Lyr Add: The Nut-Brown Maid

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Lyr Add: The Nut-Brown Maid

09 Oct 03 - 07:45 PM (#1032737)
Subject: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: poetlady

http://www.bartleby.com/243/69.html

This ballad is in the Oxford Book of Ballads. I don't think I've seen it anywhere else. Does anyone know anything about it?

He. BE it right or wrong, these men among

On women do complain;

Affirming this, how that it is

A labour spent in vain

To love them wele; for never a dele

They love a man again:

For let a man do what he can

Their favour to attain,

Yet if a new to them pursue,

Their first true lover than

Laboureth for naught; for from her thought

He is a banished man.

She. I say not nay, but that all day

It is both written and said

That woman’s faith is, as who saith.

All utterly decay’d:

But nevertheless, right good witnèss

In this case might be laid

That they love true and continùe:

Record the Nut-brown Maid,

Which, when her love came her to prove,

To her to make his moan,

Would not depart; for in her heart

She loved but him alone.

III

He. Then between us let us discuss

What was all the manere

Between them two: we will also

Tell all the pain in fere

That she was in. Now I begin,

So that ye me answere:

Wherefore all ye that present be,

I pray you, give an ear.

I am the Knight. I come by night,

As secret as I can,

Saying, Alas! thus standeth the case,

I am a banished man.

She. And I your will for to fulfil

In this will not refuse;

Trusting to show, in wordès few,

That men have an ill use—

To their own shame—women to blame,

And causeless them accuse.

Therefore to you I answer now,

All women to excuse:

Mine own heart dear, with you what cheer?

I pray you, tell anone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

He. It standeth so: a deed is do

Whereof great harm shall grow:

My destiny is for to die

A shameful death, I trow;

Or else to flee. The t’ one must be.

None other way I know

But to withdraw as an outlaw,

And take me to my bow.

Wherefore adieu, mine own heart true!

None other rede I can:

For I must to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

She. O Lord, what is this worldis bliss,

That changeth as the moon!

My summer’s day in lusty May

Is darked before the noon.

I hear you say, farewell: Nay, nay,

We dèpart not so soon.

Why say ye so? whither will ye go?

Alas! what have ye done?

All my welfàre to sorrow and care

Should change, if ye were gone:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

VII

He. I can believe it shall you grieve,

And somewhat you distrain;

But afterward, your painès hard

Within a day or twain

Shall soon aslake; and ye shall take

Comfort to you again.

Why should ye ought? for, to make thought,

Your labour were in vain.

And thus I do; and pray you to,

As hartèly as I can:

For I must to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

VIII

She. Now, sith that ye have showed to me

The secret of your mind,

I shall be plain to you again,

Like as ye shall me find.

Sith it is so that ye will go,

I will not live behind.

Shall never be said the Nut-brown Maid

Was to her love unkind.

Make you ready, for so am I,

Although it were anone:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

He. Yet I you rede to take good heed

What men will think and say:

Of young, of old, it shall be told

That ye be gone away

100

Your wanton will for to fulfil,

In green-wood you to play;

And that ye might for your delight

No longer make delay.

Rather than ye should thus for me

105

Be called an ill womàn

Yet would I to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

She. Though it be sung of old and young

That I should be to blame,

110

Theirs be the charge that speak so large

In hurting of my name:

For I will prove that faithful love

It is devoid of shame;

In your distress and heaviness

115

To part with you the same:

And sure all tho that do not so

True lovers are they none:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

120

He. I counsel you, Remember how

It is no maiden’s law

Nothing to doubt, but to run out

To wood with an outlàw.

For ye must there in your hand bear

125

A bow ready to draw;

And as a thief thus must you live

Ever in dread and awe;

Whereby to you great harm might grow:

Yet had I liever than

130

That I had to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

XII

She. I think not nay but as ye say;

It is no maiden’s lore;

But love may make me for your sake,

135

As I have said before,

To come on foot, to hunt and shoot,

To get us meat and store;

For so that I your company

May have, I ask no more.

140

From which to part it maketh my heart

As cold as any stone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

XIII

He. For an outlàw this is the law,

145

That men him take and bind:

Without pitie, hangèd to be,

And waver with the wind.

If I had need (as God forbede!)

What socours could ye find?

150

Forsooth, I trow, you and your bow

For fear would draw behind.

And no mervail; for little avail

Were in your counsel than:

Wherefore I’ll to the green-wood go,

155

Alone, a banished man.

