{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch084.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch084.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch084.htm","text":"84A.1 IT was in and about the Martinmas time,\nWhen the green leaves were a falling,\nThat Sir John Gra+eme, in the West Country,\nFell in love with Barbara Allan.\n84A.2 He sent his men down through the town,\nTo the place where she was dwelling:\n\u2018O haste and come to my master dear,\nGin ye be Barbara Allan.\u2019\n84A.3 O hooly, hooly rose she up,\nTo the place where he was lying,\nAnd when she drew the curtain by,\n\u2018Young man, I think you\u2019re dying.\u2019\nAnd when she drew the curtain by,\n\u2018Young man, I think you\u2019re dying.\u2019\n84A.4 \u2018O it\u2019s I\u2019m sick, and very, very sick,\nAnd \u2019tis a\u2019 for Barbara Allan:\u2019\n\u2018O the better for me ye\u2019s never be,\nTho your heart\u2019s blood were a spilling.\n84A.5 \u2018O dinna ye mind, young man,\u2019 said she,\n\u2018When ye was in the tavern a drinking,\nThat ye made the healths gae round and round,\nAnd slighted Barbara Allan?\u2019\n84A.6 He turnd his face unto the wall,\nAnd death was with him dealing:\n\u2018Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,\nAnd death was with him dealing:\n\u2018Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,\nAnd be kind to Barbara Allan.\u2019\n84A.7 And slowly, slowly raise she up,\nAnd slowly, slowly left him,\nAnd sighing said, she coud not stay,\nSince death of life had reft him.\n84A.8 She had not gane a mile but twa,\nWhen she heard the dead-bell ringing,\nAnd every jow that the dead-bell geid,\nIt cry\u2019d, Woe to Barbara Allan!\n84A.9 \u2018O mother, mother, make my bed!\nO make it saft and narrow!\nSince my love died for me to-day,\nI\u2019ll die for him to-morrow.\u2019\n84B: Bonny Barbara Allen\n84B.1 IN SCARLET TOWN, where I was bound,\nThere was a fair maid dwelling,\nWhom I had chosen to be my own,\nAnd her name it was Barbara Allen.\n84B.2 All in the merry month of May,\nWhen green leaves they was springing,\nThis young man on his death-bed lay,\nFor the love of Barbara Allen.\n84B.3 He sent his man unto her then,\nTo the town where she was dwelling:\n\u2018You must come to my master dear,\nIf your name be Barbara Allen.\n84B.4 \u2018For death is printed in his face,\nAnd sorrow\u2019s in him dwelling,\nAnd you must come to my master dear,\nIf your name be Barbara Allen.\u2019\n84B.5 your name be Barbara Allen.\u2019\n84B.5 \u2018If death be printed in his face,\nAnd sorrow\u2019s in him dwelling,\nThen little better shall he be\nFor bonny Barbara Allen.\u2019\n84B.6 So slowly, slowly she got up,\nAnd so slowly she came to him,\nAnd all she said when she came there,\nYoung man, I think you are a dying.\n84B.7 He turnd his face unto her then:\n\u2018If you be Barbara Allen,\nMy dear,\u2019 said he, \u2019Come pitty me,\nAs on my death-bed I am lying.\u2019\n84B.8 \u2018If on your death-bed you be lying,\nWhat is that to Barbara Allen?\nI cannot keep you from [your] death;\nSo farewell,\u2019 said Barbara Allen.\n84B.9 He turnd his face unto the wall,\nAnd death came creeping to him:\n\u2018Then adieu, adieu, and adieu to all,\nAnd adieu to Barbara Allen!\u2019\n84B.10 And as she was walking on a day,\nShe heard the bell a ringing,\nAnd it did seem to ring to her\n\u2018Unworthy Barbara Allen.\u2019\n84B.11 She turnd herself round about,\nAnd she spy\u2019d the corps a coming:\n\u2018Lay down, lay down the corps of clay,\nThat I may look upon him.\u2019\n84B.12 And all the while she looked on,\nSo loudly she lay laughing,\nWhile all her friends cry\u2019d [out] amain,\nSo loudly she lay laughing,\nWhile all her friends cry\u2019d [out] amain,\n\u2018Unworthy Barbara Allen!\u2019\n84B.13 When he was dead, and laid in grave,\nThen death came creeping to she:\n\u2018O mother, mother, make my bed,\nFor his death hath quite undone me.\n84B.14 \u2018A hard-hearted creature that I was,\nTo slight one that lovd me so dearly;\nI wish I had been more kinder to him,\nThe time of his life when he was near me.\u2019\n84B.15 So this maid she then did dye,\nAnd desired to be buried by him,\nAnd repented her self before she dy\u2019d,\nThat ever she did deny him.\n84C: Bonny Barbara Allen\n84C.1 IT fell about the Lammas time,\nWhen the woods grow green and yellow,\nThere came a wooer out of the West\nA wooing to Barbara Allan.\n84C.2 \u2018It is not for your bonny face,\nNor for your beauty bonny,\nBut it is all for your tocher good\nNor for your beauty bonny,\nBut it is all for your tocher good\nI come so far about ye.\u2019\n84C.3 ome so far about ye.\u2019\n84C.3 \u2018If it be not for my comely face,\nNor for my beauty bonnie,\nMy tocher good ye\u2019ll never get paid\nDown on the board before ye.\u2019\n84C.4 \u2018O will ye go to the Highland hills,\nTo see my white corn growing?\nOr will ye go to the river-side,\nTo see my boats a rowing?\u2019\n84C.5 O he\u2019s awa, and awa he\u2019s gone,\nAnd death\u2019s within him dealing,\nAnd it is all for the sake of her,\nAnd death\u2019s within him dealing,\nAnd it is all for the sake of her,\nHis bonnie Barbara Allan.\n84C.6 O he sent his man unto the house,\nWhere that she was a dwelling:\n\u2018O you must come my master to see,\nIf you be Barbara Allan.\u2019\n84C.7 So slowly aye as she put on,\nAnd so stoutly as she gaed till him,\nAnd so slowly as she could say,\n\u2018I think, young man, you\u2019re lying.\u2019\n84C.8 \u2018O I am lying in my bed,\nAnd death within me dwelling;\nAnd it is all for the love of thee,\nMy bonny Barbara Allan.\u2019\n84C.9 She was not ae mile frae the town,\nTill she heard the dead-bell ringing:\n\u2018Och hone, oh hone, he\u2019s dead and gone,\nFor the love of Barbara Allan!\u2019","title":"The Child Ballads: 84. Bonny Barbara Allen","type":"page"}