I don't see the Belle Stewart version posted. Could somebody post it for us?
Here's the version sung by Jeannie Robertson, collected by Peter Kennedy in 1953 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
THE QUEEN AMONG THE HEATHER
For it's up a wide and a lonely glen
It was shed by many's a lofty mountain
It being onto the busy haunts of men
It being the first day that I went out a-hunting
For it's been to me a happy day
The day I spied my rovin' fancy
She was herding her yowes oot ower the knowes
And down amongst the curlin' heather
For her coat was white and her goon was green
Her body it being long and slender
Wi' her cast-doon looks and her well-fared face
It has oft-times made my heart to wander
For it's I've been to balls where they were bust-eye and braw
And it's I've been to London and Baiquither
And the bonniest lassie that e'er I saw
She was kilted and bare-fitted amongst the heather
Says I: My lass, will you come with me
And sleep wi' me in a bed of feathers?
I'll gie you silks and scarlets that will mak' you shine
If you'll be my queen amongst the heather
She said: My lad, your offer's fair
And I really think you're all for laughter
For it's you being the son of a high squire man
And me but a poor humble shepherd's dochter
But it's her I sought and it's her I got
And with her I intend to be contented
Fare you well, fare you well to your heathery hill
Fare you well, fare you well, my song it is ended
Source: #141, Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, edited by Peter Kennedy
Click to play
The version in the Digital Tradition, titled Bonnie Lass Among the Heather, is quite different. It's unclear where the DT version comes from.
Another version in the DT is Lass Amonst the Heather
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song:
Queen Among the Heather
DESCRIPTION: Young man, hunting, spies a girl herding sheep among the heather. He is smitten; she is "the bonniest lassie that e'er I saw." He asks her to go with him; she demurs, saying he's a squire and she but a shepherd's daughter. He perseveres and succeeds.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (recording, Harry Lauder)
KEYWORDS: courting love beauty farming lover nobility worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(MW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Kennedy 141, "The Queen Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 433, "My Lovely Nancy" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 115-117, "Herding Lambs Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 74, "Herding Lambs Amongst the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 51, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 fragment, listed as Child #236 but clearly a version either of this or "Heather Down the Moor"; the stanza form tentatively places it here)
Roud #375
RECORDINGS:
Harry Lauder, "Queen Among the Heather" (Victor 60010, 1910)
Belle Stewart, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Voice15)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(240), "The Blooming Heather" ("As I was coming home, from the fair of Ballymena"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(331), 2806 c.14(60), "The Blooming Heather"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Heather Down the Moor" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Bonnie Lass Among the Heather" (subject)
cf. "The Laboring Man's Daughter (The Knight's Dream)" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Skippin' Barfit thro the Heather
Queen Amang the Heather
Notes: This song is very close to "Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor)"; they have similar plots and occasional common lyrics. Roud lumps them. There will be versions where it is almost impossible to tell which is which. I thought about listing them as one song.
But on consideration, "Heather Down the Moor" has two characteristics rarely seen in "Queen among the Heather." First, "Heather Down the Moor" tends to follow a complex stanza pattern of eight-line stanzas with complex internal chorus and repeats (see sample with that song). "Queen among the Heather" usually has simple four-line stanzas.
"Heather down the Moor" also tends to end with the lines
But if I were a king, I would make her a queen,
The bonnie lass I met among the heather
Down the moor.
In "Queen Among the Heather," he *is* a nobleman, so that obviously isn't a concern. - RBW
Note that the Lauder recording predates not only the otherwise-earliest collection we have found for this song, but also the earliest citation we've found for its sibling, "Heather Down the Moor". - PJS
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: K141Go to the Ballad Search form
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Go to the DiscographyThe Ballad Index Copyright 2007 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.