XIV

She. Right well know ye that women be

But feeble for to fight;

No womanhede it is, indeed,

To be bold as a knight:

160

Yet in such fear if that ye were

With enemies day and night,

I would withstand, with bow in hand,

To grieve them as I might,

And you to save; as women have

165

From death men many one:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

He. Yet take good hede; for ever I drede

That ye could not sustain

170

The thorny ways, the deep vallèys,

The snow, the frost, the rain,

The cold, the heat; for dry or wete,

We must lodge on the plain;

And, us above, no other roof

175

But a brake bush or twain:

Which soon should grieve you, I believe;

And ye would gladly than

That I had to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

180

XVI

She. Sith I have here been partynere

With you of joy and bliss,

I must alsò part of your woe

Endure, as reason is:

Yet I am sure of one pleasùre,

185

And shortly it is this—

That where ye be, me seemeth, pardé,

I could not fare amiss.

Without more speech I you beseech

That we were shortly gone;

190

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

XVII

He. If ye go thyder, ye must consider,

When ye have lust to dine,

There shall no meat be for to gete,

195

Nether bere, ale, ne wine,

Ne shetès clean, to lie between,

Made of the thread and twine;

None other house, but leaves and boughs,

To cover your head and mine.

200

Lo, mine heart sweet, this ill diète

Should make you pale and wan:

Wherefore I’ll to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

XVIII

She. Among the wild deer such an archère,

205

As men say that ye be,

Ne may not fail of good vitayle

Where is so great plentè

And water clear of the rivere

Shall be full sweet to me;

210

With which in hele I shall right wele

Endure, as ye shall see;

And, or we go, a bed or two

I can provide anone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

215

I love but you alone.

XIX

He. Lo yet, before, ye must do more,

If ye will go with me:

As, cut your hair up by your ear,

Your kirtle by the knee;

220

With bow in hand for to withstand

Your enemies, if need be:

And this same night, before daylight,

To woodward will I flee.

If that ye will all this fulfil,

225

Do it shortly as ye can:

Else will I to the green-wood go,

Alone, a banished man.

She. I shall as now do more for you

Than ’longeth to womanhede;

230

To short my hair, a bow to bear,

To shoot in time of need.

O my sweet mother! before all other

For you I have most drede!

But now, adieu! I must ensue

235

Where fortune doth me lead.

All this make ye: Now let us flee;

The day cometh fast upon:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

240

XXI

He. Nay, nay, not so; ye shall not go,

And I shall tell you why—

Your appetite is to be light

Of love, I well espy:

For, right as ye have said to me,

245

In likewise hardily

Ye would answere whosoever it were,

In way of company:

It is said of old, Soon hot, soon cold,

And so is a womàn:

250

Wherefore I to the wood will go,

Alone, a banished man.

XXII

She. If ye take heed, it is no need

Such words to say to me;

For oft ye prayed, and long assayed,

255

Or I loved you, pardè:

And though that I of ancestry

A baron’s daughter be,

Yet have you proved how I you loved,

A squire of low degree;

260

And ever shall, whatso befall,

To die therefore anone;

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

XXIII

He. A baron’s child to be beguiled,

265

It were a cursèd deed!

To be felàw with an outlaw—

Almighty God forbede!

Yet better were the poor squyere

Alone to forest yede

270

Than ye shall say another day

That by my cursèd rede

Ye were betrayed. Wherefore, good maid,

The best rede that I can,

Is, that I to the green-wood go,

275

Alone, a banished man.

XXIV

She. Whatever befall, I never shall

Of this thing be upbraid:

But if ye go, and leave me so,

Then have ye me betrayed.

280

Remember you wele, how that ye dele;

For if ye, as ye said,

Be so unkind to leave behind

Your love, the Nut-brown Maid,

Trust me truly that I shall die

285

Soon after ye be gone:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

XXV

He. If that ye went, ye should repent;

For in the forest now

290

I have purveyed me of a maid

Whom I love more than you:

Another more fair than ever ye were

I dare it well avow;

And of you both each should be wroth

295

With other, as I trow:

It were mine ease to live in peace;

So will I, if I can:

Wherefore I to the wood will go,

Alone, a banished man.

300

XXVI

She. Though in the wood I understood

Ye had a paramour,

All this may nought remove my thought,

But that I will be your’:

And she shall find me soft and kind

305

And courteis every hour;

Glad to fulfil all that she will

Command me, to my power:

For had ye, lo, an hundred mo,

Yet would I be that one:

310

For, in my mind, of all mankind

I love but you alone.

XXVII

He. Mine own dear love, I see the prove

That ye be kind and true;

Of maid, of wife, in all my life,

315

The best that ever I knew.

