Some Rants o Fun

Anita Best sings:

This ancient ballad continues to turn up in the living tradition both in Scotland and North America - and here is a version from Newfoundlkand. Three sisters out walking meet with a man, a robber, who asks them one at a time to be his wife. The first two refuse and he kills them. The third tells him that she has a brother in the woods and that he will take revenge if she suffers any harm. The man asks what her brothers do and what are their names. He then realises that he is one of her brothers and that he has just killed two of his sisters.

1: Three young maids went out for a walk
All alee an a liney O
They met a young man on the path
By the bonnie bonnie banks o Fordie O

2: He took the first one by the hand,
He turned around and he made her stand.

c p 2007 Autumn Harvest AH004
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