The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163826   Message #3919187
Posted By: Steve Gardham
22-Apr-18 - 02:44 PM
Thread Name: Origins: James Madison Carpenter- Child Ballads 2
Subject: RE: Origins: James Madison Carpenter- Child Ballads 2
Hmmmm! Something fishy here! 4B as we've already established is 99% certain a one-off Peter Buchan fabrication, as is 4A. I haven't got Scarborough but I'm going to be looking hard for a copy now. Now if she had learnt it c1875 that's before Child published Part 1 in 1882 so the only other source would be Buchan's Ancient Ballads of the North of Scotland, or perhaps more likely a composite version using all the versions to hand. I'll investigate this further.

As we have seen occasionally with the likes of Gainer and Reed-Smith when collectors are being paid/receiving academic kudos to come up with interesting/different versions, it can also lead to fabrication.

Whatever this Texas version is it can only realistically be derived from a composite.