Be merry and glad; be no more sad;

The case is changéd new;

For it were ruth that for your truth

Ye should have cause to rue.

320

Be not dismayed, whatsoever I said

To you when I began;

I will not to the green-wood go;

I am no banished man.

XXVIII

She. These tidings be more glad to me

325

Than to be made a queen,

If I were sure they should endure;

But it is often seen

When men will break promise they speak

The wordis on the splene.

330

Ye shape some wile me to beguile,

And steal from me, I ween:

Then were the case worse than it was,

And I more wo-begone:

For, in my mind, of all mankind

335

I love but you alone.

XXIX

He. Ye shall not nede further to drede:

I will not disparáge

You (God defend), sith you descend

Of so great a lináge.

340

Now understand: to Westmoreland,

Which is my heritage,

I will you bring; and with a ring,

By way of marriáge

I will you take, and lady make,

345

As shortly as I can:

Thus have you won an Earle’s son,

And not a banished man.

XXX

Here may ye see that women be

In love meek, kind, and stable;

350

Let never man reprove them than,

Or call them variable;

But rather pray God that we may

To them be comfortable;

Which sometime proveth such as He loveth,

355

If they be charitable.

For sith men would that women should

Be meek to them each one;

Much more ought they to God obey,

And serve but Him alone.

360

GLOSS: never a dele] never a bit. than] then. in fere] in company, together. rede I can] counsel I know. distrain] distress. part with] share with. tho] those. hele] health. yede] went. on the splene] in haste.

I copied the lyrics from the cited source. It's set up as a table, so it's difficult for poetlady to post (we don't ordinarily allow tables).
-Joe Offer-

09 Oct 03 - 07:56 PM (#1032740)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Sandy Mc Lean

There is an English version of the Gaelic song " Mo Nighean Donn Bhoidheach" that uses this title.
Sandy

09 Oct 03 - 08:04 PM (#1032747)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Malcolm Douglas

Quiller-Couch included a lot of "literary" ballad-imitations. These have largely been dropped from the more recent edition, edited by James Kinsley (1969). The Nut-Brown Maid did not survive editorial re-evaluation, and I don't know any more about it. Unfortunately, "Q" didn't provide source information. He was not a scholar of Kinsley's stature.

09 Oct 03 - 08:04 PM (#1032748)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Sandy Mc Lean

Try searching in the DT using "Nut Brown Maiden" rather than "maid".

09 Oct 03 - 08:05 PM (#1032750)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Malcolm Douglas

Completely different song.

09 Oct 03 - 08:09 PM (#1032754)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Sandy Mc Lean

Yeh , Malcolm. It seems to be. Just the same title.

09 Oct 03 - 08:14 PM (#1032756)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: masato sakurai

See The Traditional Ballad Index: Nut-Brown Maid, The.

Nut-Brown Maid, The

DESCRIPTION: The man claims that women, given the chance, are never true. The woman cites the case of the Nut-brown Maid. They play through the story. The woman will follow her man, even to the greenwood, and will fight for him, etc. The ballad ends by praising women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1707 ("The Muses Mercury"); earlier found in Arnold's "Chronicle" of c. 1521
KEYWORDS: infidelity love dialog outlaw
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 31-47, "The Not-Brown Maid" (1 text)
OBB 69, "The Nut-Brown Maid" (1 text)
Notes: Given its elaborate stanzaic structure, regular alternation of speakers, and elaborately formal language, it seems clear that this should be accounted a literary rather than a folk production. I know of no version in oral tradition.
A parody of this song, "The New Nutbrowne Maid," occurs as early as 1520. - RBW
File: OBB069

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

09 Oct 03 - 08:17 PM (#1032757)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: GUEST

The Rankins did a version of it. Gaelic words were on the cd booklet thing. I think there was a translation as well

09 Oct 03 - 08:30 PM (#1032762)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Malcolm Douglas

Do read the thread before posting. Doubtless the Rankins did record an arrangement of the extremely well-known Scottish Gaelic song that Sandy mentioned, but it is completely irrelevant to the question asked here.

09 Oct 03 - 08:43 PM (#1032768)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: masato sakurai

Photo of "The Ballad of the Nut-Brown Maid", as printed in R. Arnold's Customs of London (Antwerp, 1503), is in G.M. Trevelyan's Illustrated English Social History: 1 (Penguin, 1964, p. 139).

