Lyr Req: Broomfield Hill (from Gordon Hall, #43)

Subject: Lyr Req: Gordon Hall's Broomfield Hill #43
From: Roberto
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 04:15 AM

I'd like to get the text of The Broomfield Hill (Child n°43) as sung by Gordon Hall, on When the May is all in Bloom, Veteran Tapes. I'm going to try to transcribe it, but it is a tough job, so before I start, and then ask for help to correct and complete the text, I wonder if any Mudcatter has already this text. R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gordon Hall's Broomfield Hill #43
From: Roberto
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 04:20 AM

Sorry, but I hadn't noticed that the text is now on the Veteran Tapes' internet site. R

Subject: Lyr Add: BROOMFIELD WAGER (from Gordon Hall)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 09:19 AM

Gordon Hall's recording of BROOMFIELD HILL a.k.a. THE BROOMFIELD WAGER is found on the compilation CD "When the May is all in Bloom: Traditional singing from the South East of England".

Lyrics and notes copied from Click here
^^^
BROOMFIELD WAGER

"One wager, one wager, I will lay unto thee
One hundred bright nobles to your ten,
That you will ne'er me follow to the bonny Broomfield Hill
A maiden you never shall return."

"One wager, one wager, I will lay unto thee,
Your hundred bright nobles to my ten,
That I will go a maiden to the Bonny Broomfield Hill
And will come back a maiden once again."

There was a knight and a lady so bright
Had a true tryst at the broom.
The one to go ride early on the May morning
And the other in the afternoon.

The maiden sat at her mother's bower door
And there she made a moan
Saying "Whether shall I go to the bonny Broomfield Hill
Or shall I bide me at home?

"For if I should go to the bonny Broomfield Hill
Then my maidenhead is gone,
But if I bide me at my mother's bower door,
Then my true love will call me foresworn."

Then up then spake an old witch woman
All from her lofty room
Saying "Well may you go to the bonny Broomfield Hill
And you come a maiden home.

"For when you reach the bonny Broomfield Hill,
You will find your love asleep
With a coarsely silver belt about his neck
And its brother about his feet.

Then take you the blossom from off the green broom
The blossom that smells so sweet
And lay it at his white collar bone
There and place the twigs at his feet.

"Then take you the ring from off your soft white hand
And place it on your true love's right thumb,
That this will be a token to your true love when he wakes
He will know that you have been at his command".

"One wager, one wager, I will lay unto thee,
Your hundred bright nobles to my ten,
That I will go a maiden to the bonny Broomfield Hill
And will come back a maiden once again".

The knight jogged on to the bonny Broomfield Hill,
The weather being very mild and warm.
As he became quite weary why he sate him down to rest
And he fell fast asleep on the green lawn.

Now when the maiden reached the bonny Broomfield Hill,
She found her love asleep
With a coarsely silver belt about his neck
And its brother about his feet.

Then took she the blossom from off the green broom,
The blossom that smells so sweet,
And laid it at his white collar bone
Then placed the twigs at his feet.

Then three times she danced round the soles of his shoes
And stroked down the hair of his head,
And three times she kissed his ruby ruby lips
As he lay fast asleep on his green bed.

Then the ring from her finger she instant withdrew
And placed it on her true love's right thumb,
Saying "This will be a token to my true love when he wakes,
He will know that I have been at his command".

Now when the knight woke from out of his long sleep
And espied the maiden's ring on his right thumb,
He knew that the fair maid had been at his command
And the tryst wager she had won.

"Oh, where were ye, my milk white steed,
That I have cost so dear,
That would not watch and waken me
When there was a maiden here?"

"I stamped with my feet, master,
Which made my bright bridle ring.
But no kind of thing would waken ye
Till the maiden was past and gone."

"And where were ye, my gay goshawk,
That I have loved so dear,
That would not watch and waken me
When there was a maiden here?"

"I flapped with my wings, master,
Which made my bright bell to ring.
But nothing of this earth would waken ye
Till the maiden was past and gone".

"And where were ye, my addle-pated page,
As draws my meat and fee,
That would not watch and waken me
Till the maiden skipped over the lea?"

"I prodded and I shook, master,
Now I have this to say,
That if you lay still when laid a-bed at night,
Then you would not sleep through the day".

"One wager, one wager, I did lay unto thee,
Your hundred bright nobles to my ten,
And I did go a maiden to the bonny Broomfield Hill
And did come back a maiden once again."

"If I had been awake when I was fast asleep,
Of you I would have had my will
Or it's you I would have killed and your red blood would have spilled
And the small birds would all have had their fill."

"You hard-hearted young man, how can you say so?
Your heart must be hard as any stone.
For to think to murder the one that has loved thee so long
And has danced on the green and mossy lawn.

One wager, one wager, I did lay unto thee,
Your hundred bright nobles to my ten,
And I did go a maiden to the bonny Broomfield Hill
And did come back a maiden once again.

Yes I did go a maiden to the bonny Broomfield Hill
And did come back a maiden once again."

[The story of Broomfield Hill or, as it is often known, The Broomfield Wager, or A Wager, a Wager, is at least seven hundred years old and is found right across Europe. Francis James Child gives examples from as far apart as Norway and Italy, Iceland and Germany and he gives six word-sets in 'The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol.1. (Child 43) while B.H. Bronson gives no less than thirty versions of the tune in 'The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads Vol.1'.

It has been appearing in ballad form in England since the eighteenth century published by amongst others. Jackson of Birmingham and Such of London, but much of the earlier witchcraft was edited out in their broadside versions. This ballad was a great favourite with singers in England and Cecil Sharp collected at least twelve distinct versions. Amongst the many recorded versions are Walter Pardon of Norfolk, Cyril Poacher of Suffolk and 'Pop' Maynard of Sussex.

Gordon learned this classic version mainly from his mother Mabs and she is likely to have learned it from her mother, with her father filling in some of the words.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Gordon Hall's Broomfield Hill #43
From: Susan of DT
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 10:29 AM

This is Broomfield Wager (2) in the DT