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Young Benjie

[ Roud 3911 ; Child 86 ; Ballad Index C086 ; trad.]

James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads Sir Walter Scott: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love

Stephen Sedley printed Young Benjie in his 1977 book The Seeds of Love and noted:

Child (no. 86) quotes Sir Walter Scott’s interesting account of the folk superstition associated with this ballad; the idea was that in certain circumstances the corpses of murdered people would sit up and speak. Text condensed from the fuller narrative given by Scott in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1803), collated at one point with the longish fragment printed by Buchan. Tune (re-printed by Bronson) from Albyn’s Anthology (1816). Scott claimed to have his text “from tradition”, but parts of it bear signs of remaking.

Chris Coe sang Young Benjie in 1976 on Pete Coe’s and her Trailer album Out of Season, Out of Rhyme. They noted:

The Two Sisters, Proud Lady Margaret and Young Benjie are supernatural ballads. We first heard Young Benjie sung by Mick Bramich, from the Old Crown folk club in Birmingham.

Rosaleen Gregory sang Young Benjie in 2012 on her first album of Child ballads, Sheath and Knife. She noted:

A grim revenge story, featuring the folk belief that the victim will reveal the murderer at midnight on the night before burial.

The word ‘stout’ seems to have several meanings; Benjie is stubborn (‘bone-headed’, one might say), while Marjorie fights death by drowning with a pluck born of despair.
A ‘linn’ is a waterfall, or the pool below it.

Lyrics

Chris Coe sings Young Benjie

Of all the maids of fair Scotland
The fairest was Marjorie,
And Benjie was her own true love
And a dear true love was he.

And oh but they were lovers true,
They loved full constantly,
And ay the more when they fell out
The sorer was their plea.

And they have quarrelled on a day
Till Marjorie’s heart was sore,
She swore she’d chose another lover
And let young Benjie go.

But he was pround and stout-hearted,
Hw thought on it bitterly,
And he has gone by the wan moonlight
To meet with his Marjorie.

Soft she smiled and soft she said,
“Now what ill have I done?”
He’s taken her up all in his arms
And he’s thrown her over the linn.

The stream was strong, the maid was stout
And loth she was to die,
But ere she reached the Lowden banks
Well, her fair colour was wan.

Then up and spake her eldest brother,
“O see now what I see?”
Then up and spake her second brother,
“It’s our sister Marjorie.”

They’ve taken up the weary corpse
And laid it on the ground,
“O who has done this deadly deed
And how may he be found?”

“The night it is her long lyke-wake,
The morn the burial day,
And we must watch by murk midnight
to hear what she do say.”

With doors ajar, and candle light,
And torches burning clear,
The stricken corpse, till still midnight
They watched, but naething heared.

And in the middle of the night
The cocks began to crow,
And at the dead hour of the night
The corpse began to throw.

“Who has done this wrong, sister,
And dared this deadly sin?
Who was so stout and feared no doubt
As to throw thee o’er the linn?”

“Young Benjie was the very first man
Has set my love upon,
He was so pround and stout-hearted
That he threw me over the linn.”

“Shall we young Benjie head, sister,
Shall we young Benjie hang?
Shall we put out his bonny grey eyes
And punish him ever he gang?”

“You mauna Benjie head, brothers,
You mauna Benjie hang,
You put his bonny grey eyes
And punish him ever he gang.

“Tie a green cravat around his neck
And lead him out and in,
The very best servant in thy house
To wait young Benjie on.

“Aye at every seven years’ end
Ye’ll take him to the linn,
And that’s the punishment he must offer
To cure his deadly sin.”

Rosaleen Gregory sings Young Benjie

Of all the maids of fair Scotland,
The fairest was Marjorie,
And young Benjie was her own true love,
And a dear true love was he.

And oh, but they were lovers dear
And loved full constantly,
But ay the more when they fell out
The sorer was their plea.

And they have quarreled on a day
Till Marjorie’s heart grew woe,
And she said she’d chose another love
And let young Benjie go.

And he was stout and proud-hearted
And thought on’t bitterly,
And he’s gone by the wan moonlight
To meet his Marjorie.

Then soft she smiled and said to him,
“O what ill have I done?”
He took her in his arms two
And threw her o’er the linn.

The stream was strong, the maid was stout
And loth, loth to be drowned,
But ere she won the Lowden banks
Her fair colour it was wan.

Then up bespake her eldest brother:
“O see na you what I see?”
And out spake her second brother:
“It’s our sister Marjorie.”

Then they’ve ta’en up the comely corpse
And laid it on the ground,
“O who has killed our own sister,
And how can he be found?”

“The night it is her low lykewake,
The morn her burial day,
And we maun watch at murk midnight
And hear what she will say.”

About the middle of the night
The cocks began to crow,
And at the dead hour of the night
The corpse began to throw.

“O who has done the wrong, sister,
Or dared the deadly sin?
Who was so stout and feared no dout
As throw you o’er the linn?”

“Young Benjie was the only man
That did my body win,
He was so stout and proud-hearted
He threw me o’er the linn.”

“Shall we young Benjie head, sister,
Shall we young Benjie hang?
Or shall we pike out his two grey een
And punish him ere he gang?”

“You mauna Benjie head, brothers,
You mauna Benjie hang,
But you maun pike out his two grey een
And punish him ere he gang.

“Tie a green gravat around his neck
And lead him out and in,
And the best ae servant about your house
To wait young Benjie on.

“And aye at every seven years’ end
You’ll take him to the linn,
For that’s the penance he must endure
To ease his deadly sin.”