09 Oct 03 - 09:42 PM (#1032793)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Joe Offer

I have included both "Maid" and "Maiden" threads in the crosslinks. The idea of the crosslinks is to help people find what they're seeking - not to strictly divide one song from another.

Is there a tune for "The Nut-Brown Maid"? There are no tunes at all in Quiller-Crouch.

-Joe Offer-

09 Oct 03 - 09:49 PM (#1032796)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

And then there's The nut brown maid has gowd and gear,---"
(Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor (Annet), Child # 73)

Where did these nut brown maids come from?

09 Oct 03 - 10:39 PM (#1032821)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: poetlady

I was going to check The Oxford Book of Ballads for a tune next time I go to the library. Some of the songs in the book have tunes and some don't. I suppose I could try to post it if there is. Never having posted a tune before, though, "try" is a key word. :)

09 Oct 03 - 10:48 PM (#1032825)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Malcolm Douglas

It might not be a bad idea to explain that those links all deal with a completely unrelated song, though.

I was wrong to dismiss this text so readily. It is indeed old; but not particularly so in this form. Quiller-Couch (though he neglected to acknowledge any source) quoted it from Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (vol. II), where it was collated, it appears, from the text given in the Prolusions of 1760 (itself a collation of two texts printed in Richard Arnolde's Chronicle, perhaps of c.1521) and variant texts in a further two editions of Arnolde. Quiller-Couch also included the text in his edition of The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900; now deservedly superceded), where he again names no source but describes the piece, without evidence (Percy thought that Arnold(e) wouldn't have printed it unless it was already old, but that is unproven), as "15th century".

The parody mentioned above, The New Nutbrowne Maid, seems to have been first printed by John Scot about 1520. Apparently it was a religious re-write, "upon the passion of Cryste".

So far as I can tell, no tune is known. I confess to seeing no particular interest in this "ballad"; it is scarcely surprising that it did not survive in oral tradition. Percy, however, saw in it virtues which are lost on me:

"The sentimental beauties of this ballad have always recommended it to readers of taste, notwithstanding the rust of antiquity which obscures the style and expression."

Perhaps I am just a reader without taste. Wordsworth, it appears, was impressed by it; but then, he was impressed by quite a few things in his youth (including opium, which explains one or two things) which he later grew out of.

10 Oct 03 - 12:39 AM (#1032886)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: poetlady

Thank you kindly.

10 Oct 03 - 03:29 AM (#1032917)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: GUEST,robinia

Where do these nut-brown maids come from? Well, it doesn't hold true for "Lord Thomas" (where the brown girl is the one with gold and gear) but there can be a natural association with the out-of-doors. "Ho-ro, my nut-brown Maiden" (as translated from the Gaelic in the popular Scottish Students Songbook) contrasts Highland Mary, 'down from the bonnie glen', to Lowland maidens in "Glasgow and Dunedin" (Dundee?). In German folksong I think the association is even clearer. Sorry I don't have the song at hand, but at Sunny Camp last weekend there was a great German song session and I seem to recall a popular one about "mein schwarzbraun Madel" -- eyes, hair and (implied, I think) skin because the song had a lot of woodland (and gypsy?) references. (Damn, now I have to look it up. . . )

10 Oct 03 - 08:55 AM (#1033065)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: Snuffy

Dunedin = Edinburgh

11 Oct 03 - 08:04 AM (#1033628)
Subject: RE: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: masato sakurai

From A "Working" KWIC Concordance to Francis James Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (p. 2048):

