Mi Contra Fa

Crow and Pie (Child 111)

Here's the original text and again I'm getting the tune from Raymond Crooke.

This one's a bit interesting.  The spelling in the original is all very Myddel Englisshe so - how old is it?  It shows up in this 1844 collection, Nugae Poeticae.  That book purports to be a collection of poems from 15th cen manuscripts.  For this one, it cites Rawlinson C 258.  (And for what it's worth, I found another website that correctly points to the Nugae, but then also gives Rowlinson C 818.  Other websites are citing C 813.)

The Bodelian has not digitized any of these MSes. C 258 contains the New Testament. Of C 818, it says it's 13th cen and contains two works by St. Augustine.  C 813 - early 16th century - is at least said to contain "Poems" so that seems like the most likely candidate.  Possibly the compiler of the Nugae Poeticae thought early 16th was close enough to late 15th, or in the 19th cen they dated the MS differently.

I have (mostly) modernized the spelling, cut out a few verses, and generally tried to make this more understandable for an SCA audience.  Not sure if "Gylle" should be pronounced "gill," like what a fish breathes through, or "Jill," the way we say the name today.  I lean towards "Jill" because, again, understanding.

EDIT: BOOM, got it!  I found a listing of all of the poems in C 813, and behold, coming in at number 44 on this list: "Throughe a forest as can I ryde," the opening to "Crow and Pie."  It's given as being on folio 55 b.  (b?!  Is that... the same as verso?)  NOT folio 27, which everyone keeps tossing out there - that's the folio that contains "The epitaph of Lobe the King's Fool" which - guess what? - follows "Crow and Pie" in the Nugae Poeticae. 

Y'all, this is why we don't cite other people's citations unless we actually go to the citation ourselves.  Otherwise - if you're reading something by Authority Y and you really love their quote by Authority X - there's formats that will let you cite Authority X as cited by Authority Y.  Don't just up and cite Authority X unless you've gone and read it.  You never know, you might find even more useful or cool stuff in the original!

THROUGH a forest as he did ride,
To take his sport in the morning
He cast his eye on every side
He was ware of a bird singing

He saw a fair maid come riding;
He spoke to her of love, I trow;
She answered him all in scorning,
And said, The crow shall bite you.

He took then out a good gold ring,
A purse of velvet, that was so fine:
‘Have ye this, my dear sweeting,
With that ye will be lemman mine.’

‘Nay, for God, sir, that I nill;
I tell the, Jenken, as I trow,
Thou shall not find me such a jill;
Therfore the crow shall bite you.’

He took her about the middle small,
That was so fair of hide and hue;
He kissed her cheek as white as wall,
And prayed her that she would upon him rue.

She scorn-ed him, and called him Hugh;
His love was as a painted bloom:
‘Today me, tomorrow a new;
Therfore the crow shall bite you.’

He took her about the middle small,
And laid her down upon the green;
Twice or thrice he served her so withall,
He would not stint yet, as I ween

‘But since ye have a-lain me by,
Ye will wed me now, as I trowe:’
‘I will be advised, Jill,’ sayd he,
‘For now the pie hath pecked you.’

‘Now since ye have a-lain me by,
A little thing ye will tell;
In case that I with child be,
What is your name? Where do ye dwell?’

‘At York, at London, at Clerkenwell,
At Leycester, Cambridge, at merry Bristowe;
Some call me Richard, Robart, Jack, and Will;
For now the pie hath pecked you.

‘Farewell, courtier, over the meadow,
Pluck up your heels, I you beshrew!
Your trace, where so ever ye ride or go,
Christ's curse go with you!

‘Though a knave hath by me lain,
Yet am I neither dead nor slow;
I trust to recover my heart again,
And Christ's curse go with you!'

Other ballads I may learn

The Brown Girl - not really on-theme but I like the general F U sentiment.

Crow and [Mag]Pie - For the "Just don't have sex then" crowd.  Raymond Crooke sings it.

The Queen of Elfan's Nourice - When you already have a child but you have to care for a different child instead.  Rachel McDonogh sings it.

The Broomfield Hill - When you have to ensorcel a man because if you don't let him have sex with you, he'll kill you.  A. L. Lloyd sings it.

Lizie Wan - Very much the same as Jellon Grame, except with bonus incest.

 

 

Jellon Grame

Another ballad, shortened.  Raymond Crooke performs it.

O JELLON GRAME sat in Silver Wood,
He whistled and he sang,
And he has calld his little foot-page,
His errand for to gang.

‘Win up, my bonny boy,’ he says,
‘As quick as eer you may;
For ye maun gang for Lillie Flower,
Before the break of day.’

The boy he’s buckled his belt about,
And thro the green-wood ran,
And he came to the ladie’s bower-door,
Before the day did dawn.

‘Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
But I fear you’ll never win hame;
Ye are bidden come to Silver Wood,
And speak wi Jellon Grame.’

‘O I will gang to Silver Wood,
Though I shoud never win hame;
For the thing I most desire on earth
Is to speak wi Jellon Grame.

She had no ridden a mile, a mile,
A mile but barely three,
Ere she came to a new made grave,
Beneath a green oak tree.

O then up started Jellon Grame,
Out of a bush hard bye:
‘Light down, light down now, Lillie Flower,
For it’s here that ye maun ly.’

She lighted aff her milk-white steed,
And knelt upon her knee:
‘O mercy, mercy, Jellon Grame!
For I’m nae prepar’d to die.

‘Your bairn, that stirs between my sides,
Maun shortly see the light;
But to see it weltring in my blude
Woud be a piteous sight.’

‘O shoud I spare your life,’ he says,
‘Until that bairn be born,
I ken fu well your stern father
Woud hang me on the morn.’

‘O spare my life now, Jellon Grame!
My father ye neer need dread;
I’ll keep my bairn i the good green wood,
Or wi it I’ll beg my bread.’

He took nae pity on that ladie,
Tho she for life did pray;
But pierced her thro the fair body,
As at his feet she lay.