"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" is an old Scottish ballad dating from 1785 or earlier. It is

Child Ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

#46,

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

36. It is known by a number of titles, including "Lord Roslin's Daughter" and "The Laird of Rosslyn's Daughter". The song was collected in the United States, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia. The first known publication, probably, dates from 1780s (''The New British Songster'').Se
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Synopsis

Versions differ, but generally a captain meets a lady walking in the woods or through an estate. Sometimes he takes her to where he is staying. In all variants, she says she will not marry or sleep with him without his answering riddles. She asks them. He answers them all, and they are married and/or he takes her to bed.

Motifs

The ingenious suitor who can answer every riddle, or nonplus the heroine, is not as common as the clever maid, but occurs quite frequently in folklore.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 416, Dover Publications, New York 1965

Recordings

In 1954, Thomas Moran from

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, Co. Leitrim,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

was recorded . * In 1964, Canadian Folk duo

Ian and Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. Hi ...

recorded this ballad as "Captain Woodstock's Courtship"; their version is from a Nova Scotia collection by Folklorist

Helen Creighton Mary Helen Creighton, CM (September 5, 1899 – December 12, 1989) was a prominent Canadian folklorist. She collected over 4,000 traditional songs, stories, and beliefs in a career that spanned several decades, and she published many books and ar ...

. *

Tim Hart Tim Hart (9 January 1948 – 24 December 2009) was an English folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. S ...

and

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dra ...

recorded the ballad in 1968 on ''Folk Songs of Old England Vol. 2''. * The

Great Big Sea Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scot ...

song "Captain Wedderburn" on their ''

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'' album is based on this ballad. * In 1988

The Voice of the People ''The Voice of the People'' is an anthology of folk songs produced by Topic Records containing recordings of traditional singers and musicians from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The series was first issued in 1998 as 20 CDs, compiled by D ...

Vol 1 ''Come Let Us Buy the Licence - Songs of Courtship & Marriage'' included the ballad as ''The Song of the Riddles'' sung by Willie Clancy * In 2007 Cara Luft recorded the song "Lord Roslyn's daughter" on the album ''The Light Fantastic''. *

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical styl ...

recorded a version on their 2010 album ''

Hedonism Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...

''. * In 2012

Second Series ''Good People, Take Warning : Ballads by British and Irish Traditional Singers'' included ''Captain Wedderburn'' sung by

Séamus Ennis Séamus Ennis ( ga, Séamas Mac Aonghusa; 5 May 1919 – 5 October 1982) was an Irish musician, singer and Irish music collector. He was most noted for his uilleann pipe playing and was partly responsible for the revival of the instrument du ...

Lyrics

:The Laird of Rosslyn's daughter :Walked through the wood her lane. :And by came Captain Wedderburn, :A soldier of the king. :He said unto his serving man, :Were't not against the law, :I would take her to my own bed :And lay her next the wall. :I'm walking here my lane, says she, :Among my father's trees, :And you may let me walk my lane, :Kind sir, now, if you please. :The supper bell it will be rung :And I'll be missed awa', :So I'll not lie in your bed :At neither stock nor wall. :Then said the pretty lady, :I pray tell me your name. :My name is Captain Wedderburn, :A soldier of the king. :Though your father and all his men were here, :I would take you from them all, :I would take you to my own bed :And lay you next the wall. :O hold away from me, :Kind sir, I pray you let me be, :For I'll not lie in your bed :Till I get dishes three. :Three dishes for my supper, :Though I eat none at all, :Before I lie in your bed :At either stock or wall. :I must have to my supper :A chicken without a bone, :And I must have to my supper :A cherry without stone, :And I must have to my supper :A bird without a gall, :Before I lie in your bed :At either stock or wall. :The chicken when it's in the shell :I'm sure it has no bone, :And when the cherry's in the bloom :I wat it has no stone. :The dove she is a gentle bird, :She flies without a gall, :And we'll both lie in one bed :And you'll lie next the wall. :O hold away from me, kind sir, :And do not me perplex, :For I'll not lie in your bed :Till you answer questions six. :Six questions you must answer me, :And that is four and twa, :Before I lie in your bed :At either stock or wall. :O what is greener than the grass, :What's higher than the trees, :O what is worse than a woman's wish, :What's deeper than the seas, :What bird crows first, what tree buds first, :What first on them does fall, :Before I lie in your bed :At either stock or wall. :Death is greener than the grass, :Heaven's higher than the trees, :The devil's worse than woman's wish, :Hell's deeper than the seas, :The cock crows first, the cedar buds first, :Dew first on them does fall, :And we'll both lie in one bed, :And you'll lie next the wall. :Little did this lady think, :That morning when she raise, :It was to be the very last :Of all her maiden days, :For now she's Captain Wedderburn's wife, :A man she never saw, :And now they lie in one bed, :And she lies next the wall.

References

External links