nut-brown [29], Nut-brown [1] (30)
99K.14    1    /Then Johnie drew a nut-brown brand,/And strook it
73F.29    1    /`Vo be te you, nut-brown bride,/An ill death you
73B.28    1    /Then out and spak the nut-brown bride,/And she spak
73B.30    1    /Then out and spake the nut-brown bride,/And she spak
73G.24    3    bed,/Sweet Willie and the nut-brown bride/In a chamber
73F.26    3    bed,/Sweet Willie and his nut-brown bride/In ae chamber
73E.31    3    bed,/Sweet Willie and the nut-brown bride/In their chamber
73E.25    1    /But up and stands the nut-brown bride,/Just at her
73[I.33]) 3    /An how like ye yer nut-brown bride,/Lies in yer arms
73G.22    1    /The nut-brown bride pat her hand in/
73F.28    1    /`Vo be to you, nut-brown bride,/Wi yer oxen
73E.10    1    /`O I sall wed the nut-brown maid,/And I sall bring
73E.9    4    for my benison,/The nut-brown maid bring hame.'
73E.7    3    sall I bring hame?/The nut-brown maid has sheep and
73E.9    1    /`The nut-brown maid has sheep and
73E.8    1    /`It's an ye wed the nut-brown maid,/I'll heap gold
73F.3    1    /`Oh will I merry the nut-brown maid,/Wi her oxen
73H.8    1    wis,/It's I will marry the nut-brown may,/. . . . .
73G.5    5    to me;/O will I marry the nut-brown may,/An lat Fair
73F.7    3    /But ye will merry the nut-brown may,/For she hes my
73G.6    2    has ousen, Willie,/The nut-brown may has key;/An ye
73G.6    1    /`The nut-brown may has ousen,
73H.7    3    hae;/But if ye marry the nut-brown may,/My blessin an ye'
73F.7    1    /`But ye will merry the nut-brown may,/Wi her oxen and
73F.4    3    wun;/But if ye merry the nut-brown may,/Ye will get her
169B.14   1    /Then John pulld out a nut-brown sword,/And it was
69C.13    1    /Then out he drew a nut-brown sword,/I wat he stript
133A.12   2    staffe,/And Robin had a nut-brown sword;/So the beggar
88D.25    1    /`Gin nut-brown was his hawk,' she
88D.24    1    /` Nut-brown was his hawk,' they

nut-browne (14)
73A.7    5    /I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride,/And cast Fair
73A.7    3    /I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride,/And cast Fair
73A.21    1    /She sat her by the nut-browne bride,/And her een
73A.4    3    to mee;/O sall I tak the nut-browne bride,/And let Fair
73A.6    3    mee;/A, sall I marrie the nut-browne bride,/And let Fair
73A.9    3    mee;/O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride,/And set Fair
73A.11    3    o hand;/And I will tak the nut-browne bride,/Fair Annet
73A.5    1    /`The nut-browne bride haes gowd and
73A.7    2    has oxen, brother,/The nut-browne bride has kye;/I wad
73A.7    1    /`The nut-browne bride has oxen,
73A.22    3    /And reaching by the nut-browne bride,/Laid it on Fair
73A.23    1    /Up than spak the nut-browne bride,/She spak wi
73A.27    3    /And drave it into the nut-browne bride,/That fell deid
112A.10   1    /He pulled out his nut-browne sword,/And wipt the

03 Nov 03 - 05:01 AM (#1046622)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nut-Brown Maid
From: masato sakurai

"The Nutbrowne Maide" is in F.J. Child's English and Scottish Ballads, vol. 4 (1860, pp. 143-157; earlier and different edition from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads), with this note:

THE NUTBROWNE MAIDE.
WE owe the preservation of this beautiful old ballad to Arnold's Chronicle, of which the earliest edition is thought to have been printed in 1502. In Laneham's account of Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth, the Nutbrown Maid is mentioned as a book by itself, and there is said to be at Oxford a list of books offered for sale at that place in 1520, among which is the Not-Broon Mayd, price one penny; still, the ballad is not known to exist at present in any other ancient form than that of the Chronicle. We have no means of determining the date of the composition, but Percy has justly remarked that it is not probable that an antiquary would have inserted a piece in his historical collections which he knew to be modern. The language is that of the time at which it was printed.
    The ballad seems to have been long forgotten, when it was revived in The Muse's Mercury for June, 1707, (Percy.) There Prior met with it, and, charmed with its merit, he took the story for the foundation of his Henry and Emma. Capel, in 1760, published a collated text from two different editions of the Chronicle,--we suppose that of 1502, and the second, which was printed in 1521, and exhibits some differences. Percy adopted Capel's text with a few alterations, (Reliques, ii. 30.) The text of the edition of 1502 has been twice reprinted since Percy's time: in the Censura Literaria, vol. i. p. 15, and by Mr. Wright, in a little black-letter volume, London, 1836. We have adopted Mr. Wright's text, not neglecting to compare it with that of Sir Egerton Brydges.
    It will be interesting to compare with this matchless poem a ballad in other languages, which has the same drift;-- Die Lind im Thale, or Liebesprobe, Erk, Deutscher Liederhort, p. 1, 3; Uhland, No. 116; Hoffmann, Schlesische V. L., No. 22, Niederlädische V. L., No. 26; Haupt and Schmaler, V. L. der Wenden, i. 72 (Hoffmann).
    In the sixteenth century a ridiculous attempt was made to supplant the popular ballads in the mouths and affections of the people by turning them into pious parodies. The Nut-Brown Maid was treated in this way, and the result may be seen in The New Notborune Mayd, printed by the Roxburghe Club, and
by the Percy Society, vol. vi.