Lady Jean

Jo Miller: On Autumn Harvest ah08: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: There's Bound to be a Row. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.

This powerful and rather beautiful ballad has only rarely been collected - perhaps because of its theme of rape and incest. However there are several versions in the Greig-Duncan collection under the title Fair Rosie Ann and the ballad has also been collected from recent Scottish tradition. Jo Miller's version is from William Motherwell's manuscripts collected from Mrs Storie of Lochwinnoch and the tune and one verse is given in Motherwell's Minstrelsy (1827) (Child 52: The King's Dochter Lady Jean).

1: The king's young dochter was sittin at her windae,
Sewin a fine silken seam;
She's lookit out o her braw bower windae,
And she saw the leaves growin green ma love,
And she saw the leaves growin green.

2: She stuck her needle intae her sleeve,
Her seam doun by her tae;
And she's awa tae the merry green woods,
For tae pu the nits and slaes ma love,
For tae pu the nits and slaes.

3: She hadna pu'd a nit at aa,
A nit but scarcely three;
When oot there cam a braw young man,
Sayin, "How durst thou bow this tree ma love,
How durst thou bow this tree?"

4: "It's I will pu these nits," she said,
"And I will bow this tree,
And I will gang tae the merry green wood,
And no ask leave o thee ma love,
And no ask leave o thee."

5: He's taen her by the middle sae sma,
And laid her on the grass sae green;
And he has taen his will o her,
And he's loot her up again ma love,
And he's loot her up again.

6: "Now since ye hae had your will o me,
Come tell tae me your name;
For I am the king's young dochter," she said,
"And this nicht I daurna gang hame ma love,
And this nicht I daurna gang hame."

7: "If ye be the king's young dochter," he said,
"I am his auldest son;
And I wish my pretty ship had sunk,
And I had ne'er returned ma love,
And I had ne'er returned."

8: "For the first time I cam hame, Jeanie,
Thou was neither here nor born;
And I wish I'd died on some distant isle,
And never had returned ma love,
And never had returned."
9: "And the neist time I cam hame, Jeanie,
Thou was sittin on thy nurse's knee;
And I wish my pretty ship had sunk,
And I'd been droond at sea ma love,
And I'd been droond at sea."

10: She's pit her hand doun by her side,
Doun in tae her spare;
And there she's fund a wee penknife,
And she's wounded hersel fu sair ma love,
And she's wounded hersel fu sair.

11: Oh slowly, slowly rase she up,
And slowly she gaed hame;
Until she cam tae her faither's parlour,
And there she did sigh and mane ma love,
And there she did sigh and mane.

12: Her faither cam trippin doun the stairs,
His steps they were fu slow;
"I think, I think Lady Jean," he said,
"Ye're lyin far ower low ma love,
Ye're lyin far ower low."

13: Her mither cam trippin doun the stairs,
Her steps they were fu slow;
"I think, I think Lady Jean," she says,
"Ye're lyin far ower low ma love,
Ye're lyin far ower low."

14: Her sister cam trippin doun the stairs,
Her steps they were fu slow;
"I think, I think Lady Jean," she says,
"Ye're lyin far ower low ma love,
Ye're lyin far ower low."

15: "O late last nicht as I cam hame,
Doun by yon castle wa;
O heavy, heavy was the stane,
That on my breist did fa ma love,
That on my breist did fa."

16: Her brother cam trippin doun the stairs,
His steps they were fu slow;
He sank intae his sister's airums,
And they died as white as snow ma love,
And they died as white as snow.

c p 2010 Autumn Harvest : www.springthyme.co.uk