From the concordance to Child using he courted her, I found that Katherine Jafray 221E has the 1st 2 lines more or less:

221E.2         He courted her the live-long winter-night,
         Sae has he the simmer’s day;
         He has courted her sae long
         Till he sta her heart away

The last 2 lines are similar to a version another Child 4 in Bronson, version 61:

1. There was a lord in Ambertown
  Courted a lady fair,
And all he wanted of this pretty fair maid
  Was to take her life away.

(Pretty Polly: Mackenzie, 1928, p. 391; text, pp. 7-8. Sung by Mrs. Levi Langille, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.)

And in fact the whole verse is similar to a couple of the versions in Bronson for Child 4:

versions 41:


2. He courted her many a long winter's night
  And many a short winter's day
And he laid in wait both early & late
  To take her sweet life away.

(aring-Gould MSS., CXIV( 2 ); text, (C). Also in Goss, 1937, p. 4(B). sung by Richard Gregory, Moor man, Two Bridges, January 1889. Collected by F. W, Busse)

and 73:

. He courted her a long winter's night,
  And many a long summer's day,
And all he courted his fair lady for
  Was to take her sweet life away.

(the Minnie Payne version from earlier)


apart from Luggs's 90.